Morality and the

LAW
E T H I C A L T H E O RY
 Morality and the
LAW
Legalistic Fallacy
When a person infers
Ethics and that because something
legality are easily is immoral it therefore
should be illegal, or vice
confused. versa.
This is because of
so many thigs that I commit the fallacy if I infer
are immoral are from the fact that excessive
also, quite properly, drinking is immoral that it
illegal. should therefore be illegal,
or if I infer from the fact that
slavery was legal in 1860
that it was therefore
morally acceptable.
 Morality and the
LAW
Both disagree about the
relationship of morality to
law.

PATRICK DEVLIN H.L.A Hart

-Grants that there should be a
realm of privacy beyond the
reach of the law.
-The Ultimate basis of the law
can be nothing other than the
morality of society.
He finds Devlin’s view
mistaken and potentially
dangerous . “What
protects individuals from
suffocation by the moral
majority?”
 Morality and the
LAW
PATRICK DEVLIN
Morality can change, it follows
that nothing can be absolutely
off-limits to the law.
H.L.A Hart
Hart recommends, that the
connection between law and
morality be mediated by a strong
recognition of existing human rights,
especially the right of individual
liberty.