Q&A: Monetary Law
Monetary Law
Question
Hello Rabbi,
Are monetary/legal definitions derived from human definitions, or are they pure logic?
That is, for example: in a world with no human beings, would the concept of “ownership” already exist and the like (except that there would be no one to realize it), or is it not a “real” concept but only a “social construct”? And likewise regarding “presumed possession,” “we do not follow the majority in monetary matters,” and so on and so on.
If the answer is that all of these are social concepts, then what gives them binding force?
And is it possible to suggest a middle path: namely, that while the definition of the basic concepts (ownership, acquisition, and perhaps others) is human, the laws that emerge from those definitions are the product of logic? Something like the way the laws of geometry are the product of the axioms laid at their foundation.
Thank you very much
Answer
I don’t know. I tend to think that there is such an ideal form, and human beings discovered it rather than created it. I didn’t understand the suggestion.