Yes, no, maybe so: what do you do when the spirit and the letter of the law are in conflict?

• Author: Wilson, Ethan
• Position: ETHICS

A generous campaign donor becomes increasingly insistent that you prioritize his interests over those of contributors who gave less. Do you bump his project to the top of your to-do list? You're in a hurry and there are no other cars on the road. Do you drive faster than the speed limit?

These questions force us to think about what we value. In my law school class on professional responsibility and ethics, the professor likened the constraints that affect us when we make ethical decisions to two separate and distinct "floors"--a moral floor and a legal floor.

His idea was this: In all but extreme situations, our decisions are determined by the location of those floors relative to each other. The legal floor generally is static and is imputed upon us by the simple fact that it is law. As law-abiding citizens, we dare not make decisions that break the law--or go below the legal floor--for fear of the consequences we might face.

The moral floor is different. It need not, and often does not, align with the legal floor. Its location is different for everyone. On any matter, or in any decision-making process, your moral floor may fall above or below the legal floor.

You may have no moral problem, for example, exceeding the speed limit in the...