Martin Luther King's Representation of Law Essay

Martin Luther King's Representation of Law - Essay Example Natural law for Dr. Martin Luther King, as well as for St. Thomas Aquinas, is the part of God’s eternal plan for everything that He has created (â€Å"Legal positivism vs. natural law theory† 2). An important statement in Reverend King’s â€Å"Letter† is that his protest against an unjust law of Birmingham was nonviolent (4). He did not break a moral law by appealing to violence against another human being. Dr. King emphasizes that he has always followed the rules of the Christian morality, which is, according to him, a code of natural and just laws (4). Martin Luther King does not follow the Machiavellian doctrine of permissiveness. His viewpoint is based on the Christian morality, faith in equality of all people, and respect to every person regardless of his or her skin color, race or ethnicity. Positive law is always legal, as it is issued by some authority that has the right to decide how to regulate human interactions in a society. However, the morali ty of the law, even if it was made by a powerful and respectful person or institution, can always remain questionable. As Dr. Martin Luther King observes, Hitler’s laws in Germany were certainly legal, but they were appallingly immoral, unnatural and unjust (3). â€Å"Oppressed people cannot remain oppressed forever†, says Martin Luther King, and it means that an unjust law cannot last forever (4). Hitler’s laws in Germany, Saddam Hussein’s laws in Iraq or Gaddafi’s laws in Libya were legal.