Criteria for Civil Disobedience

1. An act of civil disobedience breaks a certain law.

2. The actor must know he’s breaking the law 2. The actor must know he’s breaking the law. The act must be done consciously and deliberately.

3. The act must be public.

4. An act of civil disobedience does not reject the system as a whole.

5. The purpose of civil disobedience must be to protest an unjust law with the hope of changing it.

6. The individual follows a higher moral law; he follows his conscience.

7. The actor must accept the punishment for his actions.

8. The action must be non-violent.