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Hyeon Een

Joined: 24 Jun 2005
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Posted: Sat Mar 19, 2011 3:49 am Post subject: Ignorance of the law is no excuse |
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What do you think of this statement?
Does every person living in or visiting any country have a duty to learn every single law in that place? Or should we accept it as a kind of lottery that we might inadverently break a law and get punished for it every once in a while?
Or is the saying "ignorance of the law is no excuse", trite nonsense? |
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schwa
Joined: 18 Jan 2003 Location: Yap
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Posted: Sat Mar 19, 2011 4:19 am Post subject: |
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Expats owe it to themselves to keep abreast of immigration rules, in Korea or anywhere. Or do you mean like jaywalking? Adultery? Zero tolerance of recreational drug use?
We take on a certain responsibility when we move abroad. "But in my country ..." isnt likely to cut it in front of a judge.
Do you know of some obscure law here the rest of us should be aware of? |
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Sector7G
Joined: 24 May 2008
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Posted: Sat Mar 19, 2011 5:27 am Post subject: Re: Ignorance of the law is no excuse |
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Hyeon Een wrote: |
What do you think of this statement?
Does every person living in or visiting any country have a duty to learn every single law in that place?? |
That's more of a question than a statement, but I would say it is more important to keep up with the different penalties for breaking laws, because as schwa asks,
schwa wrote: |
Do you know of some obscure law here the rest of us should be aware of? |
I don't really know of any weird laws in Korea, though one can still go to jail for committing adultery and that seems a little archaic. |
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NYC_Gal 2.0

Joined: 10 Dec 2010
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Posted: Sat Mar 19, 2011 7:28 am Post subject: |
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The title is the statement. |
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Sector7G
Joined: 24 May 2008
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Posted: Sat Mar 19, 2011 7:40 am Post subject: |
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NYC_Gal 2.0 wrote: |
The title is the statement. |
I realize that..........now.  |
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Hyeon Een

Joined: 24 Jun 2005
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Posted: Sat Mar 19, 2011 9:36 am Post subject: |
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schwa wrote: |
Expats owe it to themselves to keep abreast of immigration rules, in Korea or anywhere. Or do you mean like jaywalking? Adultery? Zero tolerance of recreational drug use?
We take on a certain responsibility when we move abroad. "But in my country ..." isnt likely to cut it in front of a judge.
Do you know of some obscure law here the rest of us should be aware of? |
I didn't mean anything specific to Korea. The only 'major' area I can think of with regards to Korea is to do with driving regulations, some of which are 'odd'.
The thing that got me thinking was this post: http://forums.eslcafe.com/korea/viewtopic.php?t=202643 in the offtopic forum.
If you don't want to read it, basically a Korean dude in Aus got several thousand dollars worth of fines for an infraction he didn't know he was committing. In this particular case I think the onus is either on the dude for knowingly breaking the law (if his story is a lie), OR on the country/state giving a licence to a guy who didn't understand the rules he'd be driving under. The poor chap didn't realize he was passing through a toll and ended up with lots of fines. They shouldn't have allowed him to drive there if he didn't understand the roadsigns which explained this.
This is just one tiny example.
I suppose what I'm getting at is that in general there are too many laws. It's HARD for a citizen to know them all. Go ask your Houses of Parliament or Congress or whatever for a list of the laws of the land. Then go learn them all. I bet you can't.
My point is that ignorance of the law is a damned good excuse because there's too many of them and as a citizen it's hard to know them.[/quote] |
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Space Bar
Joined: 20 Oct 2010
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Posted: Sat Mar 19, 2011 9:40 am Post subject: Re: Ignorance of the law is no excuse |
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Hyeon Een wrote: |
What do you think of this statement?
Does every person living in or visiting any country have a duty to learn every single law in that place? Or should we accept it as a kind of lottery that we might inadverently break a law and get punished for it every once in a while?
Or is the saying "ignorance of the law is no excuse", trite nonsense? |
Yes, it's nonsense.
Never mind other countries, one cannot even know all the laws in one's own country. In America, the average citizen is subject to - ready for this? - a million laws! That's right, on federal. state, and local level. The most astute professor of law could not possibly know all of them. How can an average citizen? |
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Hyeon Een

Joined: 24 Jun 2005
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Posted: Sat Mar 19, 2011 9:56 am Post subject: Re: Ignorance of the law is no excuse |
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Space Bar wrote: |
Hyeon Een wrote: |
What do you think of this statement?
Does every person living in or visiting any country have a duty to learn every single law in that place? Or should we accept it as a kind of lottery that we might inadverently break a law and get punished for it every once in a while?
Or is the saying "ignorance of the law is no excuse", trite nonsense? |
Yes, it's nonsense.
Never mind other countries, one cannot even know all the laws in one's own country. In America, the average citizen is subject to - ready for this? - a million laws! That's right, on federal. state, and local level. The most astute professor of law could not possibly know all of them. How can an average citizen? |
Sounds about right.
Will you join me in my campaign of slapping across the face every person who says, "Ignorance of the law is no excuse, son!". |
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Space Bar
Joined: 20 Oct 2010
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Posted: Sat Mar 19, 2011 10:06 am Post subject: |
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^ OK, but then I expect you to join me in my campaign to abolish like 90% of these ridiculous, freedom-limiting atrocities. |
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Hyeon Een

Joined: 24 Jun 2005
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Posted: Sat Mar 19, 2011 10:29 am Post subject: |
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Space Bar wrote: |
^ OK, but then I expect you to join me in my campaign to abolish like 90% of these ridiculous, freedom-limiting atrocities. |
Alright, I'm signed up![/code] |
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