Morality and the criminal law: an examination of some recent attempts to define theoretical limits to the proper scope of the criminal law

Macdonald, Douglas Alan

Morality and the criminal law: an examination of some recent attempts to define theoretical limits to the proper scope of the criminal law

dc.contributor.author	Macdonald, Douglas Alan
dc.date.accessioned	2016-04-25T20:46:08Z
dc.date.available	2016-04-25T20:46:08Z
dc.date.issued	1972
dc.date.updated	2016-04-25T20:45:07Z
dc.description.abstract	The aim of this essay is to show that any attempt to define theoretical limits to the proper scope of the criminal law must fail. In Chapter 1 an attempt is made to refute the Wolfenden Committee's contention that society must recognise 'a realm of private morality and immorality which is … not the law's business.' In so far as his arguments also pursue this aim Lord Devlin' s thesis is defended but no attempt is made to defend all that he said. Briefly, the argument advanced asserts that, if it is accepted that any society has the right to take whatever steps it considers necessary to ensure its continued survival then no jurisdictional barrier, such as that proposed by the Wolfenden Committee can be erected, owing to the public nature of all conduct. In other words, if by ' private morality and immorality ' is meant ' private behaviour in matters of morals' then there is no sphere of morality which can be distinguished on the ground that it has no public effect. The argument that there can be no theoretical limits placed on the proper scope of the law does not commit one to holding that all immoral conduct ought to be prohibited by law but rather that any immoral conduct may justifiably be prohibited.
dc.format.mimetype	application/pdf
dc.identifier.citation	Macdonald, D. A. (1972). Morality and the criminal law: an examination of some recent attempts to define theoretical limits to the proper scope of the criminal law (Thesis, Bachelor of Philosophy). University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand. Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/10289/10125	en
dc.identifier.uri	https://hdl.handle.net/10289/10125
dc.language.iso	en
dc.publisher	University of Waikato
dc.rights	All items in Research Commons are provided for private study and research purposes and are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated.
dc.title	Morality and the criminal law: an examination of some recent attempts to define theoretical limits to the proper scope of the criminal law
dc.type	Thesis
pubs.place-of-publication	Hamilton, New Zealand	en_NZ
thesis.degree.grantor	University of Waikato
thesis.degree.level	Masters
thesis.degree.name	Bachelor of Philosophy