Law is a system of rules that a government or society develops in order to deal with issues like crime and business agreements. It also refers to the people who work within this system. The laws vary from country to country, and sometimes even within a single jurisdiction. However, they do tend to fall into groups based on historically accepted justice ideals. These include common law, civil law, religious law and customary law.
Some legal systems rely heavily on written statutes and case law for their basis. Others rely much more on human elaboration of a body of law and jurisprudence, such as Islamic Sharia and Jewish Halakha, and Christian canon law. A combination of these sources can create a complex law system.
The main purpose of law is to establish standards, maintain order, resolve disputes and protect liberties and rights. This is commonly referred to as the rule of law, a term that encapsulates four essential elements: accountability, a transparent and impartial public administration, fair and accessible justice, and an independent judiciary. While some laws may serve one or more of these purposes better than others, the overall aim is to ensure that everyone – regardless of wealth or status – has access to a fair and impartial judicial process.
Legal systems are also used to regulate economic activities, control pollution, provide public services and utilities, and govern armed conflict. For example, banking law sets minimum capital requirements to insure against financial crises, and utility regulation imposes restrictions on private companies doing jobs previously controlled by the state. Regulatory law can also protect citizens’ personal information and safety by imposing limits on what companies can do with the data they collect on their customers.
The origin of legal systems can be attributed to various influences, including natural law, rationalism and ancient civilizations. In modern times, the law has evolved to meet changing social needs. For example, criminal law has expanded from its earliest roots in the use of punishment as a deterrent to crime. The law has also developed in order to keep up with technological developments, such as the law on copyright, which protects intellectual property.
In a legal system with common law, the decisions of courts are regarded as law on an equal footing with written statutes and regulations. This is based on the doctrine of stare decisis, or “to stand by precedent.” When a court decides a case, it typically considers previous cases that have addressed similar facts in order to reach a consistent judgment. This helps to reduce the time and expense of resolving similar disputes in the future. Civil and criminal procedure law also play a major role in determining what kinds of evidence will be allowed in court for a particular case. Commercial law is another area of the law that draws on ancient traditions. The foundation for modern company law, bills of exchange, insolvency and bankruptcy law and sales law dates back to the medieval Lex Mercatoria.