The Effect of Morality and Justice on Law

The Effect of Morality and Justice on Law

Over the years, the legal personnel of the English Legal System have

tried to separate law from morality and justice. This has proven to be

quite a hard task considering the fact that even the House of Lords

judges allow their morals to influence their decisions on certain

cases.

I think it is difficult to separate morality from law because most of

the laws in Britain are an example of enacted morality, such as the

law on manslaughter and murder, which echoes the commandment "Thou

shalt not kill."

Separating justice from law is just as hard. The dictionary definition

of justice is 'the normative idea of the proper outcome to a case.'

People seem to misinterpret this and understand it as the actual

outcome of the case and so having been through the process of law and

not getting the outcome they expected they say that justice was not

done.

Moral principles can prove to be justificatory, that is they provide

reasons for actions rather than excuses; they are concerned with the

rights of those other than the originator of the principle. A moral

justification will provide a valid reason why something should or

should not happen.

A famous debate concerning morals was between a Professor Hart and

Lord Devlin. Professor Hart argued that morality was something totally

different to law. He said law was the logical correct decision and

morals were private judgements. Lord Devlin said law and morals were

one of the same.

The statement, "You can't legislate morality," is, in my opinion, a

half truth. Almost every law on the statute books of every civil

government is based on a mor...

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...idn't

expect to be shot at and maybe using a gun is kind of drastic but what

other means of protection has an elderly man got against a 21 year

old? Yes he could have a guard dog but dogs need caring for, maybe Mr

Newberry felt he wouldn't be able to take the dog on walks or feed him

properly. Maybe he could have phoned the police but the burglars may

have taken off by then. All is possible. I don't think it was a very

just decision to make Mr Newberry pay damages when clearly the trouble

was brought to him.

It is cases like these where law and justice come into conflict.

I think it is important to understand the fact that both morality and

justice are separate to law however all three concepts do overlap in

the sense that a lot of laws are on the basis of morals and morals are

each individuals idea of justice.