Recently there has been a case in my dear old homeland
Bolehland, regarding the Death of a robber at the hands of his victim. The
victim has been charged with murder, leading to swift satiric comics and
comments about how the principle of self-defence works, attached below is such
an example.
However based on natural law and most legal scholarship in
international Law, the principle of self-defence is tied to the idea of the
permissibility of using force for the ideals of self preservation. First things
first before you even think about whether self-defence is an inherent right
lets first see how the permissibility of use of force works. A use of force may
only be used in self defence provided that it fulfils the necessity of said
force, even if said necessity is proven the amount of force used must be
proportional to the necessity which deems it possible. The cartoon states that
it would be illegal for a counter terrorist to use a rifle as it is bigger than
a handgun. This is a fallacy where both threats posed by the use of said
weapons are proportional where as if it were a machete opposed to a kitchen
knife the proportionality is significantly less. In layman’s terms, if you want
to defend yourself when necessity provides ensure that you use only as much
force that is proportional to prevent harm to yourself.