Herbert Lionel Adolphus Hart : The Relationship Between Law And Moral Theory

PHL 612 Philosophy of Law [Calendar Description]: What is law? What makes something a legal norm? Should

Criminal law is a construct of the government, enforced through tangible measures. In a democratic society, the government is elected by the citizens, and as such, laws are generally conceived with the aim to reflect whatever ethical or moral standards are presently acceptable. However, in order to be truly effective, some legislation must circumvent current sociological viewpoints in order to create laws that are genuinely in the best interests of society. This results in a delicate balancing act, as lawmakers attempt to weigh the views of the majority against the need for laws to be both reasoned and objective.

In Law and Morality by Andrew Ilyes, the definition, theories, and numerous factors that relate to the legislation of morality are discussed. It

In the United States of America laws exist that govern business transactions to facilitate taxation, encourage fair competition, protect intellectual property, govern how employees & employers interact, & to protect the environment. Law, can generally be defined as system of rules enforced by the government through the use of statues, decrees, regulations, contracts, and the US constitution in order to impact behavior. A good law is one that allows individual rights to extend as far as possible without impact negatively another person. Likewise, a good law is one that does not violate any person’s basic human rights. Specifically this essay will discuss how two Jesuit values can support law, and examples of poor law that aligns with said values. The intent is to show pragmatic examples of law that is living up to the previous expectations set of law and those that do not.

I this paper I shall agree with Mill that we should reject legal moralism. I will start with the summary of legal moralism, then I will continue with a small concept of the Devlin and Mill debate about legal moralism. Then I will move onto my critique, in which I will agree with Mill, that we should reject legal moralism. I will start with simple definition in order to understand the concept, then I will move on to the pros of legal moralism according to Devlin, then I will end with why we should reject legal moralism.

While society enforces thousands upon thousands of rules and laws, understanding the ethics and reasons behind enactment of the laws are still missing in society. Immanuel Kant said it best in the Categorical Imperative when he said, “"All maxims as proceeding from our own [hypothetical] making of law ought to harmonize with a possible kingdom of ends" (Kant, 2009, p. 75). If ethics is not being taught in conjunction with lawmaking, then people will never understand the reasoning behind the creation of the laws under which they must live. Ethics and law are deeply intertwined law is founded on the ethics of the people writing

Law is essentially a set of rules and principles created and enforced by the state whereas morals are a set of beliefs, values and principles and behaviour standards which are enforced and created by society. Legal and moral rules can be isolated with the former being created by the legislative institution of parliament; whereas the latter have evolved with and through society and are the standards which society in general accepts and promotes. Some laws mirror the majority of society’s

There has been a long drawn out debate on whether CSR should be catered for by law or one that should be left to individuals and organisations morality. Law, a coercive order, seeks to bring about a specific mode of human conduct by force, whereas morality which is a persuasive system appeals to the conscience of the individual required. A rule is a rule of morality if by common practice of the community, it applies only to the conscience of the addressee for ultimate compliance, but a rule is a rule of law if by the common practice of the community it will eventually be enforced by a power external to the addressee, i.e. the state or community. The extent to which law can be used to enforce morals has been the subject of expression in some decided cases. In England, Lord Denning in Shaw v. D.P.P. (1962) A.C P.220 advocated the view that the society reserves the right to use criminal law to preserve morality in the same way as the society uses criminal law to preserve anything it considers essential for its survival. Prof Hart in Knuller v. D.P.P. (1973) A.C. P.435, on his part suggested that that it was wrongful to enforce morality through the criminal law without first ensuring that failure to do so will endanger the social fabrics. Notwithstanding the divergent views, both writers agree that moral values are very important to the society and that there is need for law to uphold some moral position

This is also in accordance to the theories made by John Finnis, a naturalist, who proposes that humans need law to help them achieve their own “projects” in life and any rule that hinders them from doing so can be rightfully disobeyed given that it doesn’t cause a social distortion. With all these adding up, we can see why he considers the procedure of lawmaking as the internal morality of law. An analogy was given by him with his principles of legality being labelled as the rules to using the tool, law. If the rules are not followed then the tool cannot be used to its fullest extent and thus the definition of the law is not realised. Accommodation to the principle is morale as it helps in achieving a human’s greatest purpose in life.

Legal normativity constitutes an idea that one must abide by the laws of an established legal system. Logically, it follows that sanctions are a necessary product of legal obligation as it confers both upon the legal obligation a sense of authority, and upon individuals an incentive to submit oneself to such rule of law. However, when viewed from the perspective of Natural Law theorists, such as John M. Finnis, whose belief of an ultimate end, or good, in life is that of social harmony, legal obligation is predominantly an adverse form of moral normativity.

However, one definition is that laws are a system of rules and guidelines which are enforced through social institutions to govern behavior. By this definition we can already see why the study of ethics and laws should not be intertwined. The smoking gun in this claim is the statement, “guidelines which are enforced through social institutions to govern behavior”. We see that the words social institutions are used. A social institution is nothing more than

To what extent are legal positivists and natural law theorists accurate in terms of the idea that ‘an unjust law cannot be a valid law’? In this essay i will attempt to define the concept of the validity of law in relation to both natural law theorists and positivist theorists. For the purpose of this essay I will define validity of a law as ”Having legal force; effective or binding” (The Free Dictionary). The main reason for the continual debate between both theories is that they are both very similar although they may appear to be at contrary ends of each spectrum. Natural law theorists believe that in order for a law to be valid it must have some moral principle therefore if laws which are enacted in statues have no authority, they are not moral. Whereas positivists support and emphasise the importance of a division between morality and law.

rule that one ought to go to the cinema on a Saturday night. There can

Law is a concept that has evolved from basic morality with which the society cannot function properly without. Generally, law is associated with the customs and traditions that the society considers to be right or wrong. As a concept that has developed throughout the history of many societies, law has become an important facet in today's businesses and society. Notably, this concept has been part of the society since the period of the most primitive societies where it was based on basic morality. The development of this concept to its significance in business and the society is attributed to the fact that the society has become more developed and complex. Therefore, law has adopted extra functions in addition to its initial basic purpose of keeping peace in the society.

“All definitions or characterizations of law veer between two extremes positions: One extreme emphasizes its coercive character; the other lays stress on the social acceptance, the actual observance of law by the