The Thin Line: Morals, Ethics, And Legality

Maintaining peace and orderliness in a country isn’t an easy feat. It takes the combined efforts of leaders, lawmakers, and various arms of governments to carefully create and enforce laws. Before a bill is passed into law, it undergoes careful review and checks from different arms of government. Laws are carefully reviewed because they are the backbone of a society. They help prevent chaos and anarchy. A lawless country is bound to chaos and ruin. When it comes to making laws, one important aspect that should be given more attention is ETHICS and MORALS. Should morals and ethics be considered when making laws?

For today’s Hive Learners’ prompt, we are asked to share our thoughts on ethics and morals. Should ethics and morals be considered when making laws in a country? To understand the relationship between ethics, morals and laws that guide a country, let’s look at the definition of these terms. To start with, morals are personal or societal beliefs on what is wrong and what is right. Different persons have different definitions of the term “moral”. Meaning that what you consider to be moral might just be sidelined by another person. Our moral beliefs can be affected by factors like religion and personal upbringing. For example, in Christianity, having more than one wife is not morally accepted, while in the Islamic religion, the opposite is the case. On the other hand, Ethics means principles or guidelines that guide the way people live their lives.

Image is mine

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN MORALS, ETHICS AND LAWS.

Morals, ethics and laws are almost similar, but they are not always the same. As I mentioned above, morals are as a result of our upbringing or religion. Growing up, my parents taught me the importance of being content with what you have and not taking what is not yours. Although they could not satisfy literally all my wants, they tried their best. There were days I wanted what my classmates had, maybe a new bag or a new lunchbox. But I never took what wasn’t mine. In church, our Sunday school teachers also taught us lessons about stealing. They shared biblical and real-life stories that discouraged stealing. These scared us and along the line, it stuck with us.

This is where the relationship between morals, ethics and laws come in. Shared morals are often made into laws. Meaning morals that are shared by a group of people, religion and country at large, are codified into laws. For example, in Christians and Muslims both believe that killing and stealing are wrong. Similarly, different cultures also believe that stealing and killing must be frowned upon. I doubt there is a religion, or culture that doesn’t frown against these immoral acts.
To better understand the relationship between morals, ethics and laws, let’s take morals and ethics as a template for making laws. In simple terms, morals and ethics often influence laws.

JUST BECAUSE SOMETHING ISN’T ETHICAL OR MORAL, SHOULD IT BE DEEMED ILLEGAL?

Now, here's where things get tricky. I mentioned earlier that parallels can be drawn between morals, ethics, and laws. So, does that mean everything unethical and immoral should be considered illegal? Well, not every time. For example, in my home, lying is considered immoral. My parents are approachable, not strict, and growing up, I had little or no reason to lie, which became a part of my values. Also, in many religions and cultures, lying is deemed immoral. Now, does this mean that lying should be illegal and everyone who tells a lie should be jailed? Similarly, in many cultures, respect is valued. In my culture, children are expected to respect their elders, and younger siblings should respect older ones. Now, does this mean that anyone who doesn't show respect to their elders has committed a crime and should be jailed? If this were the case, lots of people would be thrown into jails and I’m sure no country is ready for that.

Morals and ethics are factors to be considered while making laws, but there is where we draw the line. If every immoral or unethical thing were illegal, a country could fall into disorder. In the end, it all narrows down to knowing which morals and ethics should be considered when making laws.

Thanks for reading.