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Q&A: The Justification for the Laws of the State?

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This is an English translation (via GPT-5.4). Read the original Hebrew version.

The Justification for the Laws of the State?

Question

Hello, and happy holiday!
A somewhat strange question occurred to me, and I’d be glad to hear the Rabbi’s opinion on it.
What is the justification for traffic-safety laws? For example, the obligation to wear seat belts in the back seat. It seems obvious that the law is meant to prevent harm to the people in the car, so what is the justification for forcing this on them?
If a person wants to enjoy the ride more and take the risk — who should stop him? How is this different from the fact that there is no law forbidding smoking cigarettes?

Answer

In principle, a state allows itself to forbid a person from causing harm to himself. That is true regarding cigarettes as well, except that there the damage is apparently not so great and direct, and such a demand may be too strong. Of course, one can argue about where exactly the line should be drawn.
The justification I can see for this is that if a person harms himself, then he and his family become a burden on society (medical care, social services, etc.). Therefore society says that it is not willing to allow this. And of course there is also the concern of harm to other people as well (if you don’t wear a seat belt and are injured, you may lose control of the car and others may be harmed).
That is the justification. As for the right to do this (and that is a different question), this is a matter of using resources that society places at our disposal (roads, streets, and even cars, and of course other social services — security, education, welfare, etc.). Therefore society can make the use of its resources conditional on various terms.
And beyond all that, if you accept the view that a person is also a limb of the public collective and not only an individual, then the collective can make decisions for him (just as it makes decisions for itself).

Discussion on Answer

Haim (2018-09-28)

I liked the answer that the justification is that the person will become a burden on society if he gets hurt. I hadn’t thought of that. Interesting direction. Still, does that really satisfy the Rabbi? I don’t know, but my intuition says it’s a bit excessive. The concern is a little far off. Sweets, cigarettes, alcohol, drugs, and other harmful things — all are permitted. And then suddenly when it comes to seat belts there’s such a taboo that it’s forbidden. There wasn’t even any discussion about it. I still haven’t heard a single voice claiming that this is an infringement on freedom. Doesn’t that sound a little strange?

Michi (2018-09-29)

There definitely are voices saying that it infringes on freedom, but indeed they are few. The majority in society thinks this is legitimate.
The difference from cigarettes and sweets (why did you bring drugs into this? Those are forbidden too) is how direct the harm is. When there is only indirect harm that merely hastens the death awaiting all of us sooner or later, there is no justification for infringing on individual freedom.

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