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Law and Morality

Law and Morality. CLN4U. Functions of the Criminal Code. Preventing harm to people and property Preventing action that challenges gov’t authority and institutions Discouraging personal revenge Preventing harm to oneself Expressing and enforcing morality.

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Law and Morality

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  1. Law and Morality CLN4U

  2. Functions of the Criminal Code • Preventing harm to people and property • Preventing action that challenges gov’t authority and institutions • Discouraging personal revenge • Preventing harm to oneself • Expressing and enforcing morality

  3. Preventing harm to people and property • Injury • Death • Theft or damage of property

  4. Preventing action that challenges gov’t authority and institutions • Treason • Riots • Insurrection

  5. Discouraging personal revenge • Citizens cannot take the law into their own hands • In order to effectively discourage vigilantism, citizens must be confident in the justice system in addition to fearing the penalties

  6. Preventing harm to oneself • Legal paternalism: when laws are enacted to promote the good of citizens by overruling their own judgment about what is good for them. • Essentially, gov’t acts as “father figure” to a nation of children • Ex: drugs, prostitution, suicide

  7. Expressing and enforcing morality • Is morality subjective or objective? • “Cannibalism is moral in a cannibal country.” – Samuel Butler • Law must strike balance between reflecting the moral views of the majority while protecting differing opinions of minorities (to a degree)

  8. Discussion • Legal paternalism • Pros/cons? • Is it ever necessary to take the law into your own hands? • Is this okay? • What does it say about our society?

  9. Law and Morality • Can a crime occur if there is no victim? • Consensual crimes • Prostitution, obscene material, drugs • Individuals who commit these crimes generally know what they’re getting into, and only potentially harming themselves, so are they victimless crimes?

  10. Law and Morality • Harm to society • Moral view: dehumanizing/debasing/degrading • Economic view: potential cost to healthcare system • Harm to individuals • protecting young people, disadvantaged/desperate people who are more susceptible to exploitation

  11. Law and Morality • When does an immoral act become criminal? • “Good Samaritan” Laws (provincial jurisdiction) • The Charter contains a provision that imposes an obligation to render aid if it can be accomplished without serious risk to the good samaritan or a third person • There is still little jurisprudence interpreting these provisions • Quebec is unique in Canada in imposing a duty on everyone to help a person in peril • The duty to take action stems from the Quebec Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms enacted in 1975, and the Civil Code • In the rest of Canada, there are no laws making it obligatory for people to help someone in need

  12. Law and Morality • What happens when the law is out of step with the moral values of society? • Slavery, women’s rights • Abortion: Morgentaler case

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