Martin Luther King, Jr. refused to obey the injunction in Birmingham in the early 1960's that prohibited King from speaking publicly merely because he was black. He was jailed for his disobedience. King felt that there was a higher law than the law of the land. King's actions were most likely based on a(n) ____________ ethical model.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

King was most likely basing his actions on natural law. According to natural law, there exists an unbreakable link joining morality to the law in a fundamental way. This link exists because a law must, in its most basic form, be moral. Otherwise, it is not lawful. A law with an immoral purpose is not a law at all. Instead, it is an anomaly that does not fit into our concept of either law or the legal process. There are, in fact, some laws that have no moral content whatsoever and are unjust. To King, the Birmingham law was unjust with no moral basis, so therefore, he did not have to obey it.