Conflict Law and Norms: Regulators Case Study

In this example of a convergence of presumed norms and laws, we can observe the danger of moral authority. Indeed, where such constraints are concerned, there are instances in which a certain assumed set of superior values are adopted as law. In such instances, new legal constraints may be in direct contrast with a set of community values shared by a broad cross-section of the population.

This type of conflict is highlighted in no uncertain terms by the premise of the current legislation facing the Indian population, which while progressive on its face, also places a troubling amount of moral authority in the hands of the Indian government. This, of course, is so say nothing of the sheer impracticality of imposing marriage on unwilling participants, of whom we may assume there will be a great many.

Alternative Approach:

An alternative approach to improving the rights and status of live-in partners is to focus on laws establishing common-law partnerships based on duration of residential status.By taking the sexual intrusiveness and moral imposition of the current law and shifting the focus to residential law, the government may simultaneously advance protections for women and society's standing on premarital sex norms.

Comparison:

The values in conflict in the current approach are laws and norms. It may be argued that legal regulators have overstepped their boundaries by assuming too great an involvement in dictating normative regulators. In the alternative route proposed, legal values and normative values would not be in conflict but could instead be shown as being in coordination. By contrast, it is entirely possible that market constraints could limit the ability of legislators to create residential-status-based laws.

Works Cited:

Lessig, L. (1997). What Things Regulate. Harvard University - Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics.

NaiJ. (2013). "Premarital Sex = Marriage," Indian High Court….....