Justin Amadeus/ 01052200001/ Law (int)

Law and Legal System

Opinion Essay

Over the century, laws and legal systems have existed side by side with human
civilization. Human beings would never be able to live freely as there were laws and legal
systems that restrain them. The difference between the past and the present lies only in its
reach. In the past, laws did not apply to all corners of the earth and there were only a few legal
systems. In today’s society, there would not be a single place in the world without any laws or
regulations. Even if they go to Antartica or space, a place that appeared to have no government,
there would still be laws that binds us all together. Not only law, every single region of this
world has its own legal system that we need to follow and obey. Sometimes when we all live
in place filled with laws and regulations every single day, we began to think and feel curious.
Curious about the origin of the word “law and legal system, its purpose, the process of creating
them, or even the conditions of a society without law and legal system. All of us may know the
general knowledge about these questions, but in order to know it thoroughly, we need a deeper
and comprehensive knowledge.

First of all, humans are incapable to live alone without the help of other humans. They
are an unperfect being that is created to complement with one another. The main reason is
because each human has their own knowledge and value. Here’s an example about differences
in value; some people think that interracial marriage is fine and normal, but some other people
may think that it’s wrong and disgraceful. Another example about differences in knowledge;
some people have a deep knowledge about construction, but they don’t have the knowledge
about food gathering. In order to fulfill their hunger, they need other people who have the
knowledge about food gathering and cooking. From these examples, it can be seen that humans
need other people to survive (differences in knowledge) and they have differences in value.
Those examples also showed that humans need other people as it is one of their necessity
(complement with one another) and they will naturally form a civilization without any force
whatsoever, thus creating a legal system. Inside the civilization or legal system, there would be
ideals and values that each citizen have in common, which was formed on a mutual agreement.
This would soon become the law that all the people inside the civilization need to obey. It’s
also needed to know that these differences, if not assisted by law and legal system, can easily
shatter humanity and end up in neverending conflict.
 Justin Amadeus/ 01052200001/ Law (int)

After knowing that laws and legal systems came from human civilization, it is crucial
to know the definition and its purpose. Law and legal systems have two different definitons but
bind with each other. Legal system is the container or the area consisting of certain laws, while
law is a social phenomenon that is created from the people inside a certain civilization. Without
any sort of legal system, law would be irrelevant and useless even if its ideally helpful. For
example, Indonesia has its own legal system. Inside the legal system, every single citizen needs
to obey all sorts of law because it was part of a mutual agreement from their founding fathers.
Law is created for one purpose, which is to maintain order. Order is needed to unite every
single people into a definite system and order, so that there is no confusion, chaos, and worry
between each citizen. Law creates certainty. Imagine living in world without any law and legal
system, there would only be chaos and conflict. Every single human being would fight for what
they think is right. Humans could never thrive or develop in such conditions.

The fundamentals and philosophy about law and legal system can be studied deeply
with an extensive knowledge. From there, we can learn deeper that law and legal system came
from the existence of a civilization. A civilization is formed because it is a basic necessity for
humans. Legal system is the place where law can be implemented and operate, whereas law is
a mix of different value and knowledge that became regulations and rules which can be obeyed
in the society. Living in a world without law and legal system is impossible because humans
want to develop and thrive in their lives. So, rather than only knowing the general knowledge,
it’s better to know about it deeper and more philosophical.