Laws are a societal contract by which everyone lives. By interacting with others and being a member of society, you implicitly agree to abide by the rules and regulations of the community, and understand that you will be punished in a variety of ways for any transgressions (in theory ... in practice, well, let's just say I don't have much faith in our justice system). It is a two-way system: while you are prevented from robbing, raping, and murdering others, you are similarly protected against these acts by the very laws which limit you.
Laws are not, in fact, related to morals at all (though we would like them to be) - laws are simply a method of societal control, a mechanism to prevent an unstoppable decent into anarchy. It provides a standard by which people can be regulated, judged, and molded into an acceptable member of society.
Morals, on the other hand, are subjective principles that are unique to one's background. There is no way to prove or justify in any absolute fashion that a moral is valid or invalid. Thus, morals make poor candidates for controlling the behavior of a population of unique individuals - since each individual has his or her own set of morals, the potential for conflicts in which both parties truly believe they are in the right is astronomical.
Moral 'right' and 'wrong' are what we use to regulate ourselves, but failing that, laws are society's trump card to keep people manageable.
__________________
Sure I have a heart; it's floating in a jar in my closet, along with my tonsils, my appendix, and all of the other useless organs I ripped out.
|