Ethics is a set of standards, or a code, or value system, worked out from human reason and

experience, by which free human actions are determined as ultimately right or wrong, good or
evil. If acting agrees with these standards, it is ethical, otherwise ethical. Law is a code of
conduct which the authority in power prescribes for society. It basically differs from ethics in its
option to use force if and when necessary and by the fact that itis backed by power. Laws are, by
and large, fair and moral. But it is not easy to accept that laws can be the foundations of ethics,
or even that laws can ensure ethical behavior.

Laws

Laws are similar to the legal form of rules. The term law is defined as a rule (for want of a better
word) that has been legally made to apply to everyone in a civilization. In a democratic system, a
law is phrase that has been passed by a legislature. It can be said that a law is much more formal
than a rule. Laws are prescribed by a higher governmental office, usually the police and the
prosecutors office. Laws are written in specific code so that they can be interpreted as required.
Laws must go through certain processes to become laws, including a voting process. Based on
societys beliefs, laws are created and enforced by governments to mediate in our relationships
with each other. Laws are made by governments in order to protect its inhabitants. The judiciary,
legislature, and public officials are the three main bodies in a government that are assigned to the
task of the creation of laws.

Laws have to be approved and written by these three branches of government before they are
implemented and enforced by the police and the military, with the help of the legal system
comprising of lawyers and other government servants. Nevertheless, the enactment of a law
varies based on the government. In dictatorship system, the leader has the power to pass any law
he wishes. In an egalitarianism, the bill to pass a law must be voted on by the different parts of
the government. Laws must be followed by all, including private citizens, groups and companies
as well as public figures, organizations and institutions. Laws set out standards, procedures and
principles that must be followed. A law is enforceable by the judicial system, i.e. those
responsible for breaking them can be prosecuted in court. There are various types of laws framed
like criminal laws, civil laws, and international laws. Breaking a law is a punishable crime and
has drastic consequences such as hefty fines, jail time and community service time.

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The concept of law has attracted attention of many philosophers. Thomas Aquinas notion of law
is most acceptable as he defines law as an ordinance of reason directed towards common good
and promulgated by the one who cares for the community. He sees law as a command, a
directive which should be reasonable and directed towards common good and not satisfy private
interests of a few individuals. Law is thus regarded as a rule and measure of acts whereby a man
is both induced to act and is restrained from acting. It imposes an obligation and defines a course
of action to be followed. Also, laws must conform to human nature and they must be physically
and morally possible to obey them in addition to being just. The law is thus for larger good and
legislators have to make it known to the public.

Laws and other regulations usually differ in terms of the source from which they emanate, their
purpose and the extent of their applicability. While law is considered as an ordinance or a rule
which results from human reason, regulations help to clarify those laws to take it to the level of
larger good. All authority to enact a law belongs to those who have the jurisdiction and are
lawfully in charge of the community. The source of all regulation is any private authority like an
organization, anyone superior etc. Regulations generally focus on individual good while laws are
made for common good and are specific for a territory.

Rules

Rules are made by firms and individuals. Rules are codes of conduct that are designed for
specific situations, similar to customs but have immense importance because there is usually a
punishment related with them. Rules are more flexible and has less consequences. Rules are
strategies that are provided to maintain smooth functioning of an organization and to maintain
peace and harmony among its people. Rules are personal in nature, and they are often attuned as
the conditions of the home change. Rules assist people learn to prepare for living in society.
Fundamentally, Rules are judicial legal findings as in a judge's ruling on a case. It is the legal
principle or principles established in a legal dispute. Rules are a less formal set of guidelines
which has little or no consequences depending on the person that is imposing them. Rules are
also applied by the person that is making the rule.

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Difference between Laws and Rules

There is significant difference between rules and laws. Main difference is the consequences
related with breaking them. While each is developed to invoke a sense of order, fair play, and
safety, law is more powerful as compared to a rule. Laws are like the legal form of rules. Laws
are written in specific code so that they can be interpreted as needed. Rules are supple. Laws
must be passed through due process in order to take effect. Rules are merely set and adjusted as
the need arises. In order to establish a society it must follow specific rules and laws that help
govern its smooth running. The laws and rules are established to guarantee that everyone is
treated as the same. The laws and rules ensure that each individual must follow a set of
guidelines and if/she ends up breaking any of those rules they must accept the consequences no
matter their social standing or position. The laws and rules used to retain smooth and efficient
functioning of the society.

