Not bound by the law: Legal disobedience in Israeli society

The issue of whether there is a 'prima facie obligation to obey the law' ha s intrigued human society since the days of Socrates. However, most of the writings in this field have dealt with theoretical aspects of the issue, su ch as the boundaries of legal obedience and frameworks defining the circums tances under which a citizen is not obliged to obey the law. Very few studi es have investigated the phenomenon of legal disobedience empirically. The current study is based on a survey of Israeli citizens belonging to three s ectors of the population Clews in the general population, Israeli Arabs, an d orthodox Jewish students enrolled in religious yeshiva seminaries). Respo ndents' attitudes towards the judicial system, the rule of law, and the dut y to obey state laws were examined by means of a questionnaire especially d esigned for the study. The findings point to gaps between the three groups: Compared to the Arab population and the yeshiva students, support for stat e laws and the rule of law was stronger among Jews in the general populatio n and, conversely, belief in the supremacy of other laws (i.e. religious la ws) over state laws and readiness to take the law into one's own hands were stronger among the Arabs and the yeshiva students, compared to the general Jewish population. Copyright (C) 2001 John Whey & Sons, Ltd.