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Law (a loanword from Danish-Norwegian lov), in politics and jurisprudence, is a set of rules of conduct which mandate or proscribe (or both) specified relationships among people and organizations; as well as punishments for those who do not follow the established rules of conduct.
Law is the formal codification of customs which have achieved such acceptance as become the enforced norm. The process of acceptance is accelerated by the existence of legislative bodies which seek to impose laws.
Law involves the legislation and regulation of statutes; as well as the resolution of disputes. In the civil law systemCivil law has at least three meanings. It may connote an entire legal system, or either of two different bodies of law within a legal system: # a legal system # the set of rules governing relations between persons (either humans or legal personalities suc codification is also an attempt to structure the law according to fundamental ethicalEthics is a general term for what is often described as the " science of morality". In philosophy, ethical behavior is that which is " good". The Western tradition of ethics is sometimes called moral philosophy . This is one of the three major branches of principles to create a sense of order and simplicity that all members of society can comprehend, not merely university trained juristA jurist is a professional who studies, develops, applies or otherwise deals with the law. See also jurisprudence list of jurists list of lawyers lawyer solicitor barrister civil law notary Legal occupations.s. Stating the law in simple, precise terms, understandable to the lay person without a specialized legal education, is the only way they can reasonably obey it or be fairly sanctioned for not obeying it.
This overlaps with the idea of a formal social legal codeA legal code is a moral code enforced by the law of a state. It implies an ethical code of court procedures and evidence rules that apply to jurists, i. to judges and lawyers. In its most general form a legal code is a compact restatement of the law that as understood in ethicsEthics is a general term for what is often described as the " science of morality". In philosophy, ethical behavior is that which is " good". The Western tradition of ethics is sometimes called moral philosophy . This is one of the three major branches of. This may be understandable to the educated lay person but perhaps not to the ordinary lay person. For example, one can explain the idea of precedentPrecedent is the principle in law of using the past in order to assist in current interpretation and decision-making. Precedent can be of two types. Binding or mandatory precedent is a precedent under the doctrine of stare decisis that a court must consid more easily than that of the reasonable man, but it may be much harder to explain why precedent is " fair" to one without " higher educationHigher education is education provided by universities and other institutions that award academic degrees, such as university colleges, and liberal arts colleges. Higher education includes both the teaching and the research activities of universities, and". The following are examples of such lay explanations of different branches of law, and theories of law.
In addition to being part of the societal framework law is also an academic discipline and a profession. See Law (academic) and jurisprudence.
Most laws and legal systems—at least in the Western world—are quite similar in their essential themes, arising from similar values and similar social, economic, and political conditions, and they typically differ less in their substantive content than in their jargon and procedures. Communication between legal systems is the focus of legal translation and legal lexicography, which deals with the principles of producing a law dictionary.
One of the fundamental similarities across different legal systems is that, to be of general approval and observation, a law has to appear to be public, effective, and legitimate, in the sense that it has to be available to the knowledge of the citizen in common places or means, it needs to contain instruments to grant its application, and it has to be issued under given formal procedures from a recognized authority.
In the context of most legal systems, laws are enacted through the processes of constitutional charter, constitutional amendment, legislation, executive order, rulemaking, and adjudication; within Common law jurisdictions, rulings by judges are an important additional source of legal rules.
However, de facto laws also come into existence through custom and tradition. (See generally Consuetudinary law; Anarchist law.)
Law has an anthropological dimension. In order to have a culture of law, people must dwell in a society where a government exists whose authority is hard to evade and generally recognised as legitimate. People forego personal revenge or self-help and choose instead to take their grievances before the government and its agents, who arbitrate disputes and enforce penalties.
This behaviour is contrasted with the culture of honor, where respect for persons and groups stems from fear of the disproportionate revenge they may exact if their person, property, or prerogatives are not respected. Cultures of law must be maintained. They can be eroded by declining respect for the law, achieved either by weak government unable to wield its authority, or by burdensome restrictions that attempt to forbid behaviour prevalent in the culture or in some subculture of the society. When a culture of law declines, there is a possibility that an undesirable culture of honor will arise in its place.
A particular society or community adopts a specific set of laws to regulate the behavior of its own members, to order life in its political territory, to grant or acknowledge the rights and privileges of its citizens and other people who may come under the jurisdiction of its courts, and to resolve disputes.
There are several distinct laws and legal traditions, and each jurisdiction has its own set of laws and its own legal system. Individually codified laws are known as statutes, and the collective body of laws relating to one subject or emanating from one source are usually identified by specific reference. (E.g., Roman law, Common law, and Criminal law.)
Moreover, the several different levels of government each produce their own laws, though the extent to which law is centralized varies. Thus, at any one place there can be conflicting laws in force at the local, regional, state, national, or international levels. (See conflict of laws, Preemption of State and Local Laws.)
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