Is there a relationship between morality, law and religion?

• Author: Anca Tataran
• Position: Teaching assistant, AGORA University, Faculty of Law and Economics
• Pages: 154-158

IS THERE A RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN MORALITY, LAW AND RELIGION?

Ttran Anca

Abstract

Between religion and law it ha s always been a close relationsh ip, although they are two totally different

concepts. The connecting element is represented by the human being. Religion teaches us to be good, to respec t

our peers and so does the Law as a lega l entity. By laws we have to contribute to the social order. In a ny

constitutional state, laws a re made to be respected , and he who violates them must ta ke r esponsibility for their

own acts. Therefore, it comes out natur ally tha t both religion and Law have only one goal : to ar range, to

establish sta ndards of decency, in order to live in a sinless society like the Church may say or no offence society

like the Law would say.

Key words: religion, law, mora lity, crime, sin, justice, punishment, la w, chur ch, rehabilita tion, public

order.

Introduction

For a long time a question a rises: what is right is a lso moral? And inverted. The a nswer is not that

simple. Not infrequently happens, that what to a defender of law seems to be right, after a nalyzing the evidence

in his possession, to be also moral. Why? Very simple, becau se even those compelling (irr efutable) evidence can

be false or counter feit. But what seems to be moral, most of the time is also r ight.

To continue, however, this idea first of all we must define La w and ethics, justice and morality. So, how

can we define Law? Over time the definition of this concept was a challenge. Ancient philosophers largely

resumed the idea of law as a compliance with good, highest goo d, as the ultimate reason or simply with the truth.

Among the most striking examples in this way would be the following definitions:

- Socrates: “Between harm someone and do an injustice, there is no discrimination and injustice is certainly an

evil and a disgrace. To make an injustice, means doing th e bad things, and not making an injustice, is to do

evil”.

1

- Aristotle: “Justice is the supreme virtue in which all receive their own, as required by law, and justice is the

best of virtues, the most perfect, which includes all other virtues or all virt ue”.2

- Ulpian us, one of the masters of legal definitions, considers that the right means “to live honestly, not harm

another and to give everyone his due”.3

Today, in common language the word Law has assigned three meanings: justice, equity and law. The

first is understood as the higher value or sense of entitlement, to give everyone which belongs to (by law). The

second, meaning is seen as that which is created by applying state law, the action itself to do justice, that

situation in which injustice is removed. The last one is understood as the justice embodied in the law; it

represents the way in which justice is done.

Law can be defined as a system of rules of conduct, developed or recognized by the state power that

guides human behavior in acc ordance with the values, of that society, establishing legal rights and obligations of

which mandatory abidance is provided, when needed by the coercive force of public po wer.4

The existence of the Law is given by need to establish social rules, r ules of conduct that are imperative.

Law becomes a necessary tool for any society in the establishment of rules according to certain social values.

They show as a unitary system of rules of conduct issued by state power or appeared in another form (that habit,

for instance) whose mandatory compliance is ensured, if necessary, by coercive force of the state.5

Understanding the evolution of the law over time implies the knowledge – among others – of shaping

and d eveloping specific ways of expressing the essence and its content in different historical stages.6 In their

early form, custom r ules were inspired by moral and religious precep ts. Table XII of the Act, t he laws o f Solon,

Dracon`s Laws confirm it`s complex character - moral, religious, criminal, civil. 7

 Teaching assistant, AGORA University, Faculty of Law and Economics, e-mail:ancatataran86@yahoo.es

1 D. Moiu, Teoria general a dreptului. Însemnri de curs. Tematic de seminar. Bibliografie. Crestomaie, Oradea’s University Publishing

House, pp. 22-23.

2 Idem.

3 Idem.

4 Ioan Ceterchi şi Ion Craiovan, Introducere în Teoria general a Dreptului, All Publishing House, Bucharest, 1993, p. 28.

5 Pr. Prof. Dr. Constantin Rus, Drept bisericesc, Anul III, Pr – Sem I+II, p. 4, http://www.teologieara d.ro/?p=594.

6 Cutuma ca izvor de drept. Scurt istoric,

http://www.studiijuridice.ro/referate_juridice/teoria_generala_a_dreptului_tgd/3122-cutuma-ca-izvor-de-drept-scurt-istoric.html

7 Idem.