The Wisdom of Reading the Law

John W. Welch

Reading the law is a good policy. In America and in the world generally, we send people to Congress, Parliament, and other governing institutions, and they enact many laws—so many that we have whole law libraries, and we sometimes have trouble figuring out what the laws are. One thing that would help law enforcement and civil obedience would be if there were better general understandings of the law among all people. I suppose nobody may want to listen to the Internal Revenue Code read out loud once every seven years, but there are other parts of the law that are generally applicable and universally important. At least the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and a few other things would be nice to read or hear read every seven years. It would become a kind of ritual, a renewal, a recommitment, and people would know the law. If you do not know the law, you have less chance of keeping it all the time. The Nephites were wise enough to read and renew the covenant character of their law. They tell us that they were strict in observing the Law of Moses, and doing this was part of the Law of Moses.

John W. Welch Notes

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