Morality and Law

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por Nurul Fadilah Shahrin

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por YURY BANESA SALAS SALAS

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por Sumaiyah Kwaengboo

Are Law and Morality ever likely to co-exist?

Morality can be roughly described as a set of values which are normative, specifying the correct course of action in a situation, and the limits of what society considers acceptable.

Law can be seen as the state echoing, and seeking to uphold, these values. These descriptions can be seen to be, however, not entirely correct, and the issue of law and morality is undeniably complex

Not all people are convinced that the law should used to enforce a particular moral code

One of these questions related to: What to punish?

On the basis of Law?

Or both?

On the basis of Morality?

Morailty and Law

CONCLUSION

Main points of evaluation

Main points of analysis

Objective

Aim

Recap

Main topic

INTRODUCTION

REASONING

What was the reasoning behind these choices?

CONTENT

What research, studies, philosophies, theories, evidence have you analysed, evaluated, explored, discussed in an attempt to answer the question?

CONTEXT

In what context does the question relate to?

OBJECTIVES

How might you answer the question?

AIMS

What is the question asking?

DESCRIPTION

How and Why to Punishment

These are just a few of the many questions surrounding the social institution that is punishment

Defining features of Punishment

Condemnation and censure

Expressive Function of Punishment

What message are we trying to send on a specific general level when we seek to punish?

Definition of Punishment

Provide an official/unoffical definiton

COMPARE/CONTRAST

Examples of laws on debatable moral issues

See Gillick v West Norfolk Area Health Authority (1986) – Airedale NHS Trust v Bland (1993) – R v Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority ex parte Blood (1997) –

Examples of Law

Without Moral Content

See R v Kingston (1994), R v Somerset CC ex parte Fewings (1995)

With Moral Content

Murder, Theft, Incest, Obscenity

CRITICAL EVALUATION

Case Studies

There are a range of high profile cases that demonstrate the ambiguous relationship between morality and law. These are....

R v's Brown, 1994

R v's Wilson, 1993

R v's R, 1991

Re A Conjoined Twins (2000) CA

NHS Trust v's Bland (1993), 2WLR 316

Ethics

One of the major problems which arises when law attempts to take the above approach with regard to morality. It will consistently change with time, to reflect a change in attitudes, and the law must attempt to stay abreast of the situation.

Provide examples of where the law has attempted to reflect changes in moral views.

Diversity

Can the law ever reflect the diversity of moral opinion that exists in a multicultural society such as England?

Provide examples of the range of moral opinion

Hart/Devlin Debate

The debate over the relationship of law and morality was brought to the fore in the famous Hart/Devlin debate, which followed the publication of the Wolfenden report in 1957.

The report recommended the legalisation of prostitution and homosexuality on the utilitarian basis that the law ‘should not intervene in the private lives of citizens or seek to enforce any particular pattern of behaviour further than necessary’ to protect others.

CRITICAL ANALYSIS

Enforecement

Morality is enforced through the use of public expressions of condemnation, ostracisation, denunciation

Law is enforced through the use of the criminal law, formal punishment, legal sanctions

The relationship between morality and law is complex, often intersecting and diverging in significant ways. Some laws directly reflect moral values, such as those against murder and theft, while others, like those discussed in cases such as R v Kingston, do not.