Fidelity To Law Meaning

The great American judge Learned Hand captured the tension perfectly: "A society so riven that the spirit of moderation is gone, no court can save; but a society which has lost the habit of fidelity to law, no court can even serve."

Today, the meaning of fidelity to law is under severe strain. fidelity to law meaning

Every judge swears an oath to "administer justice without respect to persons, and do equal right to the poor and to the rich." That oath embodies fidelity. A judge who consistently rules for her political party, her donors, or her personal beliefs has broken fidelity—even if her rulings remain within the text’s broad boundaries. Fidelity means subordinating the self to the law’s authority. The great American judge Learned Hand captured the

The ordinary citizen’s fidelity is more general: paying taxes, serving on juries, obeying traffic laws, and respecting the rights of others. However, citizens also have a role as "public conscience," pushing for legal change through democratic means. Today, the meaning of fidelity to law is under severe strain

What does it mean to be faithful to law? At first glance, it implies simply obeying a statute or following a precedent. Yet consider a judge in Nazi Germany applying the Nuremberg Laws, or a civil rights activist in 1960s Alabama violating a segregation ordinance. In both cases, one could argue that the actor was "faithful" to the written law. Conversely, one could argue that they were profoundly unfaithful to a deeper conception of law. Thus, the central puzzle of fidelity is that law itself is an interpretive concept (Dworkin, 1986). To be faithful to law, one must first decide what counts as law—a decision that already involves a theory of fidelity.