more on this theme | more from this thinker | more from this text
Full Idea
An official report [of 1957] on homosexuality declared that 'there must remain a realm of private morality and immorality which is, in brief and crude terms, not the law's business'.
Gist of Idea
Some private moral issues are no concern of the law
Source
H.L.A. Hart (Law,Liberty and Morality [1963], I 'Conspiracy')
Book Ref
Hart,H.L.A.: 'Law,Liberty and Morality' [OUP 1968], p.14
A Reaction
We might wonder whether these issues are actually moral, if the law is not interested in them. Are they just a matter of taste? The law doesn't enforce a preference for Mozart over Salieri.