Synergy Between Law And Morality In Contemporary Society: Issues And Challenges

The question as to whether there exist any relationship between law and morality and if any, then to what extent, is as old as the history of man himself. The question as to whether the law should allow or forbid the doing of something acknowledged to be immoral is a controversial one. Two schools of thought holding opposing views in this regard are the positivist and the naturalist schools of thought. The naturalist hold the view that law as a regulator of social engineering should not be static but should succumb or response to the dictates of changing circumstances as to values, beliefs and morals of the society for effective performance, observance and enforcement. The positivist conversely hold the view that, law is law and valid and should not concern itself with the morality or otherwise facts or conducts however bad, unjust or immoral. The paper therefore, seek to x-ray the areas of similarities and divergence between law and morality in the wake of decaying moral values in the society and examine the extent to which the synergy between morality and law can help in addressing and maintaining social values.