Law and morals | OCR A-Level Law
For Specification H418
OCR A-Level Law | Free Revision Notes
Estimated study time: 50 minutes
Law and morals A-Level Law revision examines two different systems that influence human behaviour. OCR requires you to define law and morality, understand their functions, distinguish illegal conduct from immoral conduct, and recognise where legal and moral rules overlap. This develops the distinction between enforceable and non-enforceable rules introduced in legal rules [Law and rules]. It also provides the foundation for later study of morality in a pluralist society [Morality in a pluralist society] and the debate about whether law should enforce moral standards.
Learning Objectives 🎯
By the end of this revision page, you should be able to:
Define law and morality.
Explain the functions performed by legal and moral rules.
Compare the characteristics of legal and moral rules.
Distinguish illegal conduct from immoral conduct.
Explain how an act may be immoral without being illegal.
Explain areas in which law and morality overlap.
Revision Notes 📚
What is law?
For this topic, law can be understood as the body of enforceable legal rules and principles recognised by the legal system.
This connects directly with your earlier study of law and rules, where OCR distinguishes enforceable legal rules and principles from other rules and norms of behaviour.
The important characteristic is legal enforceability.
Legal rules are applied through the legal system. Depending upon the area involved, failure to comply with the law can result in legal consequences through criminal or civil proceedings.
This is why law should not be defined simply as:
"Rules telling people what to do."
Many different kinds of rules influence behaviour. A legal rule is distinctive because it has legal status and operates through the legal system.
What is morality?
Morality concerns standards and values about what conduct is regarded as right or wrong.
Moral standards can influence how people judge:
behaviour;
choices;
responsibilities;
how people ought to treat others.
However, a moral rule is not automatically an enforceable legal rule.
OCR specifically requires students to understand the distinction between law and morals, together with the overlap and difference between immoral and illegal acts.
This gives you one of the most important rules for the entire topic:
Immoral does not automatically mean illegal, and illegal does not automatically mean immoral.
Law and morality are different systems
Law and morality can both influence behaviour, but they do so in different ways.
OCR mark schemes indicate that legal and moral rules may be compared in terms of:
their origins;
enforcement;
their ability to change and develop;
certainty;
application.
These provide a useful framework for distinguishing them.
Feature | Law | Morality |
Basic nature | Enforceable legal rules and principles | Standards and values concerning right and wrong |
Status | Recognised by the legal system | Does not gain legal status merely because it is considered morally important |
Enforcement | Enforced through legal institutions and processes | Moral standards are not legally enforceable simply because they are moral |
Consequences | Can produce formal legal consequences | Breach may attract moral criticism but does not itself create legal liability |
Certainty | Legal rules can be identified through recognised legal sources | Moral views may be less uniform |
Change | Can develop through recognised legal processes | Moral standards can also develop and change |
Application | Applied through the legal system | Depends upon moral beliefs and values |
This comparison is useful in essays because it demonstrates that law and morality can be related without being identical.
Where does law come from?
Law develops through recognised legal processes.
You have already studied the historical development of English law through:
custom;
common law;
statute law.
The modern legal system also uses processes such as:
parliamentary law making;
delegated legislation;
judicial precedent.
These provide identifiable legal sources and methods of legal development.
This helps distinguish law from morality.
A person's strong moral belief does not, by itself, create a new legal rule.
Where do moral standards come from?
Morality concerns beliefs and values about right and wrong.
Unlike a statute, a moral principle does not need to pass through Parliament before it can be regarded as a moral standard.
Likewise, a moral belief does not need to become a binding judicial precedent before people can regard conduct as right or wrong.
This difference in origin helps explain why moral views and legal rules do not always develop at exactly the same speed.
OCR mark schemes expressly recognise that morality can change over time and that this can create difficulties for the legal system.
The diversity of those views is developed further in morality in a pluralist society [Morality in a pluralist society].
The function of law
OCR requires students to understand the function of law as part of the distinction between law and morality.
Law performs several functions across the OCR course.
