One night at the pub, some guy punches you. You may have provoked him, he might have been too stubborn to apologize. Who knows. Details are a bit hazy. So, the next day you track down where the guy lives. You go and burn down his house. Several members of his family die in the flames. But you feel better. Justice has been done.
Years later, the people at the pub still debate whether, how or to what extend you had provoked the guy. And whether, when and how sincerely he wanted to apologize and maybe even buy you a beer. These are the pertinent points left to discuss, after all. Some say, your actions were against the pub rules. Others say, that - quite the opposite - the pub rules left you with no other cause of action. The pub rules are complicated.
“Who knows what the guy would have done next if he hadn’t got his house burned down to send him a message!? Yes, it is of course regrettable that some of his family had to die. But the guy should have known what he got himself into! In the grand scheme of things, burning down his house surely helped to prevent more damage than it caused!”
Most people outside the pub are somewhat indifferent in regards to what happened back then. “It was a pub fight, after all. And such things happen in pub fights. Who’s to say who really was in the right or in the wrong? Nothing to learn from.”
