RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN LAW AND MORALITY

CHAPTER - 2
WHAT IS LAW?

Law, in its widest sense, means and involves a uniformity of behavior, a constancy of
happenings or a cause of events, rules of action, whether in the phenomena of nature or in the
ways rational human beings. In its general sense law means an order of the universe, of events,
of things or actions. In its judicial sense law means an order of the universe, of events, of things
or actions. In its judicial sense, law means a body of rules of conduct, action or behavior of
person, made and enforced by the State. It expresses a rule of human action.
The different meanings of the word ‘law’ may be classified as follows:
1. Law means justice, morality, reason, order, righteousness etc., from the point of view of
society;
2. Law means Statutes, Acts, rules, regulations, orders, ordinances, etc. from the point of view of
society;
3. Law means titles, written laws, judicial precedents and customs as evidence of law.
Generally the term law is used to mean three things:
First, it is used to mean ‘legal order’. It represents the regime of adjusting relations, and ordering
conduct by the systematic application of the force of organized political society. 2

2.1 DEFINITION OF LAW

1. IDEALISTIC DEFINITIONS:
According to Salmond “the law may be defined as the body of the principles recognized and
applied by the State in the administration of justice”.
According to Gray, “The law of the State or of any organized body of men is composed of the
rules which the Courts, that is, the judicial organ of the body lays down for the determination of
legal rights and duties”.

2
DR. AHMAD MASUM, DEFINITION OF LAW JURISPRUDENCE,(AUGUST 16,2015,2:27 P.M.),
http://www.slideshare.net/tipahnurhafizah/definition-of-law1jurisprudence
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2. POSITIVE DEFINITION:
According to Austin, “A law, in the strict sense, is a general command of the sovereign
individual or the sovereign body, issued to those in subjectivity and enforced by the physical
power of the State”. According to Austin, “law is the aggregate of rules set by men as politically
superior or sovereign to men as politically subject”. He says, “A law is a command which
obliges a person or persons to a course of conduct”.

3. HISTORICAL DEFINITION:
Savigny says that law is not a body of rules set by a determined authority but is rules consist
partly of social habit and partly of experience. It is not the product of direct legislation but is due
to the silent growth of custom or the outcome of unformulated public or a professional opinion.

4. SOCIOLOGICAL DEFINITION:
According to Duguit, law is essentially and exclusively a social fact. It is in no sense a body of
rules laying down rights. Foundation of law is in the essential requirements of the community
life.
Ihering defines law as “the form of the guarantee of the conditions of life of society, assured by
State’s power of constrain”.
According to Pound, “Law is the body of principles recognized or enforced by
public and regular tribunals in the administration of justice.”

5. REALISTIC DEFINITION:
Holmes J. says that “the prophesy of what Courts will do, in fact, and nothing more pretentious,
are what I mean by law”. According to realists, the formal law is simply a guess as to what the
Courts would decide and the law is that what the Courts actually decide.
The modern definition given by Dias is “Law consists largely of ‘ought’ (normative)
propositions prescribing how people ought to behave. The ‘oughts’ of laws are variously dictated
by social, moral, economic, political and other purposes”.

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 RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN LAW AND MORALITY

2.2 FUNCTION AND PURPOSE OF LAW

Law is an instrument of society and its objects are achievement of justice, stability and peaceful
change.

1. JUSTICE AND LAW

The ultimate purpose of law is justice. Salmond says that law is “the body of principles
recognized and applied by the State in administration of justice”. According to Salmond, justice
consists in giving to every man his own. The rule of justice determines the sphere of individual
liberty in the pursuit of individual welfare, so as to confine that liberty within the limits which
are consistent with the general welfare of mankind, within the sphere of liberty so delimited for
every man by the rule of justice, he is left free to seek his own interest in accordance with the
rule of wisdom.

2. STABILITY
Law must aim at stability in society. To achieve stability a balance has to be struck not between
persons, but between interests. The law has to maximize the fulfillment of the interests of the
community and its members and to promote the smooth running on the machinery of society.
Indeed, the motion of law represents the need of uniformity and certainty to achieve stability.
The stability and security for maintaining the social order is derived from uniform unchanging
and certain rules of law.

3. PEACEFUL CHANGE
The existing rules may not provide solution to the cases of changed times and no rule can
provide for every possible case. There is need for flexibility. Flexibility is necessary to enable
the law to adapt itself to social change. As society alters, new social, political and economic
requirements creep in and the needs of the people change from time to time.