At the level required for this lesson, law can:
regulate behaviour through enforceable rules;
establish legal rights and responsibilities;
determine legal liability;
provide formal methods for resolving disputes;
provide legal outcomes, such as criminal sentences or civil remedies;
contribute to social control.
The precise legal process depends upon the area of law.
For example, criminal law determines criminal liability, while tort law deals with civil liability.
You explored this distinction in civil and criminal law [Civil and criminal law].
Law regulates behaviour
One obvious function of law is to establish rules governing conduct.
Criminal law contains offences and defences. Civil law determines circumstances in which one party may incur legal liability to another.
This distinguishes law from a purely personal judgement about whether conduct is desirable.
The legal system does not merely say:
"This behaviour is good or bad."
It determines whether legal rules apply and what legal consequences follow.
Law provides formal consequences
Law operates through formal legal processes.
For example:
criminal liability may lead to sentencing;
tortious liability may lead to remedies such as compensatory damages or an injunction;
contractual liability may lead to remedies for students studying the contract option.
This is another important distinction from morality.
Moral criticism alone does not create a criminal sentence or civil remedy.
Law resolves disputes
The OCR specification contains detailed mechanisms for resolving legal disputes, including:
civil courts;
criminal courts;
tribunals;
Alternative Dispute Resolution.
This demonstrates another function of law.
Law provides formal rules and institutions through which disagreements about legal rights and liabilities can be determined.
Law can provide social control
Later in the Nature of Law course, OCR specifically requires students to study law as a social-control mechanism.
This means that law can help influence and regulate behaviour within society.
That idea will be developed fully in law as social control [Law as social control].
For this lesson, remember simply that legal rules can influence behaviour because they are backed by the authority of the legal system.
The function of morality
Morality performs a different, although sometimes connected, function.
Morality provides standards through which conduct can be judged in terms of right and wrong.
It can therefore:
guide personal decisions;
influence attitudes towards conduct;
shape expectations about behaviour;
provide standards against which behaviour can be morally approved or criticised.
The crucial distinction is that morality performs these functions without automatically creating legal liability.
Someone can believe that conduct is seriously morally wrong even where no legal rule prohibits it.
Morality can influence behaviour without law
A person does not need to fear a prosecution or civil claim before moral standards can influence their behaviour.
For example, imagine that a person believes a particular action would be morally wrong, but the scenario expressly states that no legal rule prohibits it.
If the person avoids the action because they believe it is wrong, morality is influencing behaviour even though law is not.
This illustrates the independent function of moral standards.
Legal enforcement and moral judgement are different
The easiest way to distinguish law and morality is to ask two separate questions:
What does the law require?
What is regarded as morally right or wrong?
The answers may be the same, but they do not have to be.
This distinction is essential in an examination.
A legal question cannot be answered simply by saying:
"The defendant behaved badly, so it must be illegal."
You must identify an applicable legal rule.
Similarly, the fact that conduct is legally permitted does not prove that everyone regards it as morally acceptable.
What is illegal conduct?
Illegal conduct is conduct contrary to the law.
Its status depends upon legal rules rather than simply upon someone's moral opinion.
OCR's substantive criminal law demonstrates this clearly.
Whether a defendant has committed an offence depends upon the requirements of the relevant offence, such as its actus reus and mens rea, rather than simply whether their behaviour appears morally bad.
This distinction between legal liability and moral judgement is fundamental.
What is immoral conduct?
Immoral conduct is conduct regarded as contrary to a moral standard about right and wrong.
The key point is that an act does not automatically become illegal simply because it is regarded as immoral.
OCR expressly requires students to understand the difference between immoral and illegal acts.
Therefore:
Immorality concerns moral judgement. Illegality concerns legal status.
Immoral but not illegal
There can be a divergence between law and morality.
Suppose a scenario states:
a form of behaviour is strongly regarded by a group as morally wrong;
no legal rule prohibits that conduct.
The behaviour may be described as immoral according to that moral standard, but it is not illegal merely because it is morally criticised.
