(May 9, 2016 at 7:24 pm)Excited Penguin Wrote:(May 9, 2016 at 6:33 pm)Mr.wizard Wrote: Moral codes are not enforced by mandate or fear of punishment, moral codes are beliefs about right and wrong that individuals hold. Laws are mandates that are enforced by fear of punishment, this is why laws are not dictating morals they are only setting rules in order regulate a society.
The fact that laws can be immoral or that certain immoral behaviors are legal, tells us that laws are not dictating morality.
I think you're mistaking society's morality for an utopic one that doesn't exist. I never described the latter, only the former.
Huh? I made no mention of a utopic society, are you sure you responded to the right person?
Law is a system of rules that are enforced through social institutions to govern behavior. Laws can be made by a collective legislature or by a single legislator, resulting in statutes, by the executive through decrees and regulations, or by judges through binding precedent, normally in common law jurisdictions.
Laws do not tell us what we think is right and wrong, they only tell us what is legal. For instance I think adultery is immoral but I don't think it should be illegal.
