Laws should be fair and just, but are sometimes unfair and harsh. Think of the laws that allowed slavery, and later the Jim Crow laws. Think of the Nazi laws that allowed Jews to be arrested and deported or worse just for being Jews. Or think of the Roman laws that allowed Jesus to be crucified. All these laws were perfectly “legal” and they were carried out “by the book”!. So don’t think that just because it’s the law, it’s right.
Those, of course, are extreme examples of unfair, harsh laws. But lesser examples of harsh, unfair laws abound in our law books even today.
The families of the 11 workers who died in the Deepwater Horizon explosion are now discovering how unfair and harsh one of our laws is. In their lawsuit against BP for the loss of their loved ones, they are limited, by a 90-year old Federal law, known as the Death on the High Seas Act, to “pecuniary loss” compensation, which consists mostly of lost income stemming from their loved one’s death. They have no right at all to claim compensation for their grief, loss of care, comfort and companionship, and emotional suffering.