This demonstrates why morality cannot automatically be substituted for law.
Illegal but not regarded as immoral by everyone
The opposite distinction can also arise.
Suppose:
the law prohibits particular conduct;
some members of society nevertheless regard the conduct as morally acceptable or justified.
Its legal status is still determined by the law.
Their moral approval does not make the conduct lawful.
This distinction becomes particularly important once you study the diversity of moral opinion in morality in a pluralist society [Morality in a pluralist society].
Law and morality can overlap
Although law and morality are different, they are not completely separate.
OCR expressly requires students to understand the overlap between them, and OCR mark schemes identify the legal enforcement of moral values across substantive areas of law.
An overlap exists where the same behaviour is:
regulated by law; and
also the subject of moral judgement.
In those circumstances, legal and moral rules may point in the same direction.
A simple overlap model
Think of three possible situations:
Situation | Legal status | Moral status |
Overlap | Conduct breaches a legal rule | Conduct is also regarded as morally wrong |
Morality without law | No legal rule prohibits the conduct | Conduct is nevertheless regarded as morally wrong |
Law without moral agreement | Conduct is legally prohibited | Some people may not regard the prohibition as morally justified |
This shows why law and morality are best treated as overlapping systems rather than identical systems.
Areas of the OCR course where law and morality overlap
OCR mark schemes recognise that moral values can interact with several substantive areas of law.
For students, the important skill is to use areas already studied in the course as examples rather than introducing unrelated material.
Criminal law
Criminal law provides many opportunities to consider moral questions because it regulates conduct through criminal offences and defences.
OCR itself requires the evaluation of some criminal law areas by asking whether they are based on sound moral principles.
This confirms that moral considerations can be relevant when analysing criminal law.
However, the two concepts remain separate.
Criminal liability depends upon legal rules, not upon an examiner's or student's personal moral judgement.
Consent as an example of interaction
OCR requires students to study consent as a criminal defence and also to critically evaluate the defence.
Consent can therefore be used as a course example when discussing how legal rules may interact with moral arguments about:
individual choice;
acceptable conduct;
when the law should impose limits.
You do not need to develop the detailed moral debate in this lesson. That belongs more naturally in the legal enforcement of morality [The legal enforcement of morality].
For now, the important point is that substantive legal rules can raise moral questions.
Self-defence and moral principle
OCR also requires critical evaluation of self-defence using frameworks which include whether a defence is based on sound moral principles.
This demonstrates another form of overlap.
The law contains a formal legal defence, but its content can also be considered from a moral perspective.
Again:
legal validity and moral justification are connected questions, but they are not the same question.
Tort law and competing interests
The law of tort also provides examples of law balancing different interests.
OCR requires evaluation of areas such as negligence, occupiers' liability and vicarious liability in terms of fairness, competing interests and the aims of tort law.
These evaluations may connect with wider ideas about what legal outcomes ought to be regarded as fair or just.
This is another way in which legal rules may be assessed using wider values.
Human rights or contract examples
Nature of Law is common to both H418/03 and H418/04, so students can also draw upon their chosen optional area.
OCR mark schemes recognise moral questions across both human rights law and contract law where relevant.
However, only use examples from the optional area that you have actually studied.
Nature of Law questions are synoptic, so relevant knowledge from your substantive law can support an argument about law and morality.
Moral values can change
One important difference between law and morality is that moral attitudes can develop or change.
OCR mark schemes expressly identify changes in morality over time as relevant to the relationship between law and morals.
This can create three possibilities:
law and morality may broadly coincide;
moral attitudes may change before legal rules change;
legal rules may change while moral disagreement continues.
This helps explain why the relationship between law and morality is dynamic rather than fixed.
The consequences of changing and competing moral standards are examined further in morality in a pluralist society [Morality in a pluralist society].
Law can change too
Law is not fixed permanently.
You have already studied how law develops through:
Parliament;
judicial precedent;
law reform.
Therefore, where society changes, legal rules can also develop.
