Peter asked:

I'm currently working on an essay about morality and law. Is it possible to declare the laws of the
period of Nazi Germany invalid without applying some moral reasoning, or sense of right and wrong?
I can't find a way of stating that Nazi law was invalid without applying some morality, or the natural
law concept. Any suggestions?

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Well one problem I'm having here is that I don't know what you mean by "invalid". If that means
"immoral", then you're stuck. So you might think about that. However, what about functionality? There
is a book called "Culture Matters" and another called "Sick Societies" which talk about cultural values,
behaviors, etc., as empowering or as hindering the people in various cultures. Now think about the
Nazis and the consequences of their culture. Were the consequences of applying, following, etc.,
their laws and customs such that their culture would be successful in the long run, would make
people content in the long run, would make them able to cooperate with their neighbors (and thus
avoid wars and the economic, etc., problems they cause), etc., etc.? Those and others are functional
questions and consequences of cultural practices.

To take a more specific example, what if the Nazi culture involved destruction of the environment and
enslavement of workers in order to support heavy industrialization; what would the long-term physical
results be (leaving out for the sake of argument issues of the morality of slavery, etc.), assuming they
had conquered the world? Pollution and disease, with the problems they cause, are merely two of the
many consequences that come to mind. And all that of course brings up the issue of the ultimate
basis of morality, and whether that too has some sort of functional grounds, i.e., whether morality can
be "naturalized". A very contentious issue these days.

Steven Ravett Brown

Can a bad law or bad legal system be criticized on grounds of legal principleindependently of moral
considerations? To take a simple example, you could argue that equal treatment for relevantly similar
cases is part of the essence of any legal system. So if, for example, the legal system allowed an
Aryan a significantly lighter punishment than a non-Aryan for the same offence, on grounds of race,
then this would be a legal rather than directly moral ground for criticism of the legal system.

The infamous Nazi show trials made a mockery the legal principle that an individual is assumed
innocent unless proven guilty. Here the legal system itself was used as a meansto an immoral end.
However, the very idea of a show trial is wrong on grounds of legal principle even if it is used as a
means to a moral end.

Geoffrey Klempner