Law And Morality

1038 Words5 Pages
Law, a set of rules and principles created and enforced by the state. Morals are a set of beliefs, values principles and standards of behaviour created by society. There are differences between legal rules and moral rules. Law are created by formal intuition e.g. parliament. Morals evolve as a feeling within society. No formal creation exists. Laws can be instantly made and instantly cancelled. It can exist one minute and the next it does not. E.g. when act is repealed. Morals form slowly and change slowly as society’s attitudes change. There is usually a slow transitional period e.g. society’s attitude to premarital sex. A law either exists or it does not. Its existence can be established. Morals are much vaguer in definition. Although society is generally that certain activities are immoral, e.g. murder, as many issues society’s opinion is divided such as homosexuality. Breach of law leads to some form of punishment or remedy enforced by the state. Breach of moral leads to some form of social condemnation but the state is not involved. Society’s attitude to law is irrelevant. A law exists even if the vast majority disobey it. Morals are rules that reflect society’s values and beliefs. Therefore these values and beliefs are vital for the existence of moral. There is overlap between law and morals. An example includes prostitution. The area of law that will be discussed is euthanasia. Factors will be taken into account, the extent to which the law does and should enforce moral values. Euthanasia is the bringing about of a gentle and easy death in the case of incurable and painful disease with the consent of the victim. English law forbids euthanasia. R v Cox. There are many moral arguments both in support of legalising euthanasia and for maintaining it as illegal. An important case here is R (Pretty) v DPP Arguments in favour of legalising
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