Using civil disobedience

A common understanding of civil disobedience is predicated on the notion that there are times when it becomes imperative to break a law, or set of laws, that appear unjust in comparison to what some would call a higher law.

In the late 1950s, civil rights activists in the United States broke laws in the South that prohibited African Americans from sitting at the lunch counters of then white-only establishments, motivated by a higher law or set of moral codes.