However, law and morality do not necessarily change at precisely the same time or in precisely the same direction.
OCR's 2023 mark scheme recognises the difficulty faced by law in keeping up with changing moral views.
This is an important point for later evaluation.
Moral disagreement does not destroy the legal rule
Suppose a legal rule exists but people disagree strongly about whether it is morally justified.
The moral disagreement does not itself cause the legal rule to stop being law.
Likewise, strong moral support for a particular standard does not automatically make that standard legally enforceable.
This distinction provides the foundation for natural law and legal positivism [Natural law and legal positivism].
Later, you will consider competing theories about how closely law and morality should be connected.
Law can enforce moral values
One area of overlap arises when the legal system turns a moral concern into an enforceable legal rule.
OCR specifically requires study of the legal enforcement of moral values.
At this stage, you only need the basic idea:
A moral value can influence the content of law, but once it becomes part of an enforceable legal rule, its legal force comes from its status within the legal system.
The much bigger question, whether law should enforce morality, is considered later.
Morality can influence law without becoming law itself
It is also useful to distinguish between:
morality influencing the law, and
morality itself becoming law.
Public moral attitudes may be relevant to debates about legal change.
However, moral opinion by itself is not an independent legal source in the same way as statute law or judicial precedent.
The law still needs to develop through recognised legal processes.
Law may influence moral attitudes
The relationship can operate in both directions.
The OCR specification later requires students to understand how law can shape society through social control.
This means legal rules may themselves influence expectations about acceptable behaviour.
Therefore, the relationship can work as follows:
moral values may influence law → law may influence behaviour and social expectations
This interaction is developed further in the role of law in society [The role of law in society].
A comparison of law and morality
Question | Law | Morality |
What does it concern? | Legal rights, duties, rules and liability | Judgements about right and wrong |
Is it legally enforceable? | Yes, where an applicable legal rule exists | Not merely because it is a moral rule |
How is it applied? | Through recognised legal processes | Through moral standards and values |
Can it change? | Yes | Yes |
Are the standards always identical? | No | No |
Can the two overlap? | Yes | Yes |
Can they conflict or diverge? | Yes | Yes |
Three relationships to remember
A useful revision model is:
1. Overlap
Law and morality reach a similar judgement about conduct.
2. Divergence
A moral standard exists but the law does not prohibit the conduct, or a legal prohibition exists despite disagreement about its moral justification.
3. Interaction
Moral values influence legal debate and legal rules may influence social attitudes.
These three ideas provide a strong foundation for all the later law and morality lessons.
Why the distinction matters in examinations
A common weakness is to treat personal moral opinion as though it were legal authority.
For example:
"The defendant should be guilty because what they did was morally wrong."
That is not sufficient legal reasoning.
A legal conclusion requires:
the relevant legal rule;
legal authority where appropriate;
application of that rule to the facts.
Moral evaluation is relevant when the question asks you to analyse or evaluate the law, but it cannot replace the law itself.
Using morality in a Nature of Law essay
OCR's Nature of Law Section A requires students to use examples from across the full course of study.
A strong approach is:
Define the relevant moral or legal concept.
Explain the relationship between law and morality.
Select a relevant area from the course.
Explain why that legal example demonstrates overlap or divergence.
Keep the example focused on the precise question.
This is much better than memorising one general "morality essay" and reproducing it regardless of the wording of the examination question.
Key Words 🔑
Key word | Student-friendly definition | How it may be used in an exam |
Law | Enforceable legal rules and principles recognised by the legal system. | Use when distinguishing formal legal requirements from moral standards. |
Morality | Standards and values used to judge conduct as right or wrong. | Define early in a law and morality answer before explaining its relationship with law. |
Illegal | Contrary to an applicable legal rule. | Use when explaining why legal status depends upon law rather than moral opinion. |
Immoral | Contrary to a moral standard concerning right and wrong. | Use when explaining that conduct may be morally criticised without necessarily being unlawful. |
Overlap | A situation in which legal and moral rules address the same conduct or support similar standards. | Use when explaining the relationship between law and morality rather than treating them as completely separate. |
Hints from the Examiner Reports 💡
Examiner hint: Define the key concepts before developing the argument. OCR's 2022 report found that successful answers demonstrated knowledge of approaches to morality, while later reports emphasise the importance of setting out the meaning of key concepts clearly.
