Great Construction

The Spirit of Law and the Method of Law

     In society today, the ostensible objective is to control criminals through the implementation of law and punishment and make it so they do not offend again, and since religion is excluded from this process, that only law and punishment are used is only inevitable. Having said that, though, with only such methods available, the facts show that reaching these objectives is impossible. And still, just as regards crime, what we are referring to is only what appears on the surface, so what must be dealt with is the basis, the motive that is in the heart. What I am talking about is the will to commit crime. This lies in the soul, so aside from legal steps to prevent crime, unless other methods are adopted to eradicate crime, there is no way that will ever appear a society without criminals.
     Due to the circumstances outlined above, criminals nowadays need only work to evade laws. These efforts are not only expended by ne’er-do-wells of the lower classes. Criminals include those of education from the middle classes and above. Their only concern is to avoid entanglement in the net of laws while they commit unjust and immoral acts without compunction. This way of thinking is totally frightening, about which something must be done. Let me explain about this situation on the basis of my experience.
     For the past several decades, I have been involved in quite a few court cases, and even now there are a several that are pending. As all of my opponents are evil, and as on principle I will not bow to evil, I fight on and as of yet, I have not lost a case yet. From these various experiences what I learned was that all those who come at me, do it mainly wielding only the methodology of law. For myself, however, I counter them mainly with the spirit of law. I usually lose the first decision, but in the appeals court, I always win. In the cases where a verdict had not yet been determined, my opponent realizing a potential defeat, sued for a settlement. The troubling aspect in all this is that many judges put weight on the methodology of law, and it appears that these are usually younger judges with less experience. But, on the other hand, it seems that those who favor the spirit of law are older, more experienced judges.
    What I would like prosecutors to think about carefully is that if they put the total force of their efforts on the methodology of law, all criminal effort will be put into hiding from law, and crime will not decrease at all. On the other hand, if the spirit of law is stressed, methodology will be secondary, and since importance is placed on the spirit of law, criminals will naturally realize that it is more advantageous to avoid crime altogether, thus will be fulfilled the true purpose of law, so most likely social ills will decrease. On this basis, I venture to present this essay to the proper authorities. 

Eikō, Issue 122, September 19, 1951
translated by cynndd

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“Hōritsu Seishin to Hōritsu Gijutsu” was carried originally on the bottom half of the front page of Eikō, Issue 122, September 19, 1950, and as far as is known has not appeared in translation. Hōritsu Seishin to Hōritsu Gijutsu” was included in the essays anthology for ministers, Sekai Meshiya Kyō Seiten, Geijutsu-hen, Shakai-hen (Sacred Writings of the Church of World Messianity, Volume on Art and Society), page 282, that was published on September 1, 1955, almost immediately after Meishu-sama died.