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How Is Law Affected By Morality And Justice?

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How Is Law Affected By Morality And Justice? 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. ...read more.


Another judge working alongside Lord Templeman, known as Lord Slynn disagreed and argued that there was nothing in the law saying these men had done wrong. He argued that the judges should think of the law and not of their feelings towards this particular subject. And so there you have it; morals cause conflict between judges during cases. It is hard even for them to separate morals and law in certain cases. The main difference between law and morality is that morality changes according to people, slowly and only at the will of the people. It cannot be deliberately changed whereas law can and is deliberately changed by legislation. Another variation is that morality is voluntary; people do not have to comply with moral rules but they do have to meet the terms of law. If somebody does something considered morally wrong they will not be faced with official sanctions although they may feel guilty or ashamed. However if somebody does something wrong by the law they will be faced with legal proceedings. ...read more.


Why play with fire if you don't want to be burnt? Mr Revill knew exactly what he was letting himself in for, no sane person will let somebody walk in and take their possessions. Maybe he didn'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. Rajveer Khera - Law ...read more.

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