The political tactic of disobeying a law deliberately, in order to bring about some change. The disobedience should ideally be public, non-violent, and committed by activists willing to face the penalties of the law.

http://www.earlham.edu/~peters/writing/civ-dis.htm A summary of the moral arguments for and against civil disobedience

http://thoreau.eserver.org/civil.html Thoreau’s classic ‘Civil Disobedience’, annotated and with links to other internet resources