What Is Law?
Law is a body of rules, enforced by a sovereign state or other authority, that regulates behavior and provides protection for citizens. It serves four basic purposes: establishing standards, maintaining order, resolving disputes and protecting liberty and rights. Law is made and enforced in a variety of ways, including through state-enforced laws (which are created by legislative statutes or executive regulations) and privately-created legal contracts, such as arbitration agreements and other methods of resolving conflicts that do not involve court proceedings. Law is often described as an “art” or a “science”.
There are many fields of law, each covering a different aspect of society and the interaction between individuals and society. Examples include agency law; air law; bankruptcy law; carriage of goods law; criminal law; family law; inheritance law; labour law; maritime law; medical jurisprudence; property law; tax law; and tort law. There are also several fields related to specific types of business transactions, such as contract law and intellectual property law.
Law may be based on natural or social principles, as well as theology and religion. For example, Islamic law is largely based on the Quran and its interpretation through Qiyas (reasoning by analogy) and Ijma (consensus), along with human elaboration in the form of legal precedent. Other religious traditions, such as Jewish Halakha and Christian canon law, also have substantial legal ramifications.
In most countries that use common law, the “law” is a compilation of case law from previous cases that have been decided by judges. This system of lawmaking is called the “doctrine of precedent” or stare decisis, and it helps to ensure consistency in rulings on similar cases. In contrast, civil law systems usually have a more detailed set of legal codes that define the rules for judges to follow when deciding cases.
When a judge decides on a case, it is necessary to do research to find any relevant statutes and cases and determine “what the law is” in this particular situation. This involves ascertaining facts, finding statutory or case law on the issue, and extracting from these sources any principles, analogies or statements by earlier courts that can help determine how this court will rule on the same issues. More recent decisions and those by higher courts carry more weight than older ones.
The law in any country is constantly changing, but there are certain principles that all jurisdictions agree upon. The principle of the rule of law entails that all persons, institutions and entities, public and private, are accountable to laws that are publicly promulgated, equally enforced and independently adjudicated. This requires that the Government be transparent, and that the separation of powers, participation in decision-making, legal certainty, avoidance of arbitrariness and respect for international human rights norms and standards are observed. This is the basis of the United Nations Charter and the UN’s Declaration on the Rule of Law at the National and International Levels. In addition, it is a requirement of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.