Law and morality

Definition of Law by Sir John Salmond

Laws are the body of principles recognised and applied by the state in the administration of justice.

Definition of Law by John Austin

Laws are a command issued from a sovereign power to an inferior and enforced by coercion.

What do morals consist of according to Phil Harris?

Morals are a set of beliefs, values, principles, and standards of behaviour.

Where do laws come from

Bills made by parliament as well as judicial decisions,

How are laws enforced?

Through police control and punishments that may be enforced if your break a law such as prison sentences or fines.

What is a key difference between how laws and morals are developed?

Laws can change through legislative processes and judicial decisions they change over after few years, however in emergency situations laws can be very quickly changed for example the laws introduced with covid 19, while morals develop over many years based on societal beliefs these can be enforced through things like inclusion and praise if you follow them, however if you break them, punishment could include things like exclusion from society. Morals also often change with society

Coincidence means that

The two ideas are actually overlapping and influencing each other, this means that either law influences morality oe morality influences law

Example of law influencing morality

The smoking ban in the Health Act 2006 changed public perceptions about smoking in public places.

Example of morality influencing law

The case of R V R where marital rape was made illegal due to societal beliefs that unconsensual sex is morally wrong.

Definition of divergence in the context of law and morality

Divergence means that two ideas are not connected, in other words the law does not match up to the societies moral opinions, there are many reasons why this might occur for instance the law makers morals dont match up with societies morals- this may be due to many of the people high up in parliament as well as judges high up in the supreme court are mainly are elderly white men which is not representative of the multicultural society we live in today, there isn't a consensus on societies morals for instance there is varying opinions on same sex marriage, and moral change overtime so laws may not update with these changes. 

What is natural law theory?

natural law says that there are some things that are naturally right and wrong and so our man made laws sho]udl mirror the natural order, we work out what is naturally right or wrong through our morality, therefore our laws should be based on our morals and if a law is not in line with with morality it should not be followed, Aristotle thought natural orders are the laws of nature and the universe

What concluded that homosexuality should be legalized?

The Wolfenden report concluded that homosexuality should be legalised due to it being a private act that did not harm others,

What did Aristotle think of natural law?

Natural orders align with the laws of nature and the universe.

What did lord devlin say

Lord Devlin believed in natural law and said that society is held together by a common morality and without this common morality, society would disintegrate. It is therefore the laws business to uphold this common morality to maintain order in society, even if that interferes with people's personal lives, the test for whether something is immoral is whether the ordinary man would regard it with intolerance, indignation or disgust, and he says that the ordinary man is not expected to reason about anything and his judgement may be a matter of feeling

What is positivism in the context of law?

 believes that the law has many purposes. It can be used to enforce morality, but does not have to. Therefore if a law is not in line with morality, this is not a problem

What did Jeremy Bentham say about good laws?

Good laws bring the maximum happiness to the maximum number of people.

What did John Stuart Mill advocate regarding individual liberty?

Good laws should not interfere with an individual's liberty unless to prevent harm to others.He said that it would be unacceptable for the law to restrict an individual's freedom because other people felt a particular way

What did hart say.

Hart said that basing the law on morality was unnecessary because society does not have a common morality and so will not fall apart if the law does not set common moral standards, and is undesirable because this will discourage the development of moral opinions, which will harm progress in society.

A few examples of laws that align with harts views include

include rylands v fletcher, nuisance and the health and safety at work act, and some laws that go against his ideas include possession of drugs, equity, and rv owen.