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 RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN LAW AND MORALITY

CHAPTER - 3

WHAT IS MORALITY?

Morality refers to as what is good or right. Morality speaks of a system of behavior in regards to
standards of right or wrong behaviour. The word ‘morality’ includes the concepts of moral
standards, with regard to behaviour, moral responsibility, referring to our conscience and a moral
identity, or one who is capable of right or wrong action. It designates the customary values and
standards embedded in a particular way of life. Morality can be defined as principles concerning
right and wrong or good and bad behaviour. Morality describes certain principles that govern
people’s behaviour. Without these principles in world, it would be impossible for the societies to
survive for long. An example of morality can be respecting elders. Morality in its strict sens e can
be understood as the moral behaviour of a human being which is exhibited by him while dealing
with the individuals of the society. Law and morality serve to channel out behaviour. Some
conceive morality not as immutable principles of conduct or as di scoverable by reason, but an
expression of human attitudes to conduct which may vary from society to society or from individual
to individual. Such theorists claim that for a legal system to exist, there must be widely diffused,
though not necessarily universal, recognition of a moral obligation to obey the law, even though this
may be overridden in particular cases, by a stronger moral obligation not to obey particular morally
iniquitous laws.3

3.1 MORALITY DEFINED

Morality speaks of a system of behavior in regards to standards of right or wrong behavior. The
word carries the concepts of:

(1) moral standards, with regard to behavior;

(2) moral responsibility, referring to our conscience; and

(3) a moral identity, or one who is capable of right or wrong action. Common synonyms include
ethics, principles, virtue, and goodness.

3
WHAT IS MORALITY? , (AUGUST 16,2015,3:14 P.M.), https://hessianwithteeth.wordpress.com/2014/12/19/what-is-
morality/
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Morality has become a complicated issue in the multi-cultural world we live in today. Let's
explore what morality is, how it affects our behavior, our conscience, our society, and our
ultimate destiny.

3.2 MORALITY AND OUR BEHAVIOR

Morality describes the principles that govern our behavior. Without these principles in place,
societies cannot survive for long. In today's world, morality is frequently thought of as belonging
to a particular religious point of view, but by definition, we see that this is not the case. Everyone
adheres to a moral doctrine of some kind. Morality as it relates to our behavior is important on
three levels. Renowned thinker, scholar and author C.S. Lewis defines them as:

(1) to ensure fair play and harmony between individuals;

(2) to help make us good people in order to have a good society; and

(3) to keep us in a good relationship with the power that created us. Based on this definition, it's
clear that our beliefs are critical to our moral behavior.

On Point 1, Professor Lewis says most reasonable people agree. By Point 2, however, we begin
to see problems occurring. Consider the popular philosophy "I'm not hurting anyone but myself,"
frequently used to excuse bad personal choices. How can we be the good people we need to be if
we persist in making these choices, and how will that result not affect the rest of our society?
Bad personal choices do hurt others. Point 3 is where most disagreement surfaces. While the
majority of the world's population believes in God, or at least in a god, the question of Creation,
as a theory of origins, is definitely hotly debated in today's society.

A recent report in Psychology Today concluded: "The most significant predictor of a person's
moral behavior may be religious commitment. People who consider themselves very religious
were least likely to report deceiving their friends, having extramarital affairs, cheating on their
expenses accounts, or even parking illegally 4." Based on this finding, what we believe about
Creation has a decided effect on our moral thinking and our behavior. Without belief in a

4
MORALITY,(AUGUST 16,2015,3:33 P.M.) http://virtuefirst.org/virtues/morality/
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 RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN LAW AND MORALITY

Creator, the only option that seems to be left is to adhere to moral standards we make up for
ourselves. Unless we live in a dictatorial society, we are free to choose our own personal moral
code. But where does that freedom come from? The view of many who do not adhere to Creation
is that morality is a creation of humanity, designed to meet the need of stable societies. All kinds
of life are in a process of deciding between life and death, choosing what to do with power
and/or authority. This ultimately leads to a system of virtues and values. The question is: what
happens when our choices conflict with each other? What if something I believe I need in order
for my life to continue results in death for you? If we do not have an absolute standard of truth,
chaos and conflict will result as we are all left to our own devices and desires.

