Law





In science, the word law refers to a statement that describes regular or
patterned relationships among observable phenomena (see physical law). Laws
of logic and mathematics describe the nature of rational thought. Laws of
economics and psychology describe the nature of human behavior and
interaction. Many adages are popularly known as "laws"; such as Murphy's law.

This article is concerned with laws of politics and jurisprudence: rules of
conduct which mandate and/or proscribe specified relationships among people
and organizations; as well as punishments for those who do not follow the
established rules of conduct.

In ethics and moral philosophy this type of law is often called a "human
legal code" to distinguish it from more fundamental laws applicable to all
beings (metaphysics, ontology). Such a body of laws can be seen as a
legally-enforced ethical code or as a "secular moral code" (to the degree
that political leaders replace religious leaders as moral examples). Because
lawyers and jurists more than other professions are self-regulating, almost
by definition, they are often held to higher standards of behaviour or at
least a stricter etiquette. These concerns are not part of this article,
because those expectations and disciplines are specific to each legal code.
This article takes an English speaking point of view and deals with other
legal traditions and codes by way of comparison only.

Jurisprudence

"Jurisprudence" is used to refer to two different things. First, in common
law jurisdictions, it means simply "case law", i.e. the law that is
established through the decisions of the courts and other officials. Second,
it means the philosophy of law, or legal theory, which studies not what the
law is in a particular jurisdiction (say, Turkey or the United States) but
law in general--i.e. those attributes common to all legal systems.

Jurisprudence in the second sense is conventionally divided into two parts:
descriptive, or analytic, jurisprudence, and normative jurisprudence.
Analytic jurisprudence studies what law 'is', normative jurisprudence
studies what law 'ought to be'.

Among the most important questions of analytic jurisprudence are these: What
is a law? What is a legal system? What is the relationship between law and
power? What is the relationship between law and justice or morality? Does
every society have a legal system? How should we understand notions like
legal rights and legal obligations? The most influential works of analytic
jurisprudence include: Jeremy Bentham, Of Laws in General; Hans Kelsen, The
Pure Theory of Law, H.L.A. Hart, The Concept of Law, and Ronald Dworkin,
Law's Empire.

Among the most important questions of normative jurisprudence are these:
What is is the proper function of law? What sorts of acts should be subject
to punishment, and what sorts of punishment should be permitted? What is
justice? What rights do we have? Is there a duty to obey the law? What value
has the rule of law? The most influential works of normative jurisprudence
include all the classics of political philosophy. Among contemporary
writers, the following have been particularly influential: John Rawls, A
Theory of Justice' H.L.A. Hart, Punishment and Responsibility; Joel
Feinberg, The Moral Limits of the Criminal Law; Joseph Raz, The Morality of
Freedom; Ronald Dworkin, A Matter of Principle.

Codification of Law

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 codification involves the legislation and regulation of statutes; as
well as the resolution of disputess. In the civil law system codification is
also an attempt to structure the law according to fundamental ethical
principles to create a sense of order and simplicity that all members of
society can comprehend, not merely university trained jurists. 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 code as understood in
ethics. 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
precedent more easily than that of the reasonable man, but it may be much
harder to explain why precedent is "fair" to one without "higher education".
The following are examples of such lay explanations of different branches of
law, and theories of law.

They are not comprehensive.

Branches of Law, a sampling

Please note: Wikipedia does not give legal advice.

   * Administrative law refers to the body of law which regulates
     beauraucratic managerial procedures and is administered by the
     executive branch of a government; rather than the judicial or
     legislative branches (if they are different in that particular
     jurisdiction). This body of law regulates international trade,
     manufacturing, pollution, taxation, and the like. This is sometimes
     seen as a subcategory of civil law and sometimes called public law as
     it deals with regulation and public institutions.

   * Canon law refers to laws of the Anglican, Eastern Orthodox, Roman
     Catholic churches.