Examiner hint: Do not simply name legal thinkers. In the 2022 report, OCR explicitly stated that naming a thinker alone received no credit. If you use a theorist, explain the relevant concept the thinker helps you demonstrate.
Examiner hint: Use examples from your OCR course. The 2022 report found that lengthy theoretical explanations with little connection to areas of law studied on the course were unlikely to move beyond Level 2.
Examiner hint: Choose examples that answer the precise question. OCR warned against relying on current affairs or unrelated foreign material where these do not relate directly to the course content.
Examiner hint: Adapt your knowledge to the question rather than reproducing a prepared morality essay. The 2023 report found that the strongest candidates combined relevant legal issues and theory while maintaining a clear focus on the particular context of the question.
Examiner hint: If a question is specifically about the role of judges, examples of legislation made by Parliament must be connected back to the judicial issue. OCR identified this as a problem in the 2022 examination.
Common Mistakes ⚠️
Mistake: Assuming that immoral means illegal
Why this is incorrect: OCR expressly requires students to understand the difference between immoral and illegal acts. A moral rule does not automatically have legal status.
How to improve: Ask separately: Does an enforceable legal rule prohibit this? and Is the conduct regarded as morally wrong?
Mistake: Assuming that anything legal must be morally acceptable
Why this is incorrect: Legal permission and moral approval are different concepts. Moral criticism can exist even where no legal rule prohibits the conduct.
How to improve: Keep legal status separate from moral judgement.
Mistake: Using personal opinion as legal authority
Why this is incorrect: Saying "I think this is wrong" does not establish illegality.
How to improve: Identify the legal rule first. Use morality when the question asks you to analyse the values behind the law.
Mistake: Saying law and morality are completely separate
Why this is incorrect: OCR specifically requires knowledge of their overlap as well as their differences.
How to improve: Explain that they are distinguishable systems, but moral values can interact with and sometimes be reflected in legal rules.
Mistake: Saying law and morality are exactly the same
Why this is incorrect: If they were identical, every immoral act would automatically be illegal and every legal rule would necessarily reflect a universally accepted moral judgement. OCR specifically requires the distinction between the two.
How to improve: Use the ideas of overlap and divergence.
Mistake: Treating morality as fixed
Why this is incorrect: OCR mark schemes recognise that moral values can change over time.
How to improve: Recognise that both law and moral standards may develop, but they do not necessarily change at the same rate.
Mistake: Listing cases or thinkers without explaining their relevance
Why this is incorrect: OCR examiner reports repeatedly emphasise that names alone gain little or no credit and that examples must demonstrate the point being made.
How to improve: Use the structure: concept → example → explanation of the connection.
Exam-Style Questions ✍️
Question 1
Define morality. (2 marks)
Question 2
Explain one difference between a legal rule and a moral rule. (3 marks)
Question 3
Explain one function of law and one function of morality. (4 marks)
Question 4
A community strongly disapproves of a particular form of behaviour and regards it as morally wrong. There is no legal rule prohibiting the behaviour.
Explain what this situation demonstrates about the distinction between immoral and illegal conduct. (4 marks)
Question 5
A new legal rule prohibits a particular form of behaviour. Some members of society believe that the behaviour is morally acceptable and disagree strongly with the legal rule.
Explain what this situation demonstrates about the relationship between law and morality. (6 marks)
Question 6
Explain two ways in which law and morality may overlap. (6 marks)
Question 7
Explain why the existence of moral disapproval is not, by itself, sufficient to establish legal liability. (8 marks)
Question 8
'Law and morality frequently overlap, but they remain different systems of rules.'
Discuss the extent to which you agree with this statement. (20 marks)
Use examples from your full course of study where appropriate.
