Laws, Rules, Regulations and Conscience as sources of Ethical Guidance

The concept of law has attracted attention of many philosophers. Thomas Aquinas notion of law is most acceptable as he defines law as an ‘ordinance of reason directed towards common good and promulgated by the one who cares for the community.’ He sees law as a command, a directive which should be reasonable and directed towards common good and not satisfy private interests of a few individuals. Law is thus regarded as a rule and measure of acts whereby a man is both induced to act and is restrained from acting. It imposes an obligation and defines a course of action to be followed. Also, laws must conform to human nature and they must be physically and morally possible to obey them in addition to being just.  The law is thus for larger good and legislators have to make it known to the public.

Laws and other regulations usually differ in terms of the source from which they emanate, their purpose and the extent of their applicability. While law is considered as an ordinance or a rule which results from human reason, regulations help to clarify those laws to take it to the level of larger good. All authority to enact a law belongs to those who have the jurisdiction and are lawfully in charge of the community. The source of all regulation is any private authority like an organisation, anyone superior etc. Regulations generally focus on individual good while laws are made for common good and are specific for a territory.

On the other hand, a moral judgment, there are two standards in a moral judgment- the standard of Right and the standard of Good. Right means as per law and Good means something which is conducive to an end.  At various stages of moral life, the Right as the standard emphasizes the importance of various stages of moral life. As moral life progresses, Internal law replaces the External law. All laws bring some duties on the individual which he has to perform to conform to morality. Likewise, the right also entails some obligations which ultimately bind an individual and make him ‘responsible’ and ‘accountable’ to a legal tribunal. The good puts stress on the importance of virtue.

Typology of Law:

Thomas Aquinas has broadly defined four kinds of laws:

The eternal law

This shows God as the ruler of the Universe. It is considered that all things are subject to eternal law. It is thus an example of divine wisdom.

The natural law

The natural law states that law should be based on morality and ethics. It is based on ‘correct’ things and is discovered by humans by use of reason and choice between good and evil. It is based on three fundamental principles:

• The primary principle of natural law is to do good and avoid evil. It believes that a good explanation for a moral or legal rule is that it promotes human life preservation as all living beings have an inclination for survival.
• Secondary principle is derived from the primary principle.
• Tertiary principle is related to complicated reasoning as they are difficult conclusions from both primary and secondary principles.

Natural law thus has two qualities namely: universality and immutability. Universality means that the law extends to all human beings. Thus people have always differentiated between right and wrong actions. People thus form moral judgments by nature. The second aspect suggests that natural law is immutable i.e. it does not change and remains same for everyone at all times. This is mainly because human nature does not change.

The divine law

It is bestowed in revelation and extends beyond natural law by rendering with guides on how to achieve eternal happiness.

The human law

The human law is formed by the governments and is also rooted in the eternal law.

Conscience

The world conscience is derived from the Latin word “conscientia” which stands for ‘privity of knowledge’.

• Generally it is understood as an inner voice which guides a person about a behaviour being right or wrong. Everyone has a sense of right and wrong. Knowledge is essential for a well-formed conscience. Failure on the part of individuals to seek knowledge is seen as a failure in our obligation to form a healthy conscience. It ultimately leads us to commit the sin of omission. It thus determines morality in human actions.
• It is a special act of mind which comes into play when intellect passes a judgment on either the goodness or badness of a particular act.
• As per deontology, conscience is a judgment i.e. an intellectual decision. It is not just a feeling or an emotion. It makes a moral judgment based on morality of past or action which is going to occur in future.
• Conscience is not same as law. Latter states general rules concerning actions while former puts down practical rule for specific action. Conscience applies that law or action is much broader than law.

Types of conscience

• Antecedent conscience: This approves, commands, advices, warns, permits doing the act.
• Consequent conscience: This stands for mind’s judgment to see the morality of an action done. If the act is approved, a sense of peace, wellbeing and spiritual joy is promoted while is the act is disapproved it results in feeling of remorse or guilt.
• True conscience: It is a type of conscience where mind usually makes correct judgment morally of an already done action. Thus mind gives correct subjective judgment about an act.
• Erroneous conscience: This is a type of conscience which represents a moral aspect incorrectly.
• Certain conscience: This is a type of conscience in which mind is completely sure what issue is morally right or wrong.
• Doubtful conscience: This refers to a mental state where one is not able to decide if the action is good or bad.
• Scrupulous conscience: This is a thought process where the mind constantly sees an act to be morally wrong thereby resulting in feelings of torment or guilt without any valid reason.
• Lax conscience: This stands for a blurred sense to see what is morally right or wrong. This mental state usually looks for excuses and finds an easy way out of situations.

Ethical Principles that govern conscience

Ethical principles governing conscience include:

• A person should be careful to ensure correct conscience.
• A person should follow a certain conscience even if it is wrong.
• It is ethically wrong to act on a doubtful conscience.

Conscience as an obligation to Law

The main obligation of any state is to rule and the same for every individual is autonomy i.e. refusal to be ruled.  It is always a good thing to have laws and a settled decision procedure. This provides us with an important reason to obey all laws. Obedience also follows when there is some machinery for detecting and penalising lawbreakers. Also, if positive laws are based on natural law then there is an obligation to obey positive law. Obeying civil laws is based on the assumption that there is a government which has proper authority which enacts the law and the latter are not contrary to natural laws. At times legality and morality are not the same things. A person can be moral but can break a civil law at the same time. On the contrary, a few things which are legal can also be immoral at the same time e.g. abortion being legalised in US is one such thing. Although civil law must be obeyed but they should also be verified to see if particular conditions pertain to specific law.

Duration of Civil Law

Contrary to natural law, civil laws may cease anytime owing to the following conditions:

• When it is cut off by the law-makers
• When a new law is enacted to take its place
• When the law is contrary to custom
• When the law is ended by waivers or dispensations as some special persons can be exempt.