What Is Law?

Law is the system of rules that a particular society or community recognizes as regulating its members’ conduct. It serves many purposes, including establishing standards, maintaining order, resolving disputes, and protecting liberties and rights.

The term law can be applied to the whole legal system or to a specific branch, such as criminal or business law. It can also refer to the people who practice or study law. The discipline of law is broadly interdisciplinary and encompasses philosophy, sociology, history, economics, politics, and religion. It is a major field in the social sciences, and its practitioners are often referred to as “lawyers”.

A basic definition of law is that it is a set of commands backed by sanctions issued by a state to its citizens, for their own benefit or protection. A common view of the role of law is that it acts as a medium of power between competing interests, reshaping and shaping politics, economics, history, and culture. Roscoe Pound described law as a means of social engineering where conflicting pulls of political philosophy, economic interests and ethical values struggle for recognition.

Different types of law are based on different traditions, cultures, and political systems. Some examples are the Jewish Halakha and Islamic Shari’ah, as well as the Christian canon law. The laws of some religious communities are interpreted through the processes of Qiyas (reasoning by analogy), Ijma (consensus), and ijtihad (legal reasoning).

The main functions of law include determining right and wrong, regulating behaviour, and providing protection. The most important of these are the principles and procedures governing criminal justice, which include the right to a fair trial, the right not to be arbitrarily held in prison, the freedom from torture, and a constitutional right to privacy.

Other areas of law include contract law, which regulates the exchange of goods or services, and property law, which defines people’s rights to tangible property (real estate and other fixed assets) as well as personal possessions. The latter may include movable objects, such as cars and computers, as well as intangible property, such as intellectual property and shares. The concept of property is further defined by the legal status of land (whether it is’real property’ or ‘personal property’), whether it is owned in rem or in personam, and by the principle of estoppel.

Other types of law include labour and employment law, which governs the tripartite relationship between worker, employer and trade union, and civil procedure and criminal procedure, which concern a citizen’s right to a fair trial and hearing. International law covers the legal relationships between nations, and asylum law addresses the right of refugees to find sanctuary. Finally, biolaw examines the intersection of law and the biosciences.