Law is the system of rules that regulates the behavior of people in a society. These rules are created by the government and enforced through penalties. There are many different theories of law. Some believe that laws are created by the people and should be based on their needs. Others think that the laws should be based on a set of moral principles that are unchanging. Still others believe that the laws should be based on the actions of an individual. Whatever theory of law a person subscribes to, they agree that the laws are in place to ensure that everyone behaves according to accepted standards.
The term “law” can refer to any type of rule that is enforceable by the authorities. It can also refer to any set of rules that is used by a group of people, such as a sports team or a religious organization. The word law can also refer to a system of justice, or the way in which cases are heard and decided.
A definition of law might include the following elements:
The legal study of law includes the drafting and application of legislation, but also covers areas such as criminal procedure and civil rights. Employment law, for example, studies the tripartite industrial relationship between worker, employer and trade union and looks at issues such as health and safety or a minimum wage. The area of family law examines the rights and duties of married couples, their children and other relatives. Other areas of law might include public order, tax law and evidence law, which decides which materials can be used in court cases.
Many different types of law exist in the world, and these vary by country. Some of them are based on ancient ideas and others are more recent inventions. For example, Max Weber reshaped thinking on the extension of state power, and modern military and policing power over citizens’ daily lives present new challenges to accountability that Locke or Montesquieu might not have anticipated.
In common law countries, the decisions of courts are regarded as law on an equal footing with legislative statutes and executive regulations. This is called the doctrine of stare decisis. It means that a decision by a higher court binds lower courts, so that similar cases will reach the same conclusion. In contrast, in civil law countries, legislative statutes and executive regulations have precedence over judicial decisions.
Laws are often described using the terms: criminal law, constitutional law, human rights law, property law, labour law and international law. These are all different areas of the subject of law, and each one has a specific purpose in its own right. Each of these is a broad area of study, and there are many books and articles on the subject. Many of them are written by specialist researchers and lawyers, and they discuss important questions about the nature of law and its relationship with other aspects of society.