Key Arguments

• Once society is viewed as 'a scheme of cooperation among equals', Rawls holds that 'those injured by serious injustice need not submit'; instead, 'civil disobedience (and conscientious refusal as well) is one of the stabilizing devices of a constitutional system, although by definition an illegal one.'
• He explicitly places civil disobedience alongside 'free and regular elections and an independent judiciary empowered to interpret the constitution' as an element that 'helps to maintain and strengthen just institutions.'
• Civil disobedience works by constraining injustice 'within the limits of fidelity to law', and Rawls says that 'By resisting injustice within the limits of fidelity to law, it serves to inhibit departures from justice and to correct them when they occur.'
• He asserts that 'A general disposition to engage in justified civil disobedience introduces stability into a well-ordered society, or one that is nearly just', highlighting its systemic stabilizing role rather than its revolutionary character.
• From the original position, the parties would 'adopt the conditions defining justified civil disobedience as a way of setting up, within the limits of fidelity to law, a final device to maintain the stability of a just constitution', confirming that its stabilizing role is part of what would be chosen under fair agreement.

Source Quotes

This is not to say that the sovereign cannot be in error but only that the situation is not one for his subjects to correct. But once society is interpreted as a scheme of cooperation among equals, those injured by serious injustice need not submit. Indeed, civil disobedience (and conscientious refusal as well) is one of the stabilizing devices of a constitutional system, although by definition an illegal one.

But once society is interpreted as a scheme of cooperation among equals, those injured by serious injustice need not submit. Indeed, civil disobedience (and conscientious refusal as well) is one of the stabilizing devices of a constitutional system, although by definition an illegal one. Along with such things as free and regular elections and an independent judiciary empowered to interpret the constitution (not necessarily written), civil disobedience used with due restraint and sound judgment helps to maintain and strengthen just institutions.

Indeed, civil disobedience (and conscientious refusal as well) is one of the stabilizing devices of a constitutional system, although by definition an illegal one. Along with such things as free and regular elections and an independent judiciary empowered to interpret the constitution (not necessarily written), civil disobedience used with due restraint and sound judgment helps to maintain and strengthen just institutions. By resisting injustice within the limits of fidelity to law, it serves to inhibit departures from justice and to correct them when they occur.

Along with such things as free and regular elections and an independent judiciary empowered to interpret the constitution (not necessarily written), civil disobedience used with due restraint and sound judgment helps to maintain and strengthen just institutions. By resisting injustice within the limits of fidelity to law, it serves to inhibit departures from justice and to correct them when they occur. A general disposition to engage in justified civil disobedience introduces stability into a well-ordered society, or one that is nearly just.

By resisting injustice within the limits of fidelity to law, it serves to inhibit departures from justice and to correct them when they occur. A general disposition to engage in justified civil disobedience introduces stability into a well-ordered society, or one that is nearly just. It is necessary to look at this doctrine from the standpoint of the persons in the original position.

Key Concepts

• once society is interpreted as a scheme of cooperation among equals, those injured by serious injustice need not submit.
• Indeed, civil disobedience (and conscientious refusal as well) is one of the stabilizing devices of a constitutional system, although by definition an illegal one.
• Along with such things as free and regular elections and an independent judiciary empowered to interpret the constitution (not necessarily written), civil disobedience used with due restraint and sound judgment helps to maintain and strengthen just institutions.
• By resisting injustice within the limits of fidelity to law, it serves to inhibit departures from justice and to correct them when they occur.
• A general disposition to engage in justified civil disobedience introduces stability into a well-ordered society, or one that is nearly just.

Context

Early–middle of §59, as Rawls argues that civil disobedience, though illegal, plays a constructive stabilizing role in a nearly just constitutional democracy when guided by the principles and limits previously articulated.