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| David Peters |
Legislation, various acts, developments of constitutions and case law enact what is important to a people and serve as a window into what a given society cherishes most. In this way, law can provide a snapshot of the values a society holds dearest: through it, we learn what people value at a given time.
In the same way, legislation, particularly declarations and constitutional documents, and the resulting amendments and charters granting rights and freedoms shine forth the highest ideals of where society would like to go: a reflection of how people like to view themselves at their very best and most advanced in terms of humanitarian ideals.
These values are often advanced by looking to the past to drive toward a more perfect future. Looking backward for inspiration to founding figures and idealized concepts, such as liberty, independence, self-governance and justice, are used to add weight and legitimacy to legislation. In this way, law may move society toward actually reflecting how people like to view themselves and what they hold to be most sacred even if that reflection at the time of enactment is dull.
Looking back for inspiration can ground a society and enable it to press forward aspirationally even as laws passed can take years to be even partly enforced. As an example, the U.S. Declaration of Independence grounded its ideals of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness in that which is given by God and cannot be taken away, even though slavery remained intact and only abolished through a bloody civil war. The high ideals of liberty and justice for “all” battled over took another hundred years to fully codify through case law, such as Brown v. Board of Education and finally the Civil Rights Act of 1964. These laws themselves remained hard to enforce, but they reflected what many saw as the best of how their society should be. The struggle for civil rights was long, bloody and painful, but various legislation serve as signposts along the way in a continuing struggle.
The various Acts that culminated in the patriation of the Canadian Constitution in 1982 and the development of the Bill of Rights of 1960 and the Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms of 1982 are another case in point. The Charter is inspired by Enlightenment principles and aspirational in nature. The ideals found within were originally meant to bind all Canadians to these principles, but how and in what way that should be done is still being worked out.
Perhaps climate change is a modern case in point. No doubt care for the environment is in the collective consciousness, and various International pacts and laws set forth ideals to be followed and striven after. Such efforts can seem a waste of time and energy as various countries refuse to sign on either in letter or spirit. Nevertheless, these aspirational goals may someday become reality and the new norm. Unlike the ancients, modern Western democracies no longer look for their inspiration and precedent to God’s care for the poor or concern to preserve creation, but to humanitarian principles born of the Enlightenment ideals of individual liberty and calls for collective decision-making and justice and as that which is derived from a specific society. In this way, law may continue to provide a window into where society is and offer a reflection of where it is headed. Steps along the way seek to further remove the dullness of the reflections we aspire to become, and the type of society we view ourselves to be.
David Peters is counsel in the New York office of a global investment management firm. He has experience advising SEC-registered investment firms on compliance and legal issues affecting both private and registered investment vehicles. Previously, Peters was in private practice at two international law firms and was a senior compliance officer at JPMorgan Chase & Co. Before attending law school, he was an investment analyst.
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