Answers and Indicative Mark Scheme
Question 1
Award up to 2 marks for:
identifying morality as involving standards or values concerning right and wrong, 1 mark
recognising that these standards are moral rather than automatically legally enforceable, 1 mark
Question 2
Award up to 3 marks for explaining one developed distinction, for example:
a legal rule has legal status and is enforceable through the legal system;
a moral rule concerns standards of right and wrong;
a moral rule does not become legally enforceable simply because it is regarded as important.
Question 3
Award up to 4 marks, for example:
Function of law:
regulates behaviour through enforceable legal rules;
establishes rights or responsibilities;
provides formal methods for determining legal liability or resolving disputes.
Function of morality:
provides standards for judging behaviour as right or wrong;
can guide behaviour without creating legal liability.
Award credit for one developed function of each.
Question 4
Award up to 4 marks for:
identifying that the community is making a moral judgement, 1 mark
recognising that the conduct is regarded as morally wrong, 1 mark
recognising that the scenario expressly states that no legal rule prohibits it, 1 mark
concluding that conduct can therefore be regarded as immoral without being illegal, 1 mark
Question 5
Award up to 6 marks for explaining that:
the legal rule has legal status and prohibits the conduct;
disagreement about the morality of the rule does not remove its legal status;
some people may regard legally prohibited conduct as morally acceptable;
legal and moral rules are therefore not identical;
morality may involve differing judgements about right and wrong;
the scenario demonstrates a divergence between legal rules and at least some moral views.
Question 6
Award up to 6 marks for two developed explanations.
Indicative content might include:
an enforceable legal rule may reflect or enforce a moral value;
the same conduct may therefore be both legally prohibited and morally condemned;
moral values may influence debates about legal development;
legal rules may themselves influence expectations about acceptable behaviour;
OCR recognises moral issues within substantive areas such as criminal law, tort, human rights and contract where relevant to the student's course.
Maximum marks require explanation rather than simply stating "law and morality overlap".
Question 7
Award up to 8 marks for a developed explanation including:
moral disapproval concerns a judgement about right and wrong;
legal liability requires an applicable legal rule;
legal rules and moral standards have different status;
an immoral act is not automatically illegal;
criminal liability depends upon the legal requirements of the offence;
civil liability similarly depends upon the relevant legal rules;
personal or social disapproval cannot replace legal authority;
morality can nevertheless be relevant when evaluating why a legal rule exists or whether it is justified.
Question 8
20 marks: AO1 8 marks, AO3 12 marks
Indicative content may include:
Knowledge and understanding:
definition of law;
definition of morality;
functions of law;
functions of morality;
differences in legal enforceability;
characteristics such as origins, enforcement, change, certainty and application;
the distinction between immoral and illegal conduct;
overlap between legal and moral standards;
divergence between legal rules and moral views;
examples from relevant substantive areas of the OCR course.
Analysis and evaluation:
Arguments that law and morality remain distinct could include:
law has formal legal status and is enforceable through legal institutions;
moral disapproval does not automatically establish legal liability;
conduct may be morally criticised without being legally prohibited;
moral approval does not automatically make prohibited conduct lawful;
legal questions therefore require legal rules and authority rather than personal moral opinion.
Arguments demonstrating overlap could include:
law may enforce values that are also moral in character;
OCR recognises the legal enforcement of moral values across substantive areas;
substantive criminal rules and defences can be evaluated according to whether they rest on sound moral principles;
moral attitudes can influence debates about changing law;
legal rules can themselves affect behaviour and social expectations.
A strong response should recognise that overlap does not mean identity.
The most convincing judgement is likely to be that law and morality interact closely, but they remain distinguishable because legal status and legal enforceability cannot be determined simply by asking whether conduct is morally right or wrong.
This distinction provides the basis for the next stages of the topic, including competing moral views, natural law and legal positivism [Natural law and legal positivism], and ultimately evaluating the relationship between law and morality [Evaluating law and morality].
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