Law and moral standards are intimately related as both regulate the conduct of the individual in a society. The laws that are generated are usually based on moral principles of the society which may be derived from their cultural beliefs, their religions and customs. Moral standards are the code of conduct of individual on what they considered of ethical things to do and whatnot, usually it is influence by their religions and their own customs belief. Phil Harris defined moral standards as a set of beliefs, values, principles and standards of behavior. They are not necessarily enforced by the state, but rather through the influence of other people, religious organizations and conscience. An example of a moral might be the concept that it is …show more content…
Although the Law and morality are not complete reflections of one another, the law often has a moral grounding, which shows that a relationship is present. The same often happens in reverse, with Law influencing morality. Both seek to impose standards and involve a duty to follow rules. One need only look at the moral code of the Ten Commandments, and our current Law on Murder and Theft, to understand that there is coincidence between the two. The two do overlap, and often complement one another. They are both responsible for inspiring certain standards of conduct, without which, society would break down. It is important to note, however, that the correlation between the Law and Morality is not always set in stone. For example some Laws appear to have no moral connection, but are rather more regulatory in function, such as certain traffic offences, and the prohibition of certain drugs, although some may argue that public health is a moral issue with which the Law is to concern itself. Similarly, some moral issues have little to no legal backing. The moral concept that one should look after one’s neighbour is largely neglected within our Law – there is no obligation to help someone unless one has a duty to act, as in the case of Gibbons and Proctor, where the father of a child was convicted for not feeding the child, which was an omission, not an …show more content…
For example, The Wolfendon Report recommended legalising private homosexuality, as despite the moral viewpoint of many, making it criminal would be difficult to enforce. Shifts in morality may be reflected by judicial change. For example, changes on views on marital rape caused the House of Lords to reverse a decision that when someone gets married, they consent to sex, in the case of R v R. The Divorce Reform Act 1969 was the first time spouses could separate on the grounds of “irretrievable breakdown”, which reflects our more liberal society. A similar example would be the Abortion Act 1967, and even the Law on homosexuality has evolved with morality since the Sexual Offences Act 1967, to the current Marriage Act 2013, which allows homosexuals to get married. Morality may also be influenced by our Law, and many argue that this was the case since the Equalities Act 2010, which aimed to bring about more equal opportunities for those with often disadvantaged characteristics such as differing gender. Many argue that we see more acceptance of these characteristics now, since it’s