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LAW
What is “Law”?
It is possible to describe law as the body of official rules and regulations, generally found
in constitutions, legislation, judicial opinions, and the like, that is used to govern a
society and to control the behaviour of its members, so Law is a formal mechanism of
social control.
Legal systems are particular ways of establishing and maintaining social order

The contemporary legal systems of the world are generally based on one of three basic systems: civil
law, common law, and religious law – or combinations of these. However, the legal system of each
country is shaped by its unique history and so incorporates individual variations.

1. Civil law - the legislature or other central body codifies and consolidates their laws,

The purpose of codification is to provide all citizens with manners and written collection of the laws
which apply to them and which judges must follow. It is the most widespread system of law in the
world, in force in various forms in about 150 countries, and draws heavily from Roman law.

An important common characteristic of civil law, aside from its origins in Roman law, is the
comprehensive codification of received Roman law, i.e., its inclusion in civil codes. The earliest
codification known is the Code of Hammurabi, written in ancient Babylon during the 18th century BC.
However, this, and many of the codes that followed, were mainly lists of civil and criminal wrongs
and their punishments, e.g. adjusting "an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth"

2. Common law systems - judge-made precedent is accepted as binding law on the principle that it
is unfair to treat similar facts differently on different occasions. In cases where the parties disagree
on what the law is, a common law court looks to past precedential decisions of relevant courts. If a
similar case was solved in the past, the court is usually bound to follow the reasoning used in the
prior decision . If, however, the court finds that the current dispute is fundamentally different from
all previous cases (called a "matter of first impression"), judges have the authority and duty to make
law by creating precedent. Thereafter, the new decision becomes precedent, and will bind future
courts.

Common law originated during the Middle Ages in England, and from there was propagated to the
colonies of the British Empire, including India, the United States, Canada and all its provinces except
Quebec, Australia, Ireland, New Zealand etc.

3. Historically, religious laws played a significant role even in settling of secular matters, which is still
the case in some religious communities, particularly Jewish, and some countries, particularly Islamic.
Islamic Sharia law is the world's most widely used religious law.

Religious law refers to ethical and moral codes taught by religious traditions. Examples
include Christian canon law, Islamic sharia, Jewish halakha and Hindu law.

The two most prominent systems, canon law and sharia, differ from other religious laws in
that canon law is the codification of Catholic, Anglican and Orthodox law as in civil law,
while sharia derives many of its laws from juristic precedent and reasoning by analogy (as in
a common law tradition).

Canon law is the body of laws and regulations made for the government of the Christian
organization and its members. It is the internal ecclesiastical law governing the Roman
Catholic Church, the Eastern and Oriental Orthodox churches, and the Anglican Communion
of churches. In all three traditions, a canon was initially a rule adopted by a church council
(From Greek kanon / κανών, Hebrew kaneh for rule, standard, or measure); these canons
formed the foundation of canon law.

Sharia (Islamic law) deals with many topics including: crime, politics, and economics, as well
as personal matters such as sexual intercourse, hygiene, diet, prayer, everyday etiquette and
fasting.

Sharia Law is a significant source of legislation in various Muslim countries, namely Saudi
Arabia, Sudan, Iran, Brunei, United Arab Emirates and Qatar. In those countries, harsh
physical punishments such as flogging and stoning are said to be legally-acceptable according
to Sharia. The introduction of Sharia is a longstanding goal for Islamist movements globally,
including in Western countries, but attempts to impose sharia have been accompanied by
controversy, violence, and even warfare.