3.3 MORALITY AND OUR CONSCIENCE

Morality impacts our everyday decisions, and those choices are directed by our conscience.
Again, we must decide for ourselves where the conscience originates. Many people hold to the
idea that the conscience is a matter of our hearts, that concepts of right, wrong, and fairness are
"programmed" in each of us. This is in keeping with the writings of Paul the Apostle, who points
out that even those who do not believe in God frequently obey God's laws as given in the Ten
Commandments: "for when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do the things in the
law, these, although not having the law, are a law to themselves, who show the work of the law
written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and between themselves their
thoughts accusing or else excusing them". Again, those who do not believe in God are left with
the only possible conclusion they can come to - that our decisions are based solely on our need to
survive. What we call our conscience, then, would be based on learned behavior, rather than part
of a Divine design. 5

5
MORALITY, MORALITY DEFINED, MORALITY AND OUR BEHAVIOR, MORALITY AND OUR CONSCIENCE, (AUGUST
16,2015,3:47 P.M.), http://www.allaboutphilosophy.org/morality.htm

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 RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN LAW AND MORALITY

(2) That even if morality could be legislated, it should not be...that to do so is somehow
improper, even tyrannical, either because there is no morality objective enough to justify legal
enforcement or because one's autonomy and individuality would be violated by attempts to
legislate morality or perhaps even because one really has no autonomy that can respond to any
external directive.
4.2 DIFFERENCE BETWEEN LAW AND MORALS
Ever since we were kids and became aware of our surroundings, our parents and elders have
instilled in us a fundamental awareness of what is right and wrong. It is actually an inherent trait
of all humans and grows from our desire to get along well with each other in order to live a
harmonious life.
To achieve this goal we understand that we must do to other people what we expect them to do
to us in return. For this, we try very hard to do what we feel and see as the right things to do in
certain situations. This is the foundation of morals. They are the rules of conduct that shows how
our society expects us to behave and are the guiding principles behind the creation of laws.
Based on society’s morals, laws are created and enforced by governments to mediate in our
relationships with each other. Laws are made by governments in order to protect its citizens. The
judiciary, legislature, and public officials are the three main bodies in a government that are
assigned to the task of the creation of laws.
Laws have to be approved and written by these three branches of government before they are
implemented and enforced by the police and the military, with the help of the legal system
consisting of lawyers and other government servants. 7
While laws carry with them a punishment for violations, morals does not. In morals everything
depends on the person’s conscience and self worth. Driving carefully and within the speed limit
because you don’t want to hurt someone is ethical, but if you drive slowly because you see a
police car behind you, this suggests your fear of breaking the law and being punished for it.

7
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN LAW AND MORALITY, (AUGUST 16,2015,4:55 P.M.)
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/telegraph-view/3612284/Difference-between-law-and-morality.html

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Morals comes from within a person’s moral sense and desire to preserve his self respect. It is not
as strict as laws. Laws are codifications of certain ethical values meant to help regulate society,
and punishments for breaking them can be harsh and sometimes even break ethical standards.
Take the case of the death penalty. We all know that killing someone is wrong, yet the law
punishes people who break the law with death. With this comes the argument about whether laws
are necessary at all. But it is important to note that without laws people are aware of the chaos
that might reign in society.
Morals and laws are therefore necessary to provide guidance and stability to people and society
as a whole.
Law and morals are two important terms associated with the science of management. Law is a
set of universal rules that are framed, accepted when usually enforced. Morals on the other hand
define how individuals prefer to interact with one another.
The word morals is derived from the Latin ‘moralis’ meaning character. The word ‘moralis’
combines with another Latin word, ‘ethos’ meaning ‘customs’ to give the actual meaning.
It is important to note that the definition of law contains terms such as consistent, universal,
published, accepted and enforced. A law has to be consistent because there cannot be two
contradicting requirements in law since people cannot obey both. It has to be universal because
the requirements must be applicable to everyone.
The requirements have to be in a written form and hence a law is published. The requirements
have to be obeyed too and hence a law is accepted in sense. Since the requirements are
compelled to be obeyed by the members of a society, the law becomes enforced.
Morals on the other hand cannot be compelled and hence they cannot be enforced . They need
not be universal too. Morals need not be published. On the contrary morals totally depends on
the individual and the choice of the individual in terms of his interaction with the other members
of the society.
Disobeying law is liable for punishment. On the other hand when someone does not adhere to
principles of morals then he is not liable for punishment.
Morals have altogether a different set of characteristics. Morals consists in learning what is right
and what is wrong and doing the right thing. It is interesting to note that ethical decisions have
various consequences, outcomes, alternatives and personal implications. It is thus understood
that both law and morals are applicable to all walks of life and to all professions as well.

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