Moral
It originated from Latin Mores plural for proper ‘behaviour of a person’ and furthermore to Moralis for proper behaviour of a person in a society.
As it is stated by Richard Posner, moral is the set of duties to others that are merely set to check our emotional, sentimental reactions to serious questions of human conduct .Thus it is recognisable and enforceable only by the conscience or by any principles of the right conduct which is distinguishable from the Positive Law.
Positive Law as propounded by the legal philosophers Thomas Hobbes, hereby has a legal shadow that differentiate Law from Morality depending on the legality requirement,the tests of validity, reasonability and the just requirement.
Morality
Is therefore the degree to which something is wrong or right,good or bad. This term questions and considers values and principles of conduct of an individual.
Dissimilarity between Morality and the Law
There is a crystal clear definition between Morality and the law and it can be explained by the following cardinal points.
Standard Behaviour
The law only outlines the basic standards of behaviour necessary for a social institution to keep functioning, this is done so by protecting our rights, freedoms and ensuring us certain privileges .However, the same statement can be juxtaposed in morality through sometimes the right thing to do either way right or wrong require us to extend beyond our legal obligations and positions.
The question of which machinery consent and legality
In the law, there is a rudimentary system of justice and involvement by the police and the government. This system entails the legal machinery as a paramount instrument in the acquisition of justice and fairness, on the other end morality only requires the principle of the consent and conscience as its of getting to know the good and the bad.
Additionally from the definition of morality, it only requires a rational will to make a collective or individual decision, It is instant and does not require a certain form of procedure to follow. The law is different, it requires to some point a procedure to follow for a conclusive judgement rather decision to be made.
Consequences of behavior
The law accomplishes its primary goal through sanctions for wrong offenders and compensations and if an individual disobeys laws and regulations and its punishable by the state, Morality involves bad acts or actions may result in a sence of guilt and solitude, the latter is that a good act is highly praised with honour.
In the case of Regina v Duley and Stephens,Its a case about three men including a boy were stranded at the sea and they did not have any source of food or drinking water for even days,One of the man Dulley asked who was willingly able to sacrifice himself as food sustenance to others, They decided to pick a boy and kill him as they wait for a mercy rescue, after they killed the boy, they were caught upon rescue and they were later tried .The court found the men guilty and applied the concept of moral understanding of murder that the court derived from nature itself.
The question of certainty
The law is definate in its meaning, certain, clear and precise.A classic example will be the Criminal law which outlines,defines,states and sanction what a crime is.Morality is vague and ambiguous simply because it contains feelings towards behaviours and it is not outlined in any records.Example, If a person is caught up frauding the public,the long arm of the state will caught him up.
Objective and Subjectiveness of the both
The law is objective in the sence that every individual must know the law clearly and has the knowhow of what the law entails, what the law forbids them to do and why, what constitutes a crime and the dire concequences of it. Morality is subjective, it relies on an individual to belief a certain act is wrong or right, either way, its is mind-dependant. In Re B,a child was born with a Mongol syndrome,and it required operation to save his life,the parents refused the concent of operating the child, the defendant a surgeon, agreed to allow the baby to die with the syndrome and complications,The law stated differently that it should allow the best interest by living the span of a mongol,the child was allowed to live.
Enforceability of the Law and Morality
The law acts within a specific geographical area governed by rules, statutes and written laws, whereas morality is universal. There is a definite or rather formal agency to enforce law,there is no agency to enforce morality henceforth informal.
Social
Social traces its origin from the latin socii meaning a fellow companion and a comrade.This word means the welfare, life and relations of human beings in a societial setting.
Society
Means a communial.group,gathering or generally a group of individuals who come up together and have gained their status value through how they live.
Social good and Wrong
This is a perceived action that will result in a positive outcome which is beneficial t the general public. Social wrong is a negative or ultimately an undesirable expectation which will lead to a long haul harmful or cause a greater harm to the general public.
Social Inexpediency
Inexpediency means the quality of being inconvenience thus purposedly morally wrong in ones action.
Dissimilarity between Social wrong and Social inexpediency
The nature of the law and the nature of the society have a strict difference.One core function of the law is to maintain stability in the social, political and economic system,the term social outlines both wrong and right in teems behaviour.
Law generally reflects and promote positive social values.Social wrong is what the society has perceived as a negative causal virtue.
In Brown,R v HL,it was a case where the defendands engaged in homosexual,sodomastic practices in private aganist each other and did not care the dire endangerment of such heinous acts,the law interfeared out of public policy,cult and violence.This is social wrong hereby they were held guilty together with their acquaintances.
Social wrong and Inexpidiency reflects the will of the society,but the law is used to maintain social order,Example It is always wrong to steal,An individual must abide by the laws.
Social rules are not stated, the law is crystal clear on statues,written and unwritten Constitutions and these rules can change frequently based on new dynamic elements.
In Riggs v Palmer the accused planned to invalidate the will of the father,The will gave extra legacies to the daughters and the bulk property to the mother.The grandson fearing that the will might change,killed the grand father through poisoning him.It was positioned that the case should point at an existing law,hence the grandson was guilty for a murder .The position of the law here was to identify the social wrong,murder and give a sanction to it in regards to the statutes.
In the society,social wrong can be reflected through the consequences for breaking rules is that an individual may experience a negative relief and the person is given an opportunity to correct his own wrong. On the other end, the law provides sanctions which leads a person being imprisoned as a sigh of their consequences of their action.
In the Positive theory of Criminology,Cecare Biccaria states that when a wrongful act is done,it focuses on the act not the actor,while in social wrong the actor also has a mega role to play.
In summary, the concepts of the law, morality, social wrong and inexpediency have a indirect relationship with the law .The law hereby only outline the behaviour necessary for social institution to keep functioning by protecting our rights,freedoms and guaranteeing us certain privileges. Society and morality has its own ideologies in establishing their own system of rules to guide their conduct and conscience.
Hencefourth demisifying them will help us understand broadly the role of each.
Refer to :
1.BLACK’S DICTIONARY 12TH EDITION
2. RICHARD POSNER,THE PROBLEMS OF MORAL AND LEGAL THEORY
3. REGINA V DUDLEY AND STEPHENS (14 Q.B.D 274) :MORALITY, MURDER AND THE CRIMINAL LAW(JULY 12 ,2009)
4. ONLINE CASE STUDIES & LEGAL RESOURSES
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