Does law dictate what is ethically right or wrong?
"The highest law is conscience”, wrote Victor Hugo in Les Misérables. In freeing Fantine in direct violation of the law and heeding his own personal ethical compass, Madeleine challenges the notion of law as the ultimate arbiter of ethics, highlighting instances of dissension between external legal structures and the inner moral imperatives that guide human actions. Yet, does the legal framework hold ultimate authority in determining ethical boundaries? Or, as Hugo suggests, is it our moral codes that truly defines what is ethically right and wrong?
Law, as an institution, is inherently tied to ethics. Emerging from a collective societal agreement on what is right and wrong, laws are fundamentally designed to codify a community's shared ethical values and principles. For instance, widely accepted ethical belief in the inherent wrongness of theft, violence and fraud against society as a whole have laid the groundwork for codified laws against them. This can be traced back to the 22nd Century BC, where the oldest known legal code of Babylonian law laid the historical foundations for the modern justice system. In these ancient legal codes, a structured framework emerged that not only codified societal ethics but also established a system of punishments for crimes such as murder and violence. Consequently, ethical violations creates pressure to reform, catalysing the emergence of new laws aimed at rectifying such behaviour. Consider historical attitudes of law and ethics towards child labor over many decades. In the 1800s, child labor was ethically acceptable, and thus legal.
However, as society underwent transformative shifts in ethical principles and begun questioning the status quo, the legislative landscape responded in kind. Legislation evolved in response, creating laws to outlaw these practices. Hence, there is a direct correlation between a society’s ethics and laws– law is not just a collection of rules and regulations; it is a reflection of a society's ethical compass on what is right or wrong. By its very nature, law aligns with prevailing ethical values.
Yet, the role of law in dictating what is ethically right or wrong is not without its limitations. The adage “Justice is Blind” comes to mind– justice is to be meted out impartially, without regard to identity or circumstances. It is indisputable that laws establish standardized regulations that can be enforced uniformly within a society. However, it is precisely in this pursuit of generality that the law is rendered blind to the intricacies of ethical circumstances. An act such as stealing bread to feed a family is ethically correct, driven by the necessity to prevent harm. But common law does not differentiate motivation and dictates such as a crime under legislation, highlighting its inherent limitation in dictating ethics. Furthermore, legal adaptation often lags behind evolving ethical standards, resulting in unequal legal codes that go against the existing ethical code of conduct.
To conclude, while law undeniably serves as a foundational cornerstone for ethics, it does not possess the capacity to "dictate" ethics in a prescriptive manner. While the law can act as a moral guide, its ethical integrity is not always assured. Instead, it functions as a guiding force, a reflection of shared societal values and principles, and a mechanism to ensure justice and order. Law, by its very nature, cannot be and will never be a complete dictation of ethical correctness.
