Which of the following best explains the relationship between ethics and the law?

Manuel Velasquez, Claire Andre, Thomas Shanks, S.J., and Michael J. Meyer

Ethics is based on well-founded standards of right and wrong that prescribe what humans ought to do, usually in terms of rights, obligations, benefits to society, fairness, or specific virtues.

Some years ago, sociologist Raymond Baumhart asked business people, "What does ethics mean to you?" Among their replies were the following:

"Ethics has to do with what my feelings tell me is right or wrong.""Ethics has to do with my religious beliefs.""Being ethical is doing what the law requires.""Ethics consists of the standards of behavior our society accepts."

"I don't know what the word means."

These replies might be typical of our own. The meaning of "ethics" is hard to pin down, and the views many people have about ethics are shaky.

Like Baumhart's first respondent, many people tend to equate ethics with their feelings. But being ethical is clearly not a matter of following one's feelings. A person following his or her feelings may recoil from doing what is right. In fact, feelings frequently deviate from what is ethical.

Nor should one identify ethics with religion. Most religions, of course, advocate high ethical standards. Yet if ethics were confined to religion, then ethics would apply only to religious people. But ethics applies as much to the behavior of the atheist as to that of the devout religious person. Religion can set high ethical standards and can provide intense motivations for ethical behavior. Ethics, however, cannot be confined to religion nor is it the same as religion.

Being ethical is also not the same as following the law. The law often incorporates ethical standards to which most citizens subscribe. But laws, like feelings, can deviate from what is ethical. Our own pre-Civil War slavery laws and the old apartheid laws of present-day South Africa are grotesquely obvious examples of laws that deviate from what is ethical.

Finally, being ethical is not the same as doing "whatever society accepts." In any society, most people accept standards that are, in fact, ethical. But standards of behavior in society can deviate from what is ethical. An entire society can become ethically corrupt. Nazi Germany is a good example of a morally corrupt society.

Moreover, if being ethical were doing "whatever society accepts," then to find out what is ethical, one would have to find out what society accepts. To decide what I should think about abortion, for example, I would have to take a survey of American society and then conform my beliefs to whatever society accepts. But no one ever tries to decide an ethical issue by doing a survey. Further, the lack of social consensus on many issues makes it impossible to equate ethics with whatever society accepts. Some people accept abortion but many others do not. If being ethical were doing whatever society accepts, one would have to find an agreement on issues which does not, in fact, exist.

What, then, is ethics? Ethics is two things. First, ethics refers to well-founded standards of right and wrong that prescribe what humans ought to do, usually in terms of rights, obligations, benefits to society, fairness, or specific virtues. Ethics, for example, refers to those standards that impose the reasonable obligations to refrain from rape, stealing, murder, assault, slander, and fraud. Ethical standards also include those that enjoin virtues of honesty, compassion, and loyalty. And, ethical standards include standards relating to rights, such as the right to life, the right to freedom from injury, and the right to privacy. Such standards are adequate standards of ethics because they are supported by consistent and well-founded reasons.

Secondly, ethics refers to the study and development of one's ethical standards. As mentioned above, feelings, laws, and social norms can deviate from what is ethical. So it is necessary to constantly examine one's standards to ensure that they are reasonable and well-founded. Ethics also means, then, the continuous effort of studying our own moral beliefs and our moral conduct, and striving to ensure that we, and the institutions we help to shape, live up to standards that are reasonable and solidly-based.

This article appeared originally in Issues in Ethics IIE V1 N1 (Fall 1987). Revised in 2010.

In order to continue enjoying our site, we ask that you confirm your identity as a human. Thank you very much for your cooperation.

Mentor’s Comment:

A question on laws and ethics has been a recurrent theme in all previous year papers. This is a basic question to test your conceptual clarity on the theme.

Model Answer:

Laws and ethics both serve similar purposes of guiding human conduct so as to make it conducive to civilized social existence. They enforce a sense of right and wrong.

Laws refer to the set of codified norms which are enforced by the state. They act as external obligations. On the other hand, ethics refer to the set of norms which guide our internal compass and judgements.

Both are derived from certain common sources like religion, community values, cultural context, sense of justice, etc. However, ethics can also be a result of one’s own evolution, personal experiences, personal choices, etc.

While laws apply uniformly to all, ethics can vary from person to person and they change more frequently than laws.

In case of a breach of law, the state is within its right to punish. Hence, they work as a medium of retributive justice. On the other hand, ethics are not enforceable.

The relationship between laws and ethics is a complex one.

Many laws are representative of ethics of the time and have been shaped by what is considered ethical. Eg. The idea that everyone is equal before law is derived from the value that human are born equal.
At the same time, laws have shaped ethics. They have been used to counter regressive doctrines. Eg. When Sati was abolished, it was not an unethical practice and derived its legitimacy from religion. But appropriate laws eventually forced to stop the unethical practices.
Some actions are ethical, but illegal and some actions are legal, but unethical. Eg. lying to a friend might be unethical but its not necessarily illegal. In many countries, any speech against the government is punishable by law but its ethical for citizens to express their grievances.

From the above we can say that laws alone are not enough to promote ethical behaviour. The reasons being:

Laws can never be so exhaustive to cover each and every scenario possible. Hence, there will always be scope for discretion. In such scenarios, ethical behaviour should come from within.
There are many scenarios where laws cannot exist. E.g. we cannot have strict laws to scrutinize every small act of corruption.
Even with laws, some unethical practices continue to exist. E.g. laws for violence against women have existed for ages. But that hasn’t caused such acts to end.

It is true that if a society was ethical, then we would not require laws acting as external checks. But such is a hypothetical scenario. Laws and ethics have their own unique position. Both are equally important and go hand in hand.

Learning Objectives

Differentiate between laws and ethics

Ethics are a set of moral values an individual establishes for one’s self and your own personal behavior. Laws are structured rules utilized to govern all of society. Not only do retail companies have an obligation to act ethically but so do the professional individuals working there. Within the hierarchy of retail companies, managers often interact with individual employees who are subject to “professional” codes of conduct. These codes of conduct may vary depending on the employee and their position within the company.

For example the American Bar Association has set forth Model Rules of Professional Conduct for licensed attorneys that were put into place in order to influence what behavior is to be expected when working in that particular profession. Therefore, an attorney working for a retail company might be held to a higher ethical standard than that of a clerk working in a stockroom. Nonetheless, both have to follow the laws as set forth by their state and local governments.

As times progress so do ethical and moral standards within the retail environment. Advancements with the internet have brought about websites where employees can report unethical behavior within a company. Ethicspoint is one such internet reporting site where one can go online anonymously and report violations by entering the name of the organization, the violation category which best describes the unethical behavior and after agreeing to the websites terms and conditions, one can file a report. These types of reporting methods are helpful with issues like health and safety violations, sexual harassment claims and discrimination which will be addressed further in the next few sections.

Some retailers pride themselves on their ethical practices and procedures and even promote them publicly to improve their corporate image. For instance, a retailer’s number one concern might be an ethical obligation to the environment so they use and sell only environmental friendly products within their company and advertise as such to improve their image. “The economic crisis and its consequences represent an unparalleled opportunity for retailers to develop ethical practices and social policies for the good of society and their companies. Studies indicate a positive link between ethical perceptions and consumer responses, in terms of trust.”