Section A

Question 1

Give the law and morality intro

Answer 1

• Laws are a system of rules established by Parliament that must be obeyed to avoid penalties.
• Morals are beliefs and principles set by societal norms to determine what is right and wrong.
• Key difference and reason relationship between them is important is that following law is compulsory, whilst following morals is voluntary and enforced by societal pressure.
• This is important as it means that in order for society’s beliefs to be represented and for unacceptable behaviours to be punished, they must be put in law.

Question 2

Give the first law and morality paragraph

Answer 2

• Law and morals are both normative meaning they express what should be done by setting boundaries between what’s acceptable and what’s not.
• It is difficult for Parliament to set these rules to represent the moral beliefs of society as a whole.
• Durkheim says it’s easier for smaller societies to achieve this as they are more likely to share common ground morally and thus common opinions on proposed law.
• An issue faced in modern society is that people have widely varying moral views due to a range of contributory factors, thus pleasing everyone is impossible.
• The political party that has a majority will avoid pushing any bills that may be seen as ‘controversial’ in order to avoid losing any voters that disagree with the bill in the next election.
• Therefore we must rely on private members bills to address sensitive subject matter, and other political parties looking to gain a greater majority may simply choose not to publicly voice their opinion.
• For example, in 1967, MP David Steel proposed the Abortion Act, legalising abortion. This was highly contentious at the time and is still considered to be controversial though more people are becoming pro-choice as society progresses.

Question 3

Give the second law and morality paragraph

Answer 3

• Moral values of society constantly change over time as they reflect society’s ever changing attitude towards various subject matters, meaning if you believe legislation should represent these moral beliefs it must update regularly.
• For example, in R v R, marital rape was established, as it was previously perceived in law that wives were effectively the possession of their husbands and he could do as he pleased to or with her. This was obviously outdated and problematic but took a long time to be resolved, highlighting the fact that it may be a problem that law needs to be constantly updated in order to align with society’s current moral values, which is an ever changing criteria.

Question 4

Give the third law and morality paragraph

Answer 4

• There are various academic theories and debates regarding the coincidence of laws and morality. One such debate is that of Hart v Devlin regarding the Wolfenden Report which suggested that homosexuality should be legalised in order to protect others.
• Devlin opposed the report saying that their should be a shared morality in society and society would disintegrate without this.
• Hart referred to John Stuart Mill’s principle and agreed with the report, saying that the moral action was the one which benefitted the many, even at the expense of the few, but that the few should not be obligated to follow the morals of the many, as this would infringe on people’s autonomy.
• The Wolfenden Report agreed with Hart that law and morality should not be forced to coincide, however, there are a wide range of examples in which judges disregarded this and made judgements in which society’s moral values were considered.
• For example, in the case of R v Wilson, D branded his initials into his wife’s buttocks and was charged with ABH, but the Court of Appeal decided it would not be in public interest to impose a legal duty, showing that law and morality do still coincide.