I am an American, I just don't believe this idea that the law has anything to do with principles or a hard code of rules. That just isn't what I observe in practice, unless the enforcers of the law happen to be totally neutral to the conflict at hand.

The law is enforced based on the general feelings of the people in power, and they will bend principles to punish/reward those that they perceive to be "bad" and "good" accordingly, based on their prejudices.

The idea that "might makes right" is sort of a tautology. What you consider to be right is based on a historical precedent set by the mighty.