PHIL 325 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Wolfenden Report, Fundamental Justice, International Standard Book Number
20 Jan 2016
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Devlin, patrick morals and the criminal law (dmr pages 369 392) Patrick devlin argues that criminal law is not solely for the purposes of protecting individuals but also for the protection of the society. In other words, criminal law shouldn"t only protect public morality but also private morality. He asserts, society means a community of ideas; without shared ideas on politics, morals and ethnics no society can exist (dmr, 378). He believes that criminal laws should respect and reinforce the moral norms of society in order to prevent society from falling apart. This is because devlin believes that society is fabricated by morals that hold us together, which is obvious when he says, If men and women try to create a society in which there is no fundamental agreement about good and evil they will fail; [ ] society will disintegrate. For society [ ] is held [together] by invisible bonds of common thought (dmr,