Regulation

A regulation is a legal standard that has intention to shape conduct that is a by-product of
imperfection (Orbach, Barak, 2012). A regulation may be used to recommend or ban conduct, to
standardize incentives or to change preferences (Orbach, Barak, 2012). Regulations comprises of
two factors that include a process of monitoring and enforcing legislations and a written
instrument containing rules that have law on them. The art of regulating is to fix, establish or to
adjust by rule, method or established mode, subject to governing Laws or ideologies. Regulations
are made by the executive branch usually through the various departments such as departments
of state, agriculture, treasury, etc. Regulations are similar to rules in that they provide more
specificity to a particular law passed by a legislative body.

Regulation creates, limits, constrains a right, creates or limits a duty, or allocates a responsibility.
Regulation are of various types such as legal restrictions promulgated by a government authority,
contractual obligations that bind many parties. Regulations are generally set by the executive for
smooth functioning of the laws. Laws usually provide framework for addressing a subject.
Regulations are intended for providing a detailed and intricate framework for making the laws
work.

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Conscience

Conscience is a capacity, intuition or decision that help to distinguish right from wrong. In
psychological terms, conscience is defined as leading to feelings of remorse when a human
commits actions that go against his moral values and feelings of pleasure and well-being when
our actions, thoughts and words are in conformity to value systems of people.

The phrase conscience originates from the Latin conscienta, meaning with-knowledge. In the
Greek word translation, conscience means moral awareness. Commonly used metaphors for
conscience include the voice within and the inner light. It indicates a persons moral sense
of right and wrong as well as consciousness of ones own actions. Expressions such as gut
feeling and guilt are often applied in conjunction with conscience. In this sense, the conscience
is not essentially a product of a rational deduction but is something that can be influenced by the
indoctrination of ones parentage, social class, religion or culture.

Psychological studies have revealed that a conscience aims to make moral decisions in
overwhelming forces of inescapable situations despite the risk of adverse consequences. If
conscience goes, then everything collapses, conscience is central to our identity and it is as
component in the moral decisions making process, however, failure to acknowledge and accept
that conscientious judgements can be seriously mistaken on account of their relativistic nature,
may only promote situations where one`s conscience is manipulated by others to provide
unwarranted justifications for non-virtuous and self-centred acts. Without adequate constraint of
external, altruistic, normative justification, conscience may be considered morally blind and
dangerous both to the individual concerned and humanity as a whole.

Conscience is consistent guide to ethical decision making

It is arguable topic whether or not the conscience is the most reliable form of decision making or
not. However, there are many different opinions on conscience when it comes to decision
making. The idea of the conscience has developed from early christian views, however it has
now developed through the psychological views of it being linked or part of the mind. The
notion of the conscience was also later developed by Freud who advocated that the conscience

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could be explained best by using scientific knowledge instead of using religious views and
opinions on the conscience.

St Paul thought the conscience was a moral guide, which is within and does not need any rules or
theories to be followed. St Pauls idea of the conscience is widespread to everyone. Butler
believed that the conscience was a God given ability to reason. Due to the fact that they were
both christians St Paul and Butler established on many of their ideas. Butler thought that the
conscience should be understood as a judge within everybody, a judge that makes moral
decisions for people. He recommended that as it is within people and appears to have a higher
authority we therefore must listen to it, and take on board the decision in which our conscience
makes. One of the main weaknesses is the idea that not everyone can have the same type of
conscience as young children and people with mental illnesses will not have the same.

Saint Augustine visualized the conscience as the voice of God speaking to people from within. It
is the law of God in the hearts of people that they use to understand right and wrong actions. For
him, the conscience must always be in every circumstance turned towards the good and away
from all that is evil. With religious viewpoint, the conscience is a reliable guide to ethical
decision-making as it relies on our innate ability to determine what is good and bad.

Conscience can act as source of ethical guidance for bureaucrats, politicians

and citizens in a democratic system

Conscience is the intrinsic intuitive capacity to discriminate between right and wrong. Inner
Voice is important especially in democracy as it has various participants such as citizens,
NGOs, corporates to be administered by the politicians who are elected by them only.

