Most legal behavior involves using law rather than obeying it

Evidence

Clearly, all of this activity—​going to court and getting a divorce—​is legal behavior. Certainly the couple followed forms and rules. But we would hardly say they “obeyed” the law. The law does not order anybody to get a divorce. What it does is tell you how to get one if you want one. Thus it makes no sense to talk about obeying or disobeying the law in this instance. Rather, we should talk about using (or not using) the law of divorce. And, in general, except in criminal law and with reference to some rules and regulations, legal behavior is more a matter of using or not using than of obeying or disobeying. — Lawrence M. Friedman and Grant M. Hayden, American Law, 1041

Categorization

• DEFINE: Introduces the core conceptual distinction between obeying (criminal law) and using (facilitative law) that recurs throughout Friedman’s framework.
• XREF: Connects to the ch9 claim about Black vs Fuller definitions of law, and to the polyad’s broader question of what counts as legal behavior. — connects to: A law can only shape behavior if it is communicated — Lawrence M. Friedman and Grant M. Hayden, American Law: An Introduction, 1055; Laws shape behavior even among those who violate them — Lawrence M. Friedman and Grant M. Hayden, American Law: An Introduction, 1047; Legal prohibition shifts normalcy even for those who still practice the behavior — , The Rod and the Child: A Global History…, 7963 (+4 more)

Broader Connections

• Legal prohibition causes attitudinal change rather than merely reflecting it #corroborates (0.85) — , The Rod and the Child, 10919
• Laws shape behavior even among those who violate them #corroborates (0.80) — Lawrence M. Friedman and Grant M. Hayden, American Law, 1047
• Even weakly enforced laws redirect how violations occur #corroborates (0.80) — Lawrence M. Friedman and Grant M. Hayden, American Law, 1046
• Legal prohibition shifts normalcy even for those who still practice the behavior #corroborates (0.78) — , The Rod and the Child, 7963
• Behavior is regulated by legal, social, and self-evaluative sanctions #expands (0.72)
• Law shapes society while remaining society’s creation #qualifies (0.72) — Lawrence M. Friedman and Grant M. Hayden, American Law, 1333