Writing in the Sand: Mercy and Charity Above the Law?

Vanja-Ivan Savić

doi:10.18778/0208-6069.113.08

Authors

Vanja-Ivan Savić Catholic University of Croatia https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9831-4811

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18778/0208-6069.113.08

Keywords:

mercy, charity, biblical law, civil law, common law, justice

Abstract

In this text the author elaborates the nature of the concepts of mercy and charity in western legal jurisdictions based on Judeo-Christian tradition and culture, arguing that both concepts, although different, have crucial roles in shaping justice and adjusting the repressive power states and governments possess. It is shown that contemporary law could not be fully fulfilled without the application of charity and mercy which guarantee the existence of law designed to serve humankind. Subsections of this article examine examples from Biblical Law to more recent legal systems and give the perspective in which the place of charity and mercy stays within the regulatory framework of contemporary legal scholarship.

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