This urban legend came up on Twitter recently but it's been around a long time. It's an example of how people don't understand how their own legal system works. I never discussed this on the Fact-Checking page or at least I can't find the discussion now.
These people believe an urban legend which says that if a legal system addresses a subject, it approves of the activities addressed by the legal system.
By this logic, the American legal system approves of driving while drunk, drugged, drowsy, or distracted, as well as murder, rape, incest and treason.
In fact it's quite the opposite. The principle nullum crimen nulla poena was discussed in the archaeology section and on the Mendel Beilis pages. Legal systems, including Torah, do two things.
1) Define what has to happen before a trial can take place. In Torah, the formula is often ki plus an imperfect verb for something that happens that sparks a court case.
2) Define what consequences are punishable and often how. In Torah, this is at least one perfect aspect verb following the ki plus imperfect. It may be followed by an imperfect verb that prescribes the penalty.
The specific context on Twitter was about committing battery against an eved. The tweet committed the fallacy of sampling bias by ignoring that the law specified negative consequences for the person who committed the battery.
The tweeter also committed the strawman argument fallacy by quoting English instead of Hebrew. I had specified that a response address the subject in Hebrew. The tweeter ignored that because he didn't know Hebrew. He also committed the fallacy of using an unreliable authority -- as well as being an unreliable authority.
Because he didn't know anything about how legal systems work. He just wanted to say something bad about Judaism.
Which is where lots of urban legends about Judaism start.
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