Law is the formal system of social control instituted and administered by government. It includes in a broader sense all aspects of governmental decision making, "decision process," in legal jargon. Law includes the process of enacting statutes and regulations, promulgating them, and enforcing them, that is, statutory law. It also includes the settling of disputes, both between private parties and between parties and a governmental body. In the law of the United States this is termed civil law as opposed to criminal law which refers to the enforcement of statues. The words "civil law" also refers the system of statutory law derived from the Napoleonic Code and used in most of Europe and in many other countries.
[[Law {academic)]]
In addition to being part of the societal framework law is also an academic discipline, a body of knowledge, and a profession. lawyers, sometimes called by other names, as in England where the profession is divided between solicitors and barristers, are professionally trained in the United States at postgraduate schools of law or in England at inns of court. 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 and practice of law.
A law may also be a principle of nature such a law of physics, for example Boyle's Law. Examples of principles, some humorous, but never the less perhaps true are Murphy's law -- Finagle's law -- Hanlon's Razor -- Sturgeon's law -- Parkinson's law -- Occam's razor. In science, the term law is used for the concepts of physical laws, or laws of nature. See Law (principle)
In its most general sense, the law is an institution which defines and governs all human affairs. In the context of a particular culture or society, the law may take many forms, the most common form being a formal legal system which is established and enforced by a state authority. These man-made legal systems can be distinguished from the divine law of the Jewish or Mosaic code, which is attributed to God, and from natural law, which is purported to be inherent in the natural order. (See: Rule of Law.) Moreover, man-made laws can be distinguished from physical laws, i.e., scientific generalizations based on empirical observations which most scientists would agree upon as valid assertions about natural phenomena.
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. However, de facto laws also come into existence through custom and tradition. (See generally: Consuetudinary law; Anarchist law.)
The different legal systems in the world today can be divided into two main traditions, common law and civil law. Common law originated in England, and is used in most of the English speaking world; civil law developed out of ancient Roman law in Continental Europe. These two traditions use very different procedures and terminology, but the substantive content is very similar. Most countries of the world have received one or the other of these legal traditions. Until the end of the Cold War, many scholars argued for the existence of a third tradition, socialist law, generally derived from the civil law tradition but with strong communist influence; but with the fall of communism in most of the countries in which it formerly reigned, increasingly today it is viewed as just another variant of the civil law tradition.
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: Conflicts of law.)
Legal systems and traditions
Canon law -- Civil law -- Common law -- -- European community law -- International law -- Roman law -- Socialist law
Legal subject areas
Administrative law -- Admiralty -- Alternative dispute resolution -- Appellate review -- Civil procedure -- Civil rights -- Commercial law -- Comparative law -- Consuetudinary law -- Contracts -- Constitutional law -- Corporations law -- Criminal law -- Criminal procedure -- Environmental law -- Evidence -- Family law -- Human rights -- Immigration -- Intellectual property -- Jurisprudence -- Labor law -- Land use -- Philosophy of law -- Practice of law -- Private law -- Procedural law -- Property law -- Statutory law -- Tax law -- Torts -- Trusts and Estates
Subjects Auxillary to Law
Government -- Legal history -- Law and literature -- Political science
Legal books
Law & Legal News & Reference
Further Reading
- Cheyenne Way: Conflict & Case Law in Primitive Jurisprudence, Karl N. Llewellyn and E. Adamson Hoebel, University of Oklahoma Press, 1983, trade paperback, 374 pages, ISBN 0806118555
- Other books by Karl N. Llewellyn
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