moral obligation

A duty arising from or connected with what was once a legal liability or from the receipt of benefit of a material or pecuniary nature. 17 Am J2d Contr §§ 132 et seq. An obligation arising from ethical motives, or a mere conscientious duty, unconnected with any legal obligation, perfect or imperfect, or (under the later cases) with the receipt of benefit by the promisor of a material or pecuniary nature. 11 Am J2d B & N § 219; 17 Am J2d Contr § 130. An obligation which, although lacking any foundation cognizable in law, springs from a sense of justice and equity that an honorable person would have, but not from a mere sense of doing benevolence or charity. People v Westchester County Nat. Bank, 231 NY 465, 132 NE 241, 15 ALR 1344. As the term "moral and social duty" is used in the law pertaining to privileged communications, it has been defined as a duty recognized by English people of ordinary intelligence and moral principle but at the same time not a duty enforceable by legal proceedings, whether civil or criminal. The question is "would the great mass of right-minded men in the position of the defendant have considered it their duty, under the circumstances, to make the communication." See Watt v Longsdon (Eng) 1 K. B. 130, 69 ALR 1005. See moral consideration.