Laws are what uphold the order in a community. Once individuals cease to comply with the laws set in their society, it threatens the integrity of that society. Socrates agrees with Creon’s argument that individuals have a duty to obey the law, but their reasoning and logic behind this claim is different.
Despite his advisors and family telling him not to do so, Creon stuck with his decision to not bury Polyneices. He says that “when a city takes a leader, you must obey… when people stay in line and obey, their lives and everything else are safe. For this reason, order must be maintained.” (Sophocles, 29). Creon is a selfish ruler, which is made clear when he says incredulously “So I should rule this country for someone other than myself?” (32). Creon believes in the sanctity and preservation of the law, but less for the sake of the common good and more because he thinks that “A city belongs to its master” (32). He holds that his rulings are absolute and should never be questioned, simply because they are his rulings.
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Once one agrees to a trial by jury, one must “respect the judgement that the city came to” (Plato, 51). When Socrates’ friend Crito comes to his jail cell in a last minute effort to persuade him to flee before his execution, Socrates must convince Crito to accept the verdict of the trial. He says that if what the court determines fair is not followed it threatens to destroy the laws of the land, “which orders that the judgement of the courts shall be carried out” (51). This determination of Socrates to preserve the laws of the city, in this case when his own life is at stake, shows that he values the word of law above everything else, and he at least agrees with Creon in this