On Law and Morality

‘Though law and morality are not the same, and many things may be immoral which are not necessarily illegal, yet the absolute divorce of law from morality would be of fatal consequence … To preserve one’s life is generally speaking a duty, but it may be the plainest and the highest duty to sacrifice it.’ – The Queen v Dudley and Stephens (1884) 14 QB 273, 287 (Lord Coleridge CJ).