Ondanks de directe bevrediging van het rechtvaardigheidsgevoel is eigenrichting natuurlijk zeer problematisch. Real saint Thomas More laat dat zien in A man for all seasons (naar het toneelstuk van Robert Bolt).
WILLIAM ROPER: So, now you give the Devil the benefit of law!
SIR THOMAS MORE: Yes! What would you do? Cut a great road through the law to get after the Devil?
ROPER: I’d cut down every law in England to do that!
MORE: Oh? And when the last law was down, and the Devil turned ’round on you, where would you hide, Roper, the laws all being flat? This country is planted thick with laws, from coast to coast, Man’s laws, not God’s! And if you cut them down, and you’re just the man to do it, do you really think you could stand upright in the winds that would blow then? Yes, I’d give the Devil benefit of law, for my own safety’s sake!
Meer info over de Boondock Saints vindt u hier (IMDB)
Robert Bork belicht de waarde van More's inzichten in wet en autoriteit in Thomas More for Our Season (First Things).
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