   * Case law (precedental law) regulates, via precedents, how laws are to
     be understood. Case law, also called common law or judge-made law, is
     derived from the body of rulings made by a country's courts. In the
     United States, the primary source of case law relating to federal and
     constitutional questions is the Supreme Court of the United States. The
     states, each with a final Court of Appeals generate case law that is
     only binding precedent in that state. In countries that were once part
     of the British Empire the Judicial Committee of the House of Lords is a
     primary source of case law, though not necessarily binding precedent as
     each country has its own court of last resort.

   * Civil law has three accepted meanings:
        o Secular law is the legal system of a theocratic government, such
          as that in England, during the reign of Henry II
        o Private law seeks to regulate relationships between persons and
          organizations including contracts and responsible behaviour such
          as through liability through negligence. This body of law enforces
          statutes or the common law by allowing a party, whose rights have
          been violated, to collect damages from a defendant. Where monetary
          damages are deemed insufficient, civil court may offer other
          remedies in equity; such as forbiding someone to do an act (eg; an
          injunction) or formally changing someone's legal status (eg;
          divorce). This body of law includes the law of torts in common law
          systems, or in civilian systems, the Law of Obligations.
        o The civilian legal system or civil law system is the general
          typology of legal systems found in most countries. It is an
          alternative to common law system and has its roots in Roman law.
          It is employed by almost every country that was not a colony of
          Great Britain. In most jurisdictions the civil law is codified in
          the form of a civil codes, but in some, like Scotland it remains
          uncodified. Most codified version follow the Code Napolean.
          However the German, in the case of the Japanese, and the Spanish,
          the case of most Latin nations, codes have also been adopted by
          several nations.

   * Commercial law, often considered to be part of civil law, covers
     business and commerce relations including sales and business entities.

   * Common law is derived from Anglo-Saxon customary law, also referred to
     as judge-made law, as it developed over the course of many centuries in
     the English courts. It is a system of law used in England, many of the
     states of the United States (except California and Louisiana) and other
     former British possessions such as in the Laws of Australia, Canada,
     India, and Ireland.

   * Condominium Law (condo law) governs condominium ownership, ownership of
     a villa, and reponsibilities of individual owners.

   * Criminal law (penal law) is the body of laws which regulate
     governmental sanctions (such as imprisonment and/or fines) as
     retaliation for crimes against the social order.

   * Islamic law (Sharia), is derived from the Koran and used in many Middle
     Eastern nations; such as in the Laws of Iran and Saudi Arabia.

   * Procedural Law are rules and regulations found in an legal system which
     regulate access to legal institutions such as the courts, including the
     filing of private lawsuits and regulating the treatment of defendants
     and convicts by the public criminal justice system. Within this field
     are laws regulating arrests and evidence, injunctions and pleadings.
     Procedural law defines the procedure by which law is to be enforced.
     See criminal procedure and civil procedure.

   * Socialist law is the term for civil law as practiced within states of
     the former Soviet Union and its satellites; as well as within the Laws
     of China, Cuba, North Korea, and Vietnam. With the end of the Cold War,
     most of these nations are incorporating laws compatible with private
     property and capitalism.

Law as academic discipline and profession

In addition to being part of the societal framework law is also an academic
discipline and a profession. Lawyers are sometimes called by other names, as
in England where the profession is divided between solicitors and
barristers. Sometimes they are also called notaries. They are professionally
trained in the United States at graduate schools of law leading to the J.D.
degree (Juris Doctor). In other countries legal education is considered to
start at the undergraduate stage taught in faculty of law leading to the
L.L.B. or B.C.L. degrees. Most of these schools also have advanced legal
degrees such as the LL.M. and the J.S.D. degrees. Many persons who attend
law school never practice law but use their knowledge of law in another
profession. See Law (academic) and jurisprudence For law as a profession,
see lawyer, jurist and practice of law.

Further Discussion

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.
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.)

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.)