In ten pages this paper discuses the legal imposition of a social morality code based upon the arguments of Lord Hart and Lord Devlin. Eleven sources are listed in the bibliography.
Name of Research Paper File: TS14_TEdevlin.rtf
Unformatted Sample Text from the Research Paper:
in which ethical and moral behaviour is enforced upon a society, and this may also be seen as a result of the utilitarian good. There are many that have argued
the enforcement of a moral set of values on a society may be seen as beneficial, as long as the morals that are enforced are reflective of the majority of
the society. Theorists and practitioners of the law such as Lord Devlin and Lord Hart have both considered the philosophical place of the law with regard the moral structure of
society. When we look at todays society there are many aspects that we may see as immoral. There have been many cases in the press recently that we may
argue are morally questionable. The well known case of the murder of Sarah Paine was committed by a man how was predicted, by the authorities, to re-offend, and this time
to kill the child rather than just assault her. This occurred, and the previous sentence that Whiting had received, four years, now appears to show up a lax moral consideration
of the society in which the law is meant to punish and act as a deterrent. There are many other cases, such as burglary and even bigamy, where offenders may
be granted a higher sentence, and as such we need to question the morals of a society that appears to value the safety of children so little. Lord Devlin
argued that it was up to the state to enforce morals upon society, yet if we apply this to todays there appears to be a bending of the law to
suit society, reacting to, and not guiding the welfare of the citizens. The enforcement of morals may be a hard role to play, and if we consider the way the