Law
is a set of
rules
decided by a particular
place or authority
meant for the purpose of keeping the peace and security of
society
.
The
Code of Hammurabi
, a legal text written about 1700BC. It is among the oldest legal texts known today.
Stele
with the actual text, Louvre museum
Courts or police may enforce this system of rules and
punish
people who break the laws, such as by paying a
fine
, or other
penalty
including jail. In ancient societies, laws were written by
leaders
, to set out rules on how people can live, work and do business with each other. In most countries today, laws are written and voted on by groups of politicians in a
legislature
, such as a
parliament
or congress, elected (chosen) by the governed peoples. Countries today have a
constitution
for the overall framework of society and make further laws as needed for matters of detail. Members of society generally have enough freedom within all the
legal
things they can choose to do. An activity is
illegal
if it breaks a law or does not follow the laws.
A
legal code
is a written code of laws that are
enforced
. This may deal with things like
police
,
courts
, or punishments. A
lawyer
, jurist or attorney is a professional who studies and argues the rules of law. In the United States, there are two kinds of attorneys - "transactional" attorneys who write
contracts
and "litigators" who go to
court
. In the United Kingdom, these professionals are called
solicitors
and
barristers
respectively.
The
Rule of Law
is the law which says that government can only legally use its power in a way the government and the people agree on. It limits the powers a
government
has, as agreed in a country's
constitution
. The
Rule of Law
prevents dictatorship and protects the rights of the people. When leaders enforce the legal code honestly, even on themselves and their friends, this is an example of the rule of law being followed. "The rule of law", wrote the ancient Greek philosopher
Aristotle
in 350 BC, "is better than the rule of any individual."
Culture
is usually a major source of the principles behind many laws, and people also tend to trust the ideas based on
family
and social habits. In many countries throughout history,
religion
and religious books like the
Vedas
,
Bible
or the
Koran
have been a major source of law.
- Medical law
is the body of
laws
concerning the rights and responsibilities of
medical
professionals and their patients. The main areas of focus for
medical law
include
confidentiality
,
negligence
and other
tort
s related to
medical
treatment (especially
medical
malpractice), and criminal
law
and
ethics
.
- Physician-Patient Privilege protects the patient's private conversations with a medical physician (doctor), this also extends to their personal information (like their contact details) shared with medical personnel.
- Property
law states the rights and obligations that a person has when they buy, sell, or rent homes and land (called
real property
or
realty
), and objects (called
personal property
).
- Intellectual property
law involves the rights people have over things they create, such as art, music, and
literature
. This is called
copyright
. It also protects inventions that people make, by a kind of law called
patent
. It also covers the rights people have to the names of a company or a distinctive mark or logo. This is called
trademark
.
- Trust law (business Law) sets out the rules for money that is put into an
investment
, such as
pension funds
that people save up for their retirement. It involves many different types of law, including administrative and property law.
- Tort law
helps people to make claims for
compensation
(repayment) when someone hurts them or hurts their property.
- Criminal law
is used by the government to prevent people from breaking laws, and punish people who do break them.
- Constitutional law
deals with the important rights of the government, and its relationship with the people. It mainly involves the interpretation of a
constitution
, including things like the
Separation of powers
of the different branches of government.
- A
court order
is an official proclamation by a judge that defines and authorizes the carrying out of certain steps for one or more parties to a case.
- Administrative law is used by ordinary citizens who want to challenge decisions made by governments. It also involves things like regulations, and the operation of the
administrative agencies
.
- International law
is used to set out rules on how countries can act in areas such as trade, the
environment
, or military action. The
Geneva Conventions
on the conduct of war and the
Roerich Pact
are examples of international law.
- Custom
and tradition are practices that are widely adopted and agreed upon in a society, thought often not in a written form. Custom and tradition can be enforced in courts and are sometimes considered as part of the legal reasoning in matters decided in courts. In some societies and cultures all law is or was custom and tradition. This is increasingly rare although there are some parts of the world where custom tradition are still binding or even the predominant form of law, for example tribal lands or failed states.
Civil law and common law
change
Civil law
is the legal system used in most countries around the world today. Civil law is based on legislation that is found in
constitutions
or statutes passed by government. The secondary part of civil law is the legal approaches that are part of custom. In civil law governments, judges do not generally have much power, and most of the laws and
legal precedent
are created by
Members of Parliament
.
Common law
is based on the decisions made by judges in past court cases. It comes from England and it became part of almost every country that once belonged to the British Empire, except
Malta
,
Scotland
, the U.S. state of
Louisiana
, and the Canadian province of
Quebec
. It is also the predominant form of law in the United States, where many laws called statutes are written by
Congress
, but many more legal rules exist from the decisions of the courts. Common law had its beginnings in the
Middle Ages
, when
King John
was forced by his barons to sign a document called
Magna Carta
.
Religious law is law based on religious beliefs or books. Examples include the
Jewish
Halakha
,
Islamic
Sharia
, and
Christian
Canon law
.
Until the 1700s,
Sharia law
was the main legal system throughout the Muslim world. In some Muslim countries such as
Saudi Arabia
and
Iran
, the whole legal systems still base their law on Sharia law. Islamic law is often criticised because it has harsh penalties for crimes. A serious criticism is the judgement of the
European Court
that "sharia is incompatible with the fundamental principles of
democracy
".
