Lately I have been contemplating on what the world would be like in the absence of laws.

Laws are rules, policies that are imposed upon us to keep the society and also civilizations together, safe from the chaos that is most likely to emerge without these prescribed laws.

From the bible, there is a story in Genesis about God giving one rule for Adam and Eve to follow. He told them not to eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil for they will die. This was one rule they had to follow. But then the serpent tempted them, it got them to disobey this rule and we all know about their punishment.

Historically speaking, the earliest recorded civilizations had laws or codes to follow, too. From the Code of Hammurabi of Ancient Mesopotamia to the ones we have nowadays, laws may have been tailored differently but are always present in every society no matter the size.

Laws evolve through time, but in every civilization, in every society, there are always laws. This set of policies influences the ways of the people as a whole and thereby shape the society they live in.

But if we dig up our history a little, we would find that not all laws were always just and humane. In fact, not all laws followed by certain countries nowadays are just and humane.

I remember my elementary History teacher telling our class once that back when we were still grouped into smaller tribes, if anyone is accused of stealing, one way to determine if the accused had indeed stolen anything is by dipping his or her hand into boiling water, if it isn’t hurt, the accused will be proven innocent, otherwise, he or she would be guilty.

Moving closer to the present day, I have once chanced upon an article online about a 14 year old girl in India who was forced to marry her rapist so that he would feed the child once it is born. How this was possible can be attributed to the kind of culture India has. In a more enlightened society, the rapist will be jailed. But this wasn’t the case for the 14 year old girl.

This got me thinking, does culture then, determine the laws of a nation? And if this be the case, am I then doomed for having been taught to have respect for the cultures of others?

At the height of the controversy over the Reproductive Health Bill in the Philippines years ago, I remember arguing that RH Bill is anti-culture for the Philippines is a conservative and a Catholic nation. Boy was I wrong! I now know that cultures can be backwards, and in order for it to move forward for the better, there must be changes. And these changes can sometimes include those that are against what we are used to.

The times are changing, the needs of the people and the people themselves are changing.

Laws can change, a country like the Philippines can legalize the distribution of contraceptives as a means of assisting citizens in planning their family and also in childbirth in case of conception. A country like India can and should penalize rape instead of forcing their women to marry their perpetrators.

Now this leads me to the subject of my contemplation. Laws can change, if the people would one day realize that their laws are inhumane and totally unjust, they can amend their laws and restructure their society. But who should then be the judge? Who would be the proper adjudicator for this endeavor and how do we make sure that he/she/they are not partial to or for anything and anyone? That they won’t tailor-fit laws according to the interest of someone?

And also, after whose moral standards must we tailor-fit our laws when anyone with a huge enough following can just say something funny enough for sound bites and then whatever he/she says could then be believed to be correct?

To be more specific, in a country ruled by a popular president who has a penchant for trash talk, how do we point out to the blinded masses that his daily trash talk is in danger of becoming culture, and that if culture truly influences laws, then given that there are plans of amending our laws, what laws can we expect?

Will they be just, will they be humane? Or will they mirror the words that often spring out of our president’s vulgar mouth?/WDJ