Reality As Legal Construction

By Michael Parish

A thorough understanding of our reality requires a conscious distinction between what is organic and what is constructed; what exists organically and what is the product of human creation. A great many in our society, and a great many in others, fail to do this and therefore live under a flawed misunderstanding of reality. It is my intent in this essay to correct this misunderstanding and provide a clarified understanding of the world we live in. So, with my self-important pomposity in full swing, let's get started.It is crucially important to distinguish between the world as it actually exists and the artificial constructs humans impose on it; between what John Searle distinguishes as natural and social facts. One artificial construction is law. The entire legal realm is man-made. Laws do not exist in nature, outside of human construction; they are fictions that humans originate in their minds and then write down on paper, and the paper they are written on is the only place they truly exist. Not up in the sky. Not on a magic grimoire in the astral plane.

One example is the legal classification of the stages of human development. American lawmakers at one time selected the age of 18 as being the significant cut-off point. Those over 18 are classified by law as "adults" and those under "minors." These terms are mere constructs, as are the written rules that apply to both groups. Those over 18, so say our lawmakers, can "legally" make decisions regarding contract (the rental and ownership of property, insurance, marriage), their bodies ( the purchase and consumption of alcohol and tobacco) and their sexuality (consenting to sex, purchasing and appearing in pornography.) Those who have yet to reach this age are forbidden from making such decisions, and in fact may incur penalties for behaving otherwise.There is no rule or classification, independent of human invention, that says it is wrong for people under 18 to make any of these decisions or partake in any of these activities simply because they are under 18. Conversely, there is nothing that says it is okay for people over 18 to do such simply because they are over 18. There is only written law, concieved mentally by humans and transposed by them onto paper.

Other examples abound. Marriage is merely an agreement made privately by two individuals to live together in a relationship and exclude all others from their romantic and sexual lives. This type of relationship (and its attendant living arrangement) does and has existed independently of written law. However, our written law treats it in legal terms. There is no fundamental difference between a married couple and a pair of long-term life partners; the only difference is the former went through the legally defined marriage process and the latter didn't. The distinction between the two exists only on (again...) paper. That the former recieves benefits, hospital visitation rights and other perks and the latter doesn't is rooted not in any divine or transcent decision but by artifical legal distinction.

This has a crucial impact for our understanding of human political life, and in particular, power. This is because power relations are, like my previous examples, legally constructed. They are not inherent. The "rights" indicated in the Bill Of Such do not exist on their own and as such you would not posess them if that document was never written. The "rights" claimed by the State are equally fictitious. There is no unwritten law stating that any group of people has the right to extract wealth from another group, and to then use it to finance the imposition of arbitrary rules on them. The military, law enforcement, and other arms of the state have no sacred or transcendent right to decide what you can and cannot do and then to use coercion to ensure compliance with their desicions. They only do because they (and we) think we do, and we've drafted documents making it official.

In the words of George Carlin "We made the whole fuckin' thing up!"