Difference between Law and Ethics

263 votes

Laws and ethics are guidelines and rules in society. Ethics originated from the society which leads to the development of laws. These two terms are closely related and slightly different.

The main difference between law and ethics is that ethics are the moral values and principles that are adapted socially from the surrounding while Laws are the rules and regulations that are set by the authorities.
 

What is Law?

Law is a set of rules and regulations enforced by the authority to control human behaviours for the common good. Violation of these rules and regulations tend to result in penalties or punishment from the court of law. Examples of penalties are sanctions and punishment is imprisonment. However, these laws can easily be changed according to the need and demand of maintaining certain conditions in a society.
 

What is Ethics?

Ethics are moral values and principles that govern the behaviour of an individual. Ethics help to choose what is right and wrong. Ethics are highly susceptible to changes due to new inventions, ideas and information. It also tends to vary from nation to nation, culture to culture and country to country. The good news is that failure to adhere to the ethics do not result in penalties and punishment. However, it fosters one self-respect.
 

What is the difference between Law and Ethics?

The main differences between law and ethics have been mentioned below:

1. Laws are a set of rules and regulations enforced by the government or authorities while ethics are morals and principles adapted by society from the environment.

2. Failure to follow laws can result in penalties and punishment while ethics do not attract penalties and punishment.

3. Laws are made by lawyers and legislature whereas ethics by religious leaders, philosophers and elders in the family.

4. Laws are a must to be followed while ethics are values to be considered to be a positive attitude to follow.

5. Ethics are prone to changes due to new inventions, ideas and information whereas laws can be changed by authorities based on demand and need for maintaining certain conditions in the society.

6. Laws are made from ethics as a guiding principle while ethics are moral values of oneself or society

7. Laws tend to be the same in a country while ethics tend to vary from one city to another.

8. Religion tends to have a direct impact on ethics while it may or may not have an impact on laws.

9. Laws are in a written document whereas ethics are not written

10. The court is responsible to decide which law has been broken whereas society judge someone based on ethical issues.

11. Laws create a legal binding while ethics do not have a binding thing

LawRato LawRato

684 votes

Ethics means the science of a standard human conduct. The law consists of a set of rules and regulations, whereas Ethics comprises of guidelines and principles that inform people about how to live or how to behave in a particular situation. ... The law creates a legal binding, but ethics has no such binding on the people.

Advocate Anupam Kumar Mishra LawRato

923 votes

law is norms to be followed whereas ethics is code of conduct .ethics in legal profession including no to disclose confidential info of client, obey orders of bar etc. their are court ethics not to use cell phone ,other court ethics such as not to abuse other lawyer.

Advocate Madhvi Chopra LawRato

289 votes

The laws are the rules that governments create to maintain balance and protect their citizens. Standards of ethics are developed by organisations or society to determine what is right and wrong.

Advocate Chikirsha Mohanty LawRato