> "so basically you are saying that when something in the law is not clear, it's the job of the lawyers to make it sure they give proper advice to the next person coming into that situation, while the unlucky first person just has to face consequences?"
That is a lawyer's job, yes.
On the other hand, it is also our Constitutional tradition to give the defendant generally the benefit of the doubt on the law (rule of lenity, reasonable doubt, and so forth).
You can't hold someone in violation of a law he or she could not have reasonably foreseen.
That is a lawyer's job, yes.
On the other hand, it is also our Constitutional tradition to give the defendant generally the benefit of the doubt on the law (rule of lenity, reasonable doubt, and so forth).
You can't hold someone in violation of a law he or she could not have reasonably foreseen.