But at individual level, every person has conscience which assists them to take important
decision. Thus it can act as strong tool to evade away the individual self-centred thinking.

Political Level: Conscience can help to lesson corruption, nepotism and profit seeking behaviour.
Thus provoke them to act in benevolence of society at large and uphold the constitution
principles. At each and every decision they should keep in mind that they were elected to serve
the citizens and not to serve their own needs and greed. Bureaucratic Level: The crisis of

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conscience is important whether to just mere follow the orders from superiors v/s to follow the
right path of judgement. The intrinsic voice of serving the nation maintaining highest standards
of honesty and probity is important as they are link between citizens and political figures.

Citizen Level: Collective and individual conscience of inhabitants is very important because it
describes the existing society conditions such as keeping surrounding clean, actively contributing
in elections, dissent to undemocratic principles. Therefore adhering to it will also control mass
prejudice such as riots and lynching of offenders.

Furthermore, it is important to dynamically excel and improve at individual and institution level.
Thus if everyone acts and adhere to their principles values, the moral degradation can be
controlled and faith in governing institutions can be reinstituted.

Generally it is understood as an inner voice which guides a person about a behaviour

being right or wrong. Everyone has a sense of right and wrong. Knowledge is essential
for a well-formed conscience. Failure on the part of individuals to seek knowledge is seen
as a failure in our obligation to form a healthy conscience. It ultimately leads us to
commit the sin of omission. It thus determines morality in human actions.
It is a special act of mind which comes into play when intellect passes a judgment on
either the goodness or badness of a particular act.
As per deontology, conscience is a judgment i.e. an intellectual decision. It is not just a
feeling or an emotion. It makes a moral judgment based on morality of past or action
which is going to occur in future.
Conscience is not same as law. Latter states general rules concerning actions while
former puts down practical rule for specific action. Conscience applies that law or action
is much broader than law.

Types of conscience

Antecedent conscience: This approves, commands, advices, warns, permits doing the
act.

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 Consequent conscience: This stands for minds judgment to see the morality of an
action done. If the act is approved, a sense of peace, wellbeing and spiritual joy is
promoted while is the act is disapproved it results in feeling of remorse or guilt.
True conscience: It is a type of conscience where mind usually makes correct judgment
morally of an already done action. Thus mind gives correct subjective judgment about an
act.
Erroneous conscience: This is a type of conscience which represents a moral aspect
incorrectly.
Certain conscience: This is a type of conscience in which mind is completely sure what
issue is morally right or wrong.
Doubtful conscience: This refers to a mental state where one is not able to decide if the
action is good or bad.
Scrupulous conscience: This is a thought process where the mind constantly sees an act
to be morally wrong thereby resulting in feelings of torment or guilt without any valid
reason.
Lax conscience: This stands for a blurred sense to see what is morally right or wrong.
This mental state usually looks for excuses and finds an easy way out of situations.

Ethical Principles that govern conscience

Ethical principles governing conscience include:

A person should be careful to ensure correct conscience.

A person should follow a certain conscience even if it is wrong.
It is ethically wrong to act on a doubtful conscience.

Conscience as an obligation to Law

The main obligation of any state is to rule and the same for every individual is autonomy i.e.
refusal to be ruled. It is always a good thing to have laws and a settled decision procedure. This
provides us with an important reason to obey all laws. Obedience also follows when there is
some machinery for detecting and penalising lawbreakers. Also, if positive laws are based on

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natural law then there is an obligation to obey positive law. Obeying civil laws is based on the
assumption that there is a government which has proper authority which enacts the law and the
latter are not contrary to natural laws. At times legality and morality are not the same things. A
person can be moral but can break a civil law at the same time. On the contrary, a few things
which are legal can also be immoral at the same time e.g. abortion being legalised in US is one
such thing. Although civil law must be obeyed but they should also be verified to see if particular
conditions pertain to specific law.

Duration of Civil Law

Contrary to natural law, civil laws may cease anytime owing to the following conditions:

When it is cut off by the law-makers

When a new law is enacted to take its place
When the law is contrary to custom
When the law is ended by waivers or dispensations as some special persons can be
exempt.

