University of Virginia Library

Legal Violence

In a letter to the Cavalier Daily
from Christian S. White, concerning
the "disrespect" shown to the
Commonwealth Courts by The
Virginia Weekly, the issue of justice
as a matter of substance or of style
is raised.

Mr. White seems to see respect
on the part of the Citizenry for the
law as the major underpinning of
social order; one supposes that if
everyone would stop all their
damned disrespectful caterwauling
that justice would be served and
order preserved. However, it is and
has been apparent to many amongst
them Paine and Jefferson that the
maintenance of social order does
not guarantee societal continuance
or justice; indeed when societal
order is seen as a greater good than
justice, then the greatest disrespect
is shown for liberty.

In addition, Mr. White's view of
violation of the law, as is the case in
The Weekly's actions, as being only
disrespectful seem to indicate a
surprising blindness to their
intention of testing the law. For in
their seeking to bring their political
concerns before the legal system,
through violation of relevant
statutes, they have demonstrated
their belief in the law as a resilient
entity capable of redressing their
grievances. This is true respect; it is
respect founded on the traditional
proposition that the legal system
has been and should be a center
ground for resolution of conflict
between opposing philosophies and
ideologies. The Virginia Weekly's
actions are only consistent with this
proposition.

Further, if the legal system, as
seems to be sadly the case in the
Charlottesville Municipal Court,
forgets it is the battleground of
ideas and concentrates on
protection of all that remains, a
consequent ill-founded "dignity";
then it is not only ultimately
disrespectful, but acts in bad faith
and betrays its democratic purpose.

The ultimate concern of the
legal system is to institutionalize
violence; and as such to prevent
savagery. Most of the legal
guarantees of our liberties
originated in disrespectful actions
(e.g. The American Revolution,
Civil War, etc.): you seem to forget
this Mr. White, and would have the
courts concern themselves primarily
with etiquette. Such concern
implies a fragility of the legal
system, that if programmatically
acted upon for its
"self-preservation", would only
guarantee the very barbaric tyranny
that you and all of us rightfully
fear.