Srilakshmi Karampudi, Delhi Metropolitan Education, GGSIPU
ABSTRACT
There was a time when the boundaries between law and morality were not clearly defined. Morality encompassed both the moral principles governing society and the legal regulations. However, as time passed, a distinction emerged between mandatory laws enforced by the state and the regulatory norms that guided individual behavior. Law primarily comprises a system of rules and principles established by the government, whereas morality consists of a set of ideas, values, principles, and behavioral norms imposed by society. Morality, being a product of social construction, serves as a framework that enables individuals to coexist harmoniously within communities. It represents the collective understanding of what is considered "right" and "acceptable" in a given civilization. Thus, morality serves as the societal standard by which acceptable and unacceptable behaviors are determined.
Under the concept of "natural law," Roman legal scholars considered certain moral principles as the basis of legal systems. In the Middle Ages, the influence of the Church became dominant in Europe, and natural law took on a religious underpinning with Christian principles being seen as the bedrock of legal systems. Similarly, as mentioned earlier, early Hindu jurists in India did not distinguish between law and morality. However, over time, some distinctions between the two started to emerge in practice.
