Law and its Nature.

Law:

Law includes the rules and regulations to control and regulate the conduct of individuals,
businesses and other organizations in a Society.
- There is great diversity in the use of the term law.
- The same name is employed to denote altogether different things e.g.
Laws of God, Laws of Honor, Laws of Morality etc.
- A line was accordingly drawn between laws relating to external nature and
those dealing with the actions of men.

Jurisprudence: It means Philosophical aspect of the knowledge of law.

Different Schools of Jurisprudence:

There are different schools of jurisprudential thoughts:
 Islamic School
 Law is based upon the principles given by Quran and Sunnah.
 All the moral, social, economic and other related aspects are properly
covered in the Islamic principles.
 If clarification regarding an issue is not present then still can be solved in
the light of basic Islamic Principles.
 Natural law School
 Law should be based upon what is correct.
 Law should be based upon morality and ethics.
 Historical law School
 They believe that law is a combination of social traditions and customs.
 Analytical School
 They believe that law is base upon logic.
 Sociological School
 They believe that law is a way to achieve and advance certain sociological
objectives.
  Command School:
 They think law is a set of rules made by the ruling party.
 Critical legal Studies School:
 Legal rules are not required.
 Disputes should be solved by arbitrarily rules based upon fairness.
 Law and Economic School
 Central concern of law making should be Market efficiency

As per English Jurisprudence a line was drawn between laws relating to external nature
and those dealing with the actions of men.

The law, in according to English Jurisprudence is defined as under:

Definitions:

Salmond Says:
“Law is the body of principle recognized and
applied by the state in the administration of justice.”

Green Says:
Law is the system of rights and obligations which
the state enforces.

Purpose of Law:

 The law was brought into the world for nothing else but to limit natural liberty of
particular person in such a manner as they might not hurt but assist one another
and join together against a common enemy.
 The object of law is not the punishment of sins but to prevent certain external
results.
 The major purpose of law is to protect the persons and their property from
interference of others.
 The law forbids persons from engaging in certain undesirable activities.
Sources of law:

According to different Philosophers of law:

- Source of law is immediate author of the law.
- Further the authority from which the law derives its force is the State.

Classification of Source of law:

Following are the source of law:

a) Formal Source of Law
b) Material Source of Law

a) Formal Source of Law:

 This is the source of form of law i.e; the source of its authority, force or validity.
 Thus the formal source of all laws is the sovereign or the state.

b) Material Sources:

 Material sources are those from which we derive the matter of law.
 It gives the information as to what the rule of law, regarding a point is.

Kinds of Material Sources:

a) Historical Sources:

 Material Sources which are not covered under the legal sources are called
historical sources.
 The courts are not bound to accept their expressions as binding rules of law.

b) Legal Sources:

 Legal sources are those which are recognized by the court of law. E.g:
Legislations.
 These are accepted as rules having force of law.
Classification of Legal Sources of law:

i) Legislations:
 It is the process by which a new rule of law is made by an expression and
formal declaration, by an authority recognized by law as competent to
frame such laws.

ii) Precedents:

 It is the process of making rule of law by recognition of new principles by

the court of law.
 These are based upon the case laws.

iii) Customs:

 The habitual conduct of persons with the belief that such conduct is legal.
iv) Agreement:
Principle by which two or more persons are bound in modification or
suppression of the ordinary law, due to an agreement arrived at, between
them.

Contract Act 1872

The law relating to contracts in Pakistan is called Contract Act 1872.

Some Important information regarding Contract Act 1872:

 It determines circumstances in which promises made by the parties to a contract

shall be binding upon them.
 It came into force on the 1st day of September 1872.
 It extends to whole of Pakistan.
 It consists of 238 sections.
 Earlier provisions relating to Sales of goods Act & Partnership were also part of
the contract Act but later provisions related to these two were repealed, and
separate acts were made.
Definition of Contract

Every agreement between two or more persons, enforceable by law is called a contract.

Two Basic Elements of Contract

1. Agreement
2. Agreement should be enforceable by law

1. Agreement
Every promise & every set of promises, forming the consideration for each other is an
Agreement. E.g: Money to be given for purchase of house.
To properly understand the above definition we must know that what is promise.

Promise:
When the person to whom the proposal is made, gives his assent to that. The proposal is
accepted. When proposal is accepted it becomes a promise.

A promise can also be called as an accepted proposal. E.g: “Amjad ” offered to buy a
book from “Bahadur”, if he accepts, it is promise.

Characteristics of an Agreement

a) Two or More Persons: There should always be two or more persons required to
make a contract.
b) Consensus ad idem: All the parties to the agreement must agree about the subject
matter in the same sense, simultaneously.

Example 1: Asad, an accountant, told to his client that he will charge Rs. 500 for
making his Sales Tax return. Asad gave this rate per month, but the client thought that
the rate was given per year (which means that Asad shall file 12 monthly returns in a
year for Rs. 500). As the understanding in this case is not in the same sense so there is
no consensus ad idem.

Example 2: If Asad says to his client that I shall charge Rs.500 from him for making
each monthly sales tax return and the client accepts by understanding the same
meaning then they have consensus ad idem.
2. Enforceability:
To be enforceable agreement must create legal obligations between the parties. If legal
obligations are not created through the agreement, then it is not a contract. We may also
say that an agreement is enforceable by law if it is recognized by the court of law.

 We must remember that Agreement is a broader term as compare to the Contract.

All contracts are agreement but all agreements are not contract.

Two types of Agreements

1. Social Agreement

These types of agreements are not enforceable by law. No intention to create

legal relationship. No one can sue for non-performance.
Example: A father promises his son that if he will get good numbers in exam he
shall buy him a cycle. In case of non performance of the promise the son cannot
sue his father because it is not creating a legal relationship. So it is a Social
Agreement.

2. Legal Agreements
These agreements are Enforceable by law. These are created with an intention to
create legal obligations. These agreements are recognized by the court of law.
Example: Zulfiqar, in result of a tender promises to supply computer to a
Government Office but at the due time he did not. In this case he can be sued
because the agreement created a legal relationship.