Law must be stable, and yet it cannot stand still.
— ROSCOE POUND
Neither fire nor wind, birth nor death, can erase our good deeds.
— BUDDHA
Business has become, in the last half century, the most powerful institution on the planet.
The dominant institution in any society needs to take responsibility for the whole.… Every
decision that is made, every action that is taken, must be viewed in light of that kind of
responsibility.
— DAVID KORTEN
Law is not a static phenomenon, yet in certain ways it appears bounded and clear cut.
Where it holds jurisdictional authority, law provides a set of rules for behavior. When
these rules are broken, behavior is punishable. If you have been driving carelessly and hit
another car, you might pay money damages. If you are caught stealing, you might go to
jail. If you are caught polluting, you may be forced to stop. The creation of law and the
delivery of sanctions for rule breaking are contested processes. How law is made, how it
is enforced, and how it is interpreted are always in dispute, constantly changing, and
responsive to the power relations that surround it. Still, we can identify its purposes: law
both sets behavioral standards and sets up a system for compliance with them. Within the
reach of a legal system, we are on notice that we must meet its standards or risk penalty.
Chances are we were not directly involved in the making of the rules—we may even
disagree strongly with them—but we understand that the legal system shadows us
anyway. It may be the closest we can get to a shared reality.
Ethics, on the other hand, presents a menu of options, often disconnected from
official sanctions.1 While law concerns what we must do, ethics concerns what we should
do. Suppose you work for an advertising agency and have just been offered a chance to
work on a new ad campaign for a certain fast-food chain. Burgers, fries, and sodas are
legal products. Under the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, fast-food companies