Legal:

Human beings are Social animals. They live together in groups called societies. While living in
societies there is always threat of wrong doings as society consists of both good and bad people. In
order to save himself from the bad people he constructed some set set of rules which are to be followed
by each and every person of the society, going against these rules can land those people behind the
bars. These set are rules is termed as LAW. And anything that law abides is called as legal. Any
conduct or action that is against the law is termed as Illegal.
There are Several kinds of laws. In order to save his property, man has created Property law. Business
law to save his business. Criminal law which tells us about various punishment to be given for various
kinds of criminal doings.
In earlier days law making was the duty of religion. These laws were prepared by religious heads. they
used to prepare the laws along the lines of their religion and were implemented by kings and rulers.
Ex. Sharia law , the most widely implemented law by the muslims throughout the world.
In modern world law making has become the duty of the government.It is the Govt that prepares the
law by using the medium called parliament. All the people who are under these government has to
follow these laws and going against them is termed as illegal.

Ethics:
Ethics are set of basic principles which tells us about what is good and what is not. These are moral
vaalues and are universal in nature and so can be applicable in any part of the world and in kind of
field.
Ethics has its roots from the Greek word called Ethikos which means customs or habits. They are
not the set of rules but they form a theory for How a good/ Ideal person should be and what
characteristics he/she must posess. They form the theory for every thing like for conducting Business
we have some Business ethics. Applied Ethics which deals with what has to be done in a particular
situation.

Legal but not ethical.

In our daily life we use the words ethics and legal interchangeably but they are not the same. it is
mistaken. There is much difference between these words. Ethics are the basic principles, they are
universal in nature. They are applicable in any part of the world at any point of time. Whereas the term
Legal changes from place to place and time to time. What is legal in one country/state can be termed as
Illegal in another. Ethics are divine in nature and are unchanged.
Example:
In olden days owning a slave was termed as legal. Buying and selling of slaves was not a crime. Infact
owning a slave was shown as status symbol. Slaves are not treated like human beings but as a property
of their master. They are denied of Right to freedom. But now as slavery has been abolished it is Illegal
to hold a person under slavery but back then it was Legal. Law changes from time to time and from
place to place. But etics dont change they remain stable. They tell us all human beings are same and
everyone has to be treated with equality.