In a society such as ours, we need a system by which to prosecute those that do break the law. Even those laws of civilized man that need not be written down. Thou shall not kill, nor steal, nor covet your neighbors wife and so on are all sins if you will, that a civilized society expects people to inherently avoid and distain. For the huge majority of peace loving people laws are not necessary. But, as I mentioned, there must be a system to prosecute those that do not adhere to these natural laws. To accomplish this peace in the human community we have written a set of laws and consequences for breaking them and breaking the trust of society. Without this system and the technicalities that accompany it, we would be reduced to a band of vigilanties. This I see as the need for laws, not as a Big Brother control mechanism, but as a society doing all it can to evolve to something better than we are.
JP