The Doctrine of Harm in Law

Abstract

Law is based on the basic rights of individuals—of people with a conscience, morality, and philosophy—which translates to the daily common sense of humans and their moral behavior. These lead to an understanding of what is ‘‘reasonable’’ and ‘‘acceptable’’ within the human context for norms of behavior. By far, the most pervasive doctrine and philosophy of law is the doctrine of mutual respect where no party is permitted to hurt another. In fact, one is not even allowed to hurt oneself, because doing so is against the common principle and purpose of human life. The concept of ‘‘hurt’’ takes on physical, mental, economic, and reputational aspects. This doctrine pervades every area of law, be it environmental law, liability law, or contract law. Moreover, each and every one of The Ten Commandments revolves around not hurting or damaging another or oneself or the source of the universe, since we get all our energy from there. No one can be harmed or damaged—willfully or negligently. This requires the exercise of caution and restraint by all individuals in every part of their daily life: at the mall, on the road, in public meetings, and under professional circumstances. The philosophy of human rights stems from the fundamental belief that no one should be harmed or deprived from basic human needs—food, medicine, shelter, respect, physical security, and spiritual freedom. It is for freedom from harm that all laws are enacted in a civil society. It is this simple concept of ‘‘harm’’ that underpins law and seeks to interpret situations to discover who is at fault for having generated the harm. The interpretation of this in civil engineering is convoluted, for issues of technology, engineering, business, accounting, and finance are intertwined with principles of law. A lawyer alone will be unable to interpret civil engineering law, while a civil engineer alone will similarly fail to understand the legal ramifications of the issues. This is why it takes lawyers and civil engineers, working together, to solve their legal problems. Consequently, this also underpins the need for our special Legal Affairs section. In institutional matters—such as issues of contract law, criminal law, liability law, or insurance law—it is hard to justify the supposition that any random technique and means will be justified by the end. Every action taken must be harmless and benign. Negligence and ignorance of the harmful effects of actions do not exempt one. There is too much respect and dignity for morality, the individual, and the rights of life and free commerce for harm to be allowed at any time.