Law and morality in Makenzie case over deaths of faithful

Pastor Paul Mackenzie in a Malindi court on Monday, April, 17, 2023. [Nehemiah Okwembah, Standard]

The question of whether law ought to enforce morality has been an issue of philosophical debate for ages. What should be the rightful limit to the sovereignty of the individual over himself? Where does the authority of society begin? How much of human life should be assigned to individuality, and how much to society?

According to natural lawyers, what is good or bad is universal, unchanging and irreplaceable whether adhered to or not. The phrase unjust law is not law only supports the argument that law must be just, and what is just depends on whether it adheres to moral values and principles. Although morality and the law seem to have a common purpose and the means to achieve the stated purpose, the implementation of these means to achieve the purpose is different and because of these differences, it is correct to say that in any society not all laws are based on the morality of that society.