Law and Morality

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Law and Morality In order to understand the meaning of law there are two distinctive theories that need to be examined. Firstly, there is Legal Positivism, this is where a group of people, known as positivists believe that if there is a legal rule made by the legislative power, and then society must obey these laws. John Austin developed the Command Theory of Law, and according to his theory a sovereign, which is backed up by threats, expresses laws. Secondly, there is Natural Law; this is where a group of people know as Natural Law Theorists believe that laws are not valid unless they coincide with natural law. Natural Law, according to Thomas Aquinas said that “natural law was the divine law of god.” If a state law conflicted with divine Law it was said to be invalid. Next, we have morality. “Morals are beliefs and values which are shared by a society or sections of a society; they tell those who share them what is right and wrong” Under morality, Positivists argue that a law can be valid even if it is morally wrong to have that law. For example, File sharing on the Internet is said to be illegal due to laws stating so. However, the majority of people in society don’t believe that it is right to buy all music from stores if they can buy it online and so there for do so. Another example is that positivists believe that smoking under the age of eighteen is illegal and therefore should be prosecuted if caught. However, natural law theorists believe that if someone wants to smoke under the age of eighteen then they should have the power to do so. In order to understand how the law is connected to morality, we need to understand the differences between law and morality. In the United Kingdom, parliament and senior judges in the appeal courts make laws. If one person does not keep to these laws then he or she shall be prosecuted. In contrast, according to Morality,

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