Lex Cast: The Enforcement of Morals (Episode 2)

Perhaps never in human history has the relationship between law and morality been more important. And yet the relationship is far from simple. There is no question that one of the sources of law’s legitimacy and authority is the belief in our moral obligation to obey the law. Our ancestors saw law as having divine origins. That may obedience easier, as Orestes can tell you. Some laws could be traced directly to God, like the 10 Commandments. Other laws were treated as divinely inspired. Lawgivers in anciety times were often treated as semi mythical or semi divine or heroic figures. In the video, we look at the law and morality as understood by our ancestors, how the ancient Greeks introduced the notion of a rational order to the universe, governed by intelligible laws ascertainable by rational investigation and, and in the process, succeeded in partialy decoupling human law from divine law. The video addressed the moral obligation to obey even human law, illustrated by trial of Socrates culminating in the Wolfenden Report in 1957 that recommend that the laws get out of the bedrooms of the nation. We look at the famous Hart-Devlin debate on whether certain same sex sexual practices should be decriminalized. Finally, we look at how Lord Devlin's argument that the state must protect private morality, even where there is no harm to others, for the good of society as a whole and to protect the vulnerable, and how the failure to head his warning is playing out today.