Relationship between ethics and law

Ethics is a set of standards, or a code, or value system, worked out from human reason and
experience, by which free human actions are determined as ultimately right or wrong, good or
evil. If acting agrees with these standards, it is ethical; otherwise unethical. Law is a code of
conduct which the authority in power prescribes for society. It basically differs from ethics in its
option to use force if and when necessary and by the fact that its backed by power. Laws are, by
and large, fair and moral. But it is not easy to accept that laws can be the foundations of ethics,
or even that laws can ensure ethical behavior. There are many situations in life, where just
following the law does not make one ethical. For example, if a wealthy man intends to splash
thousands of Ghana Cedis on the anniversary of his dog whiles his neighbor has no money to
buy food and is being ejected from his home, there is no law to prohibit the wealthy man from
doing so. If he decides not to, it is because of the dictates of his conscience, not because of the

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dictates of the law. His conscience, ethical value system and principles forbid him to rejoice
when someone else nearby is in sorrow. The law has no role to play in such a situation.
Moreover, not all laws have moral choice. There are many laws which do not involve any
ethicality questions - for example, we are required to walk on the left hand side of the road. This
is done to ensure traffic control and the traffic discipline, but a question of ethics is not involved
here. Again, all moral and ethical actions do not involve the law. For example, it is ethical to
love and respect your parents, but there is no law for it, except when they are deliberately
mistreated by their children. Law represents the minimum standards of behavior expected from
people. Merely following the law, does not make one ethical. Another aspect of the legal system
is that it prohibits us of certain actions. It also spells out the negative consequences of our not
following the law - that is legal punishment. However, ethical behavior encourages us to do
certain things and explains the benefits,i.e., the positive aspects of these ethical behavior. For
example, the law tells us not to steal, not to kill, but ethics tells us to do good, speak the truth,
help others in distress. Thus there is a positive aspect inherent in ethical behavior, whereas the
law is more concerned about negative behavior. Yet another aspect of the law is that ethics
precedes the action, the law follows it.

Ethics tells us what we should strive to develop in ourselves (high moral standards), on the other
hand, law tends to be more concerned with the consequences of the negative action - what
punishment would follow, who is guilty and how shall justice be done. Moreover, the law is a
universally accepted, published document, whereas ethics do not yet have a universally accepted,
consistent and published concept - it is abstract, culture specific and left to the individual for
interpretation and action. Some Laws have nothing to do with morality because they do not
involve serious matters. These include parking laws, dress codes and other laws covering similar
matters. Our moral standards are sometimes incorporated into the law, when enough of us feel
that a moral standard should be enforced by the pressures of a legal system. Morality, therefore,
has shaped and influenced many of the laws we have. Most ethicists agree that all citizens have a
moral obligation to obey the law so long as the law does not require clearly unjust behavior. This
means that, in most cases, it is immoral to break the law. Tragically, the obligation to obey the
law can create terrible conflicts when the law requires something that the individual person
believes is immoral. In such cases, a person will be faced with a conflict between the obligation
to obey the law and the obligation to obey his or her conscience.

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Laws rules regulations and conscience (Bangladesh perspective)

Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs

Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs The responsibilities of the Ministry of Law,
Justice and Parliamentary Affairs (MoLJPA) include, among others, the drafting of laws and the
appointment of public prosecutors and assistant public prosecutors. MoLJPA is a key
stakeholder in justice sector reform and has been active in the area. A number of other reforms
have been introduced by the Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs (MoLJPA) to
streamline the judicial system and reduce backlog in the courts. These include the Speedy Trial
Tribunal for major cases, strengthening of alternative dispute resolution mechanisms and
consideration of introducing cost penalties for unnecessary adjournments and delays. In addition,
a Monitoring Cell has been established in the MoHA to oversight the investigation process and
co-ordinates with MoLJPA.

Bangladesh Police
The Bangladesh Police is a national organization with Police Headquarters (PHQ) based in
Dhaka.
The vision is to be achieved through a five point missions:
To uphold the rule of law;
To ensure safety and security of citizens;
To prevent and detect crime;
To bring offenders to justice; and
To maintain peace and public order.

