Definition of Law

Law

Law is a set of rules of conduct that governs the behavior of people. It covers all aspects of human life, such as crime, business, social relationships, property and finance. It is a form of government that sets out the rules and laws by which a country should be governed, and imposes penalties and rewards for violations.

Definition of Law

According to the English-speaking world, there are generally five distinct types of legal systems: common law, civil law, European common law, Islamic law and Chinese and Korean law. Each system has its own legal culture, customs and traditions, and the rules of the law differ among jurisdictions.

A legal system’s normative structure reflects the political philosophy and jurisprudence of the region and the social and economic context in which it operates. Typically, these norms include both substantive and procedural norms.

Substantive norms are those that govern the “how” (e.g., how and under what conditions) certain other norms can be created, formulated, deliberated on, or applied. These norms are typically embodied in legal acts or judicial decisions that bestow rights; they are also embedded in the institutions that administer these acts and decisions.

Procedural norms, in contrast, are those that govern the “when” (e.g., when and under what circumstances) certain other norms can or should be created, formulated, deliberated, or applied. These norms are typically embedded in the institutions that administer these acts and regulations, and they are usually based on the actions of a right-holder or his representative.

The distinction between substantive and procedural law is essential to the elucidation of the concept of legal rights. It relates to the question of whether or not a norm exhibiting Hohfeldian forms may be classified as a legal right, and it is also important for understanding how norms of justice are structured in legal systems respective of rights.

Traditionally, there have been two mechanisms through which legal rights have been established in any given legal system: the issuance of “acts of law” and the recognition of “actions constitutive of rights”. These mechanisms differ with respect to their stringency (e.g., a claim-right to immunity from inheriting property on the grounds of gender hardly qualifies as a valid “right”; a claim-right to die of starvation would qualify as a valid “right”); and in some cases, such as a claim-right to a hearing, they are mutually exclusive.

In the common law systems of England, Scotland and Ireland, these mechanisms are largely institutionalized through the doctrine of precedent; that is, decisions by higher courts have binding effect on lower courts, as well as on future cases. In some systems, such as those involving constitutional law and civil law, these mechanisms are less pronounced, with judicial decisions being more flexible in their application.

In the context of natural law, the legal norms exhibited by those exhibiting Hohfeldian forms may be viewed as essentially moral and unchanging in nature; however, this view was criticized by utilitarian philosophers such as John Austin, who claimed that such a notion was “mischievous nonsense” derived from a reliance on “arbitrary commandments” from a sovereign that were a “habit of obedience”. Bentham, meanwhile, believed that such a conception promoted “good social consequences,” and therefore should not be transplanted into law.

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