The Minos is Plato’s record of the conversations in which Socrates compares the lawmaking of the failing Athenian democracy to the lawmaking of the legendary King Minos of Crete, son and pupil of Zeus. The deficiencies that eventually collapsed the Athenian democracy served as lessons for the thinkers of the 18th Century, including the Framers of the American Constitution. The checks and balances created by the Framers of the American Constitution are designed to prevent the "rush to decision," which Socrates recognized as a characteristic failing of the Athenian legislature. When Socrates opened the conversation with his young "companion" concerning the meaning of law, he used the law of King Minos to illustrate the important point that law is respected primarily because it is believed to be connected with the eternal principles of justice. Socrates opened his dialogue on the meaning of law by suggesting to the pupil that, even though there will not usually be agreement among all citizens on what is to be respected as “law,” there is universal agreement among persons everywhere about the principles of “justice.” BOOK LIST: Jean-Francois Revel, How Democracies Perish (1985).