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Just to throw in an opinion to the original question:
Originally, I'd say it was fear of retribution that determined right from wrong. You can see this today among some baboons-if a male baboon has a friend, and said friend has an infant, the baboon will take the infant hostage if threatend by another male. Why? Because the other male won't press the attack if it knows it will have to deal with the kin of the female who the infant belongs to if it harms the infant in the attack.
Lack of fear of retribution makes people act the way they do when they violate the law. Whether the lack of fear comes from hubris or rash actions depends on the act (Say Enron v. "crimes of passion"). But that fear of retribution isn't the only reason for "moral action" today. Modern people, when pushing for fair trade, or human rights are pushing for an idealistic goal now...or trying to prevent human rights violations from happening to them because if you let a government get away with them, it is possible other governments will try the old "monkey see, monkey do".
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