law and morality

laws

formal institutions eg Parliament

instantly made or repealed

existence can be established

sanction/ punishment/ remedy

attitude is irrelevant

obligatory

not necessarily fault based

morals

evolve with society

only vaguely defined

societal pressure and disapproval

subjective

fault-based

pluralist society

more than one culture, race, religion etc

Devlin

1. individual freedom must be consistent with the integrity of society

2. avoid changing laws which reflect morality

3. privacy must be respected

4. law concerns minimum standards of behaviour, society’s standards are higher

positivism

laws and morals should be kept seperate

positivist (Aristotle)

the law should be ‘reason, free from passion’

positivist (Mill)

only exercise power over any member to prevent harm to others, not his own good

positivist (Hart)

laws should only intervene where immorality causes harm

natural law theory

the law should be used to enforce moral values

natural law (Aquinas)

‘dictate of right reason’

natural law (Devlin)

it is an error to separate crime from sin

Pretty v DPP 2001

attempted to change the law in favour of euthanasia, but prohibited

Evans v UK 2007

Evans wanted to use embryos fertilised by ex-partner

despite emotional issues at stake, consent must be applied