What Is Law?
Law is a system of rules created and enforced through social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior. Laws can be created and enforced by legislatures through statutes, the executive through decrees or regulations, or through judicial interpretation of precedent, as in common law jurisdictions. Law can also be implicit, as in religious laws or a code of ethics, or explicit, as in the Jewish Halakha and Islamic Shari’ah.
Generally, laws may be divided into civil and criminal law. Civil law deals with disputes between individuals or between the government and private citizens, such as contracts or property rights. Criminal laws, on the other hand, deal with offenses against a community or state, such as theft, fraud or murder.
Legal systems vary greatly, depending on the cultural context and the social structures of each nation. Some systems, such as the United States, use a constitutional structure and English common law, while others, such as China, have a socialist constitution and Chinese law. In addition, some systems are based on religion; for example, Judaism has halakha and canon law, and Islam has Shari’ah and fiqh.
Regardless of the type of legal system, a key to successful law is clarity of language and a clear expression of rights and duties. This allows for easy accessibility to the law by citizens and enables judges to adjust the rules of law to changing social circumstances, through interpretive and creative jurisprudence. Moreover, a clear legal system provides a framework for the relationship between the individual and the state, as outlined in the principles of constitutional law, jurisprudence and the rule of law.