Civil Disobedience: Is It Justified?

THE question, "Is civil disobedience justified?", raises profound problems of ethics and legal and political philosophy. Perhaps a precise and general answer to this question is impossible, but in this Article I wish to elucidate the various components and aspects of this question so that, to whatever extent possible, it can be intelligibly formulated and answered. It seems plain that we first must have a clear-cut definition of what constitutes civil disobedience, and it is plainly the case that many discussions of the question of civil disobedience have been both confusing and unfruitful because the participants did not have an adequate definition of the subject matter. Several questions are frequently discussed when the issue of civil disobedience is raised simply because the definitional process is not carried out.

Therefore, the Article will begin with a proposed definition of this concept.