Law and morals

1. Everything in life is important, important things are simple, simple things are
never easy. Think about it, complete the circle

2. What is law?
This is essentially a
philosophical question.
Which has no answer.
However some theorists
have attempted to define it.

3. Professor Hart
‘A system of rules, a union of
primary and secondary rules’

4. Plato
“An embodiment of reason,
whether in the individual or
the community”

5. What is morals?
Conforming to standards
and principles which are
accepted by wider
society.

6. Beliefs and values shared by a
society or a section of society
A body of rules which govern a
groups behavior

7. In the early stages of the society there
was no distinction between law and
morals.
In Hindu law, the prime sources of which
are the Vedas and Smritis,
Law and Morality

8.  Laws are a set of formally made rules
which bind a community and regulate
behavior within that community.
 Morals are essentially societies’ values
on what is right and wrong.

9. What are the similarities
between law and morals?
 Laws are derived from morals since they
are the final stage of the development of
the morals of a people.
 All laws are part of the morals of political
society because of the acceptance of such
laws made by that same society.

10. DifferencesBetween
Law and Morals

11. Law
1. Law demands an absolute subjection to
its rules and commands.
2. Law has enforcing authority derived from
state.
3. Law regulates men’s relations with others
and with society.
4. Law cannot be changed into morals.

12. Morals
1. Morality demands that men should act
from a sense of ethical duty.
2. Morality has no such enforcing authority
from state.
3. It governs the inner life of men.
4. Morality applies to every human act.

13.  Moral Rule … set of rules that People in a
certain society used to follow from their
ancestors …
 set of beliefs, values, principles and
standards of behavior”.

14. Differences
Legal Moral
1) Punishment .. By an
authorized power
(Govt.)
Tangible Punishment
1) Punishment .. By a
society .. Moral
Punishment (Refusing
Behavior)

15. A study of the relationship between
law and morals can be made from
three angles :--
1.Morals as the basis of law;
2.Morals as the test of
(positive) law;
3.Morals as the end of law;

16.  Morals as the basis of law
As observed earlier, in the early stages of
the society no distinction was made
between law and morals. All the rules
originated from the common sources, and
the sanction behind them was of the same
nature.

17.  Morals as the test of law
 It has been conduct by a number of jurist,
since very early times, that law must
conform to morals. This view was
supported by the Greeks and the Roman.

18. Morals as the end of law
 Morals have often been considered to be
the end of law. A number of eminent jurist
have defined law in teams of jurist. They
say that the aim of ‘law’ is to secure
justice. Justice in its popular sense is very
much based upon morals.

19. Philosophical ideas about Law
and morality.
 It may be argued that morality can be
seen as relative concept.
 Meaning that not only different individuals
or groups often have different ideas, but
also that morality changes over time and
that these changes shift in nature and
become a formal regulation through law.

20. Conclusion
Generally, legal rules are composite and are derived from
heterogeneous source. In India, if we examine all the
legal perspective, we shall find that some of them have
come from personal laws and local custom, a good
number of them are based on foreign rules and
principles (mainly English), some are based on the logic
or political ideology and so on. Secondly, ‘public opinion’
which greatly influences law is made up of a number of
things – political ideas, economic theory, ethical
philosophy etc. These directly and indirectly influence
law.