RELIGION AND SOCIETY

Religion and Society ~ 426 ~ A certain deed may be decreed an offence and, therefore, punishable by law, but it is not enough for the words of prohibition to be inscribed in the statute book. For something to be considered an offence, and a punishment attached to it, it has to be viewed with general abhorrence by society at large. Anyone committing an offence can then be made to feel that he is doing something wrong, for his action will be condemned by the whole of society, and law-enforcement authorities will then be able to apprehend him with full confidence; judge and jury will be in a position to deliver their verdicts, confident that they are punishing one who is deserving of punishment. What is an offence in the eyes of the law must be a sin in the eyes of men. As the historical school of legal thought maintains, law making can only succeed when it complies with the inner convictions of the generation by whom and for whom the law is made. A system of law, which does not do so is bound to fail.11