Appeal to the law

Type of logical fallacy

An appeal to the law is an informal fallacy in which someone tries to encourage or defend an action based on its legality, or condemn it as morally reprehensible, purely because it is illegal. This line of reasoning is faulty because although the law of the land is important, it does not necessarily match up with the morality or sensibility of an action. In reality, many statutorily forbidden acts are malum prohibitum rather than malum in se.

This keyword could refer to multiple things. Here are some suggestions: