Law is the system of rules that governs a community and is enforced by a controlling authority. Most commonly, law refers to the set of laws imposed by a government that citizens must obey or face punishment. However, the word can also be used to describe any strong rule that an authority dictates must be followed. For instance, parents’ house rules might be described as laws, as could a person’s instinctive or spontaneous behavior that saves their life in the face of danger.
Law permeates the fabric of societies in many different ways, influencing relationships, governance, commerce and individual rights. Its diverse fields and evolving nature underscore its importance as an essential human institution.
Different scholars have developed varying theories about the origin and meaning of law. The utilitarian philosophy espoused by philosopher Jeremy Bentham defines it as commands backed by threat of sanctions from a sovereign, to which people have a natural inclination of obedience. The “natural law” theory, espoused by Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Thomas Aquinas, asserts that law is based on innate moral principles that are immutable.
In modern society, the development and application of law has become highly complex and intertwined with economics, culture, politics and religion. The main branches of law include civil and criminal procedure, employment, property and tax law. Civil and criminal procedure determine the rules that must be followed by judges and prosecutors in a trial or hearing, while evidence law establishes which materials are admissible as evidence in a court of law. Employment law is the study of a tripartite industrial relationship between worker, employer and trade union and involves collective and individual employment issues like safety, health and security or a minimum wage. Property law defines people’s rights and duties toward tangible goods such as land and buildings, with numerous styles of contracts existing for acquiring and selling these assets. Tax law regulates the payment of taxes, while utility law covers utilities such as water, gas and energy, which are usually managed by a private company that is bound by varying degrees of social responsibility.
The legal system of a country is influenced by its constitution, written or tacit, and the laws that it contains. Some countries, such as the United States and France, have a constitution that clearly states a set of rights for citizens while others do not. In the latter case, the constitutional and political structure mainly derives from statutes, convention and case law. In addition, the legal systems of some countries reflect an amalgam of secular and religious traditions, while in other cases, they are completely westernized. For example, Japanese civil law combines western elements with the traditional Asian legal tradition, which contains influences from China and India. The laws of some regions are more heavily influenced by their religion, for instance the Jewish Halakha and Islamic Sharia as well as Christian canon law. The law is a key element of any society that aims to ensure peaceful coexistence and social justice.