Bismarck City Civics
Why Are Laws so Important in a Community?
You need rules in your classroom.
People in a community need rules, too!
In a community rules are called laws.
What is one important rule in your classroom? Why do you have that rule?
Why Do Communities Make Laws?
Students in Mr. Johnson’s room were leaving the classroom a mess. Everyday Anita and Susan stayed behind to clean it up. Mr. Johnson thought that wasn’t fair. Mr. Johnson made a new rule.
Everyone has to help clean up the classroom at the end of the day.
Why did Mr. Johnson make the new rule?
Mr. Johnson made the rule in order to solve a problem. What was the problem?
- Students were leaving the classroom a mess.
- Two students had to clean the mess up.
The same thing happens in communities. Communities make laws in order to solve problems.
Read the community law below. What problem do you think
the community had?
It is the responsibility of the owner of any dog to keep the dog on the owner's property.
Why did the community need this law?
The community had a problem with dogs running loose. The loose dogs were in other people’s yards. They sometimes bit people. The loose dogs were sometimes in danger. Cars came close to running into them.
Should Laws Protect People’s Rights?
Do you think Mr. Jones liked the new Garbage Law? He probably didn’t! He felt it was his right to throw his garbage on his lawn!
When communities make laws they do need to think about the rights of people. These rights are called individual rights. Individual is another name for one person. Individual rights are things a person is allowed to have or to do.
What About the Common Good?
When communities make laws they also have to think about the common good. The common good is what is best for everybody. Most people in Lawless Town felt the garbage law would be best for everybody.
Think about a seesaw, or a teeter totter. It can be hard to balance each side. That's why making laws can be hard.
A community needs to balance the common good and individual rights. It needs to protect individuals, I also needs to do what is best for everybody.
People in a community make laws to solve problems. Communities have to balance the common good and individual rights. Laws have to do what is best for everybody. Laws also have to protect individual rights.
