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Day 5 - Q 2.in Civilized Life, Law Floats in A Sea of Ethics. Elucidate

Laws are informed by ethics in a civilized society. While laws have not always been ethical, upholding ethical principles is important. In modern India, laws aim to respect the rights and dignity of all. Recent Supreme Court judgments striking down sections of law against homosexuality and adultery demonstrate how Indian law is progressing to float in a sea of ethics by respecting personal freedoms and constitutional morality. For law to align with evolving ethical values requires flexibility, tolerance and adaptation over time.

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Tarunpreet Malhan
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112 views

Day 5 - Q 2.in Civilized Life, Law Floats in A Sea of Ethics. Elucidate

Laws are informed by ethics in a civilized society. While laws have not always been ethical, upholding ethical principles is important. In modern India, laws aim to respect the rights and dignity of all. Recent Supreme Court judgments striking down sections of law against homosexuality and adultery demonstrate how Indian law is progressing to float in a sea of ethics by respecting personal freedoms and constitutional morality. For law to align with evolving ethical values requires flexibility, tolerance and adaptation over time.

Uploaded by

Tarunpreet Malhan
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Day 5 – Q 2.In civilized life, law floats in a sea of ethics.

Elucidate.
tlp.iasbaba.com/2018/11/day-5-q-2-in-civilized-life-law-floats-in-a-sea-of-ethics-elucidate/

November 9, 2018

2. In civilized life, law floats in a sea of ethics. Elucidate.

स य जीवन मे,ं कानून नैितकता के सागर में तैरता है। प ट करे।ं

Approach:

This question demands a convincing explanation of quotation that in civilized community


laws are concurrent with ethics. To explain this, we can give examples, some historical and
some current.

Introduction

Ethics is a system of moral principles which is concerned with what is good for
individuals and society.
Law is a system of rules and guidelines which are enforced through social
institutions to govern behaviour.
The quotation, “In civilized life, law floats in a sea of ethics”, implies that there is a
foundation of ethical values for the law.

Body

Law and ethics

In performing our legal duties, we are also satisfying our ethical obligations.
While in an uncivilized society, enactments of tyranny or barbarism may motivate an
obligation to obey the law.
But in a civilized society, the obligation to act ethically is not a result of supposed
obligation to obey alone, but a result of the binding ethical values that have informed
the content of the law.

Laws were and are not always ethical

It is well known that those nations of the world, which are deemed civilized and well-
constrained by the rule of law, may be governed by laws that are not ethically sound.
Slavery, apartheid, and torture, have been perpetuated pursuant to the laws of some
of these so-called “civilized” countries.
Western liberal regimes of property, contract and tort law include doctrines and
principles, the applications of which result in predictable hardship for the poor and
the vulnerable.
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Laws that permit environmental degradation, capital punishment of the innocent and
political corruption are hardly ethical waters for any ship of state.
As an aspirational idea, a rule of law based on strong moral and ethical values has
appeal.
The conservative and the very religious may find it appealing because they believe
the law should be a tool for moral alignment—it should make us righteous.
The progressive and the secular may find similar appeal in an ethics-based law
because they believe the law should further extend freedom, equality and tolerance.

Laws and Ethics in India

Modern India adopted foundation of ethics in framing the laws, respecting the rights
and dignity of all.
To mention one, voting rights to all including women at a time when even most
modern states of then had not given such rights to their female and coloured citizen.
There were and are historical wrongs in Indian statue, such as Section 377
(Homosexuality) and Section 497 (Adultery) of the IPC.
A person’s sexuality is his personal matter, it is ethically wrong to interfere in such
personal matters. Therefore, SC struck down the legality of such interferences.
Above mentioned aspirational quotation is very much in consonance with the
concept of constitutional morality recently mentioned by SC judge in LGBTQ case
hearing.

Conclusion

Though there are concerns as we observe the protests on Sabarimala verdict or


Triple Talaq ordinance, recent SC judgments give us hope.
It can be concluded in the light of such other SC judgments that in the modern and
progressive India we find the laws freely floating in a sea of ethics.
There is need of flexibility for change, tolerance and adaptation with the moving
waves in the sea of values.

Best answer: Invincible

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