We are slowly sliding down the path of the Pharisees

Learned friends tell me that law and justice mean not the same thing. Though the one is supposed to result in the other, many times they are at variance – with the law significantly undermining justice.

Sometimes, that which is just may not be in line with the law, and that which is legal is not always just. No wonder in Charles Dickens’ play, Oliver Twist, Mr Bumble, the unhappy spouse of a domineering wife, disagreed when he was told in court, “...the law supposes that your wife acts under your direction.” Bumble’s reply was apt: “If the law supposes that, then the law is a ass – a idiot!” Sadly, many of us, like the Pharisees of old, have come to peg the entirety of our lives on this ass (English not American!).