Anti-Corruption Commission
The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) was established in accordance with the Anti-
Corruption Commission Act 2004 and replaced the defunct Bureau of Anti-Corruption, which
had suffered from ineffectiveness and lack of independence. Although the commission failed to
file a single case in its first few years of existence, it was restructured to perform more
effectively in February 2007. The ACC operates under the schedule of the Prevention of
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Corruption Act 1947, the Penal Code 1860, and the Money Laundering Prevention Act 2002.
The ACC is scrutinizing more than 70,000 corruption allegations that were alleged in 2007.
Public service institutions in government and private sectors have been the main targets of
investigation. In association with Transparency International Bangladesh, the ACC started a
year-long awareness campaign against corruption in December 2007 including seminars,
symposiums and workshops related to anti-corruption.

The Media
The print and electronic media are significant players in highlighting and reporting law and order
issues in Bangladesh. They also play a key role in monitoring trends and articulating public
opinion. The media in Bangladesh plays a vital role in maintaining accountability and
transparency of public officials and agencies, and in creating awareness and reflecting public
opinion. However, the challenge is to do this with responsibility with objective, factual and
balanced reporting.

Procedural Regulations in Bangladesh

The provisions of the disciplinary rules and regulations to be applied to the government servants
are:

The Govt. Servants (Discipline and Appeal) Rules 1985;

The Govt. Servants (Conduct) Rules 1973;

The Public Servants (Dismissal on Conviction) Ordinance 1985; and

The Prevention of Corruption Act 1947.

Ethics in the Judiciary System of Bangladesh

In Bangladesh, demand for judicial independence in practice has been a much debated
issue and the demand is fulfilled but expectation of people is not only limited to have an

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independent judiciary but to have an impartial system and cadre of people, which will
administer justice rationally being free from fear or force. The independence of judiciary and
the impartial judicial practice are related concepts, one cannot sustain without the other
and here existence as well as the need of practicing impartiality is well recognized. But the art
of practicing impartiality does not develop overnight as its related to development of
ones attitude. It takes a considerable time resulting from understanding, appreciating
and acknowledging the moral values, ethics and professional responsibility. The judiciary
includes Judges, Advocates mostly who are expected to demonstrate a high level of moral
values and impartiality towards people seeking justice and rule of law. This is true that
bench officers and clerks are also part of the process to ensure rule of law with same level of
participation by the law enforcing agencies such as police. However the paper includes only
those who either join judiciary as Judge/Magistrate or Advocate to explore level and extent
of ethical knowledge they receive being key role players of the system.

Observations

1. An action can be illegal, but morally right. For eg. A public officer, who is under the oath of
secrecy, revealing certain sensitive information and documents which, would serve the greater
good of society to journalists.

2. An action that is legal can be morally wrong. For example, it may have been perfectly legal
for the chairman of a profitable company to lay off 125 workers and use three-quarters of the
money saved to boost his pay and that of the companys other top managers, but the morality of
his doing so is open to debate.

3. All legal provisions may not be ethical and some are, at best, debatable.

4. All ethical actions are not governed by laws.

5. Not all laws have moral choice.

6. Laws are specific concepts, ethics is abstract.

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7. Laws represent the minimum standards of human behavior; ethical behavior goes much beyond
the legal expectations.

8. Ethics has a positive aspect, whereas the law is more concerned about negative behavior.

9. Ethics precedes action, the law follows it.

10. The law is universally accepted within its jurisdiction and is enforceable,

11. Law prescribes punishments for illegal acts, whereas ethics do not clearly prescribe specific
punishments for an unethical act, since the outcome of an unethical act is not always clear.

Conclusion

In conclusion, laws provide the human society with the minimum standards of behavior, but laws
do not duplicate the value system of the society. Laws are not replica of the ethical system, nor
are laws an expression of the moral standards of the society. Laws merely provide us with the
guidelines of behavior for a disciplined, peaceful and safe society. Law and ethics combine to
define how individuals choose to interact with one another.

The life of a law enforcement official, lawyer, and a judge involves making ethical choices. Most
of them are governed by written rules of law. Often the rules are broadly stated. In applying
the rules, a choice must frequently be made about which different minds can legitimately
reach different conclusions. At the institutional core of systems based on the rule of law
is not only a strong independent judiciary, but also an effective prosecution service with
well trained and adequately empowered and equipped prosecutors committed to upholding
the rule of law and human rights in the administration of justice.

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