Morality and Law

I find the discussion between law and morality a very interesting thing, which is probably because I plan to be a lawyer at some point in life. I had never really put much thought into what laws really entailed and the thinking behind it. I found the point in which laws do not prevent all immoral action. Although the textbook's Environmental Ethics; Readings in Theory and Application, uses a somewhat old example and exaggerated example to demonstrate this point, I really liked the example of Kitty Genovese, who was stabbed to death while her neighbors could hear what happened but refused to do anything. I like this point because I can relate it to the way things work, whereas, although there are Good Samaritan laws, a person does not have the legal responsibility to help another person if they are choking, although morally, you should do whatever you can to help. Furthermore, the point of the Good Samaritan law is not make someone help someone else in need, but to instead protect someone who offers medical help to a person in danger. I find this very interesting. Before really thinking this topic over, I had thought, although I would be nervous to help someone in such a bind, that I would rush to help a person. Upon further thought, it's weird to me, who has always held the law in a high standpoint that there isn't something that really makes it so one must help in anyway they can, but instead must make a decision based off of how they feel, no matter whether there decision is morally good or bad. I also really liked the example of how there is no law preventing adultery, which is also morally bad. The logic behind this is that it doesn't effect a large group of people. If you cheat on a spouse, it's really between the two of you and the one(s) who participated in the affair. I guess this lesson caught my attention so much because of the future I see myself in having with law, and it definitely helped me think about law as more of a career that affects people in a wide array of ways, as to looking at it as a concept of what I'll do, "when I grow up."