And I think that is an absurd conclusion. Nobody seriously thinks violating the speed limit or ripping your own DVDs is on the same level as murder or fraud, yet the former two are routinely violated to society’s benefit, with no impact on murder prosecution.

I do not subscribe to it myself, but "dura lex sed lex" is literally millennia old, so it's hardly an obscure notion.

It may have had more value in more savage times millenia ago before the proliferation of very many victimless crimes.