The Interrelationship of Law and Ethics While many seek to separate law from ethics and morality, they are, in fact, inextricably related. Morality and ethics deal with standards of right and wrong in human behavior. They involve society's assessment of desired behavior in human relationships. The fields of morality and ethics focus on what ought to be done by an individual or group in a given situation, and how human beings ought to treat one another. Law, on the other hand, involves more than simply producing a desired human behavior.
Law focuses on behavior that is required by society.
In other words, the field of law addresses more than just what ought to be done. It sets forth what must or must not be done in a given situation. While law is distinct from morality and ethics, it nonetheless reflects the moral and ethical values of a society. Rarely does the law compel the doing of something unless society believes it ought to be done, and rarely does the law prohibit the doing of something unless society believes it ought not to be done. Law, ethics, and morality are inevitably shaped by a nation's predominant religious views, for how we view God ultimately determines how we view our fellow man.