Lawful - What ARE the laws?

[Dalebert]

I treat it as lawful meaning having codes or principles that you live in accordance with. A chaotic person is much more the-end-justifies-the-means. A choatic good person respects life like the lawful good person does, but he is more likely to think in practical terms like "If I kill these murderous gnolls, they won't be able to kill others. The innocent and life on the whole will be served."

My lawful evil Zhentarim characters respect the code of the Zhentarim. If they are under contract to do something, they feel they should honor the contract. It reflects on the reputation of the Zhent and serves him in the long run. He also would never betray a fellow Zhent. At the same time, he believes the strong should rule the weak and seeks to attain more power through status and titles.

My lawful evil druid also follows Zhent code and has come to believe in survival of the fittest, a lesson learned from nature. He believes that this principle has been crucial to the order created in the world. He doesn't respect life in the same way as a good person. He sees the entire cycle of life and death and death is a natural part of that. If you're "weak", you should pass so your energy and nutrients can feed the strong which will lead to a greater order of things.