In situations where distrust abounds and problems with dishonesty create the need for mandated performance, our tendency is to create complex laws and rights designed to bring about the standards of fairness that gospel principles would dictate regardless of codified law. We have evolved slowly from a society grounded in religious values to one that remains detached and amoral. Codified law has become the sole determinant for appropriate standards of behavior. The lack of a specific statutory prohibition on behavior means that the behavior is acceptable. Rights are created to provide protection from the lack of compassion.
Liability is imposed to prevent sales of harmful products.
There are dangers in a dependency on laws and their use as our sole standard of behavior. In the maze of rules, the element of judgment is eliminated. Nicholas Leeson, a British trader, sat before a computer and generated highly leveraged stock deals that led to the bankruptcy of Barings Bank, a legendary institution in international trade that had financed the Napoleonic wars. His focus on the legality of these instruments produced a block on the ethical concerns of their risk and the exposure of some individuals' life savings to complete dissolution. As the U.S. government struggles to write and establish complex guidelines on sexual harassment, the problem with the issue in the workplace escalates.