Ethics and the Rule of Law

Abstract

What is a businessman's moral duty when there is real uncertainty in the law? Uncertainty in the meaning of legal regulations must be distinguished from uncertainty that the law will be enforced and uncertainty that the law will ac complish its intended purpose. Assuming a moral obligation to obey laws that are reasonably clear in their applications, a businessman has no obligations to guess that an uncertain law requires the greatest conceivable sacrifice. There is no moral culpability in trying to secure interpretations that are convenient and profitable. A manager does, however, have an obligation not to expose his enterprise to unbearable risks and not to sabotage the rule-making process, though there may be hopeless disagreement as to the identity of those who are doing these things. The common objections to bare compliance with law do not identify a fault in the attitude toward law but rather a defect in extralegal matters. As long as systems of social control are imperfect, there is good reason for not lumping legal and extralegal duties together under the word "responsibility."