Morality and Rights Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Morality and Rights - Essay Example "That the only purpose for which power can be rightfully exercised over any member of a civilized community, against his will, is to prevent harm to others. His own good, either physical or moral, is not a sufficient warrant," Dworkin (1994, p.9). Over centuries, morality had been mercurial, while Law was not, though there is a constant need to adapt to changing social requirements. Killing troublemakers and animals was moral at one point and not so now. Today, recreational drugs, homosexuality, prostitution etc. are legally accepted. "To grasp fully where law and morality meet, one must also grasp where they remain divergent. ..Of greatest interest in that theoretical endeavour, of course, is the matter of pinning down whether and how moral principles can enter into those processes. Only by adequately addressing themselves to that matter can positivists come up with satisfactorily precise analyses of the workings of legal systems," Kramer (2004, p.11). Morality is interpreted by religions in contradictorily and what is right for one need not be so for another. In multicultural societies this could be difficult to be enforced. It is highly contentious for law to depend on moral values alone, because the question arises, which moral values.