opinion of justice manson essays

opinion of justice manson essays Fellow Justices, a case has come to my attention that raises many interesting questions to the effectiveness of our legal system. A few months ago five explorers became trapped in a cave when it caved in. When they emerged a month later with the help of rescue teams, only four still lived. The four had killed their fifth companion and ate him to survive. This would be a clear-cut case of homicide if the five men had not agreed to randomly kill one of their own so that the others could live. Our fellow Justice in charge of the case sentenced the four to death, as is our law for homicide. However, after the jury made an appeal the sentence was reduced to a six-month incarceration. In my opinion any punishment is unnecessary in this case. The five defendants were trapped miles from civilization and miles from the world where our predecessors penned our laws. The only laws that applied to the five explorers are those of their surroundings. The only laws that were relevant to the trapped explorers were the laws of nature. The explorers broke no law of nature, they simply did what every creature is born to do, and they survived at any cost. They knew that they could not survive with out the sacrifice of one of their own and they took his life so they could live. It is fundamentally wrong to be persecuted for ensuring that your life continues. These men perpetrated nothing more than self-defense. The five explorers agreed that the victim should be chosen at random so that the burden of choosing who would die would not fall on anyone. All five explorers agreed that the one chosen at random would be put to death so that the others could live. Under dire circumstances the five men created a dire pact to ensure their survival. We have no right to judge a decision made under circumstances we could never understand. The men what was right at the time and that is all that is needed for a full acquittal. ...