[1]
[2]
[3]
The
Turkish
Refah Party
's sharia-based "plurality of legal systems, grounded on religion" was ruled to contravene the
European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms
. The Court decided Refah's plan would "do away with the State's role as the guarantor of individual rights and freedoms" and "infringe the principle of non-discrimination between individuals as regards their enjoyment of public freedoms, which is one of the fundamental principles of democracy".
[1]
The history of law is closely connected to the development of human
civilizations
.
Ancient Egyptian
law developed in 3000 BC. In 1760 BC King
Hammurabi
, took ancient
Babylonian
law and organized it, and had it chiselled in stone for the public to see in the marketplace. These laws became known as the
Code of Hammurabi
.
The
Torah
from the
Old Testament
is an old body of law. It was written around 1280 BC. It has moral rules such as the
Ten Commandments
, which tell people what things are not permitted. Sometimes people try to change the law. For example, if prostitution is illegal, they try to make it legal.
[4]
In democracies, the people in a country usually choose people called politicians to represent them in a legislature. Examples of legislatures include the
Houses of Parliament
in London, the
Congress
in Washington, D.C., the
Bundestag
in Berlin, the
Duma
in Moscow and the Assemblee nationale in Paris. Many legislatures have two chambers or houses, a 'lower house' and an 'upper house'. To pass legislation, a majority of Members of Parliament must vote for a bill in each house. The legislature is the branch of government that writes laws, and votes on whether they will be approved.
The
judiciary
is a group of
judges
who resolve people's disputes and determine whether people who are charged with crimes are
guilty
. In some places the judge does not find guilt or innocence but instead directs a jury, how to interpret facts from a legal perspective, but the jury determines the facts based on evidence presented to them and finds the guilt or innocence of the charged person. Most countries of common law and civil law systems have a system of
appeals courts
, up to a supreme authority such as the
Supreme Court
. The highest courts usually have the power to remove laws that are
unconstitutional
(which go against the constitution).
Executive (government) and Head of State
change
The executive is the governing center of political authority. In most democratic countries, the executive is elected from people who are in the legislature. This group of elected people is called the cabinet. There may be a
President
which exists separately from the legislature.
The executive suggests new laws and deals with other countries. The executive usually controls the
military
, the
police
, and the
bureaucracy
. The executive selects ministers, or secretaries of state to control departments such as the health department or the department of justice.
In many jurisdictions the Head of State takes a largely ceremonial role. This is the case in many
Commonwealth nations
where the Head of State, usually a Governor almost exclusively acts "on the advice" of the head of the Executive (e.g. the Prime Minister, First Minister or Premier). The primary legal role of the Head of State in these jurisdictions is to act as a check or balance against the Executive, as the Head of State has the rarely exercised power to
dissolve the legislature
, call elections and dismiss ministers.
Other parts of the legal system
change
The
police
enforce the criminal laws by arresting people suspected of breaking the law.
Bureaucrats
are the government workers and government organizations that do work for the government. Bureaucrats work within a system of rules, and they make their decisions in writing.
Lawyers
are people who have learned about laws. Lawyers give people advice about their legal rights and duties and represent people in
court
. To become a lawyer, a person has to complete a two- or three-year
university
program at a law school and pass an entrance examination. Lawyers work in law firms, for the government, for companies, or by themselves.
Civil society
is the people and groups that are not part of government that try to protect people against
human rights
abuses and try to protect
freedom of speech
and other individual rights. Organizations that are part of civil society include
political parties
, debating clubs,
trade unions
,
human rights organizations
,
newspapers
and
charitie
s.
"
Corporations
are among the organizations that use the legal system to further their goals. Like the others, they use means such as
campaign donations
and
advertising
to persuade people that they are right. Corporations also engage in
commerce
and make new things such as
automobiles
,
vaporisers
/e-cigarettes, and
Unmanned aerial vehicles
(i.e. "drones") that the old laws are not well equipped to deal with. Corporations also makes use of a set of rules and regulations to ensure their employees remain loyal to them (usually presented in a legal contract), and that any disobedience towards these rules are considered uncivilized and therefore given grounds for immediate dismissal.
- H.L.A. Hart,
The Concept of Law
, (Penelope A. Bullock & Joseph Raz eds. 2nd ed. 1994) (1961).
- Sandro Nielsen:
The Bilingual LSP Dictionary. Principles and Practice for Legal Language
. Benjamins 1994.
- A Companion to Contemporary Political Philosophy
. edited by Robert E. Goodin and Philip Pettit.
ISBN
0-631-19951-9
.
- Johnson, Alan (1995).
The Blackwell Dictionary of Sociology
. Blackwells publishers.
ISBN
1-55786-116-1
.
- Handbook of Political Institutions
. edited by R. A. W. Rhodes, Sarah A. Binder and Bert A. Rockman. Oxford University Press.
ISBN
0-19-927569-6
- An Introduction to IP Law.
edited by John Watts. Oxford University Press. Available at
Patent Professionals LLC
Archived
2018-08-08 at the
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