To learn about the institutions that make and enforce law it is an interesting subject because it will help you

in understanding the fundamental concepts of law that will assist you with studying and understanding
other areas of law and we will also be learning how to read cases and statutes which as you know is one of
the essential skills a lawyer must develop i'm going to start with the basics and encourage you to think what
is law before child why this is an important question what are your thoughts on this why do you think we
need to consider this question your first response might be that it's natural to wonder about the law if you
are going to study law or we have to face rules and regulations in our daily day-to-day life well you're right
to some extent we come across legal rules all the time like the last time you bought something from a shop
or did an online purchase and you benefited from consumer protection laws or let's say you are making a
video with your smartphone to share it with your family and friends and you want to add some cheerful
music in the background so you start looking for music on the Internet you find a collection of music on a
website but the website allows the use of music under a Creative Commons license So what is love the law
is a system of rules that are enforced through the common law institutions to govern behavior and conduct
in the UK law is made by the parliament and is executed by the executive through rules and regulations the
judges also uphold the law through binding president the formation of laws is influenced by the
constitutional arrangement and the rights are enforced by European Convention on human rights the law
shapes politics economics history and society in various ways however it is important to remember that the
definition of law is not an easy one to describe Glenville Williams said that the meaning of the word law
depends on the context in which that word is used for example early customary law and municipal law are
contexts where the word law has two different meanings you see the definition of law can have many
interpretations depending on the context in which it is used it can be seen as enabling a free market
regulating behavior applying moral rules or a tool used by the powerful to suppress the poor these are all
very diverse and abstract approaches to answering the question and that's why we have to find a better
approach to answer the question what is lock in approaches that we will take to understand this complex
question we will look at law through the functions it performs as a set of rules a legal system through its
constitutional arrangement and through the sources of law the most intuitive way of looking at law is
through its functions as Aristotle put said law is order and good law is good order so let's look at the
functions of the law the law performs several functions to keep order in the society it includes protecting
human rights and civil liberties preserving our democratic way of life and enabling the political system
facilitating the economic activity which includes protection to businesses and consumers regulating our
relationships like marriage preserving morals and norms and finally preserving World Peace but what
happens when two functions of the law come into conflict with each other for example the function to keep
order and the right to demonstrate can the government justified its action to restrict demonstrators who are
expressing their dissatisfaction of a policy according to Clark the widespread view of the function of the
law is to forbid and negate action he states that the common view lacks the realization that the law can and
must be dynamic and constructive this is even truer in a democracy where the law must be employed to
Foster and safeguard that equality of opportunity which is the essence of the democratic way of life you can
visit the link provided to read the article a good memory view is presented by doctor Robin Williams who
argues for a space provided by the rule of law where everyone can exercise their rights this view is quite
opposite to the common view of the function of the law the second way to look at the law is to look at it as
a set of rules and regulations we are surrounded by all of these different kinds of rules in the society for
example don't cross the road without a zebra crossing don't cut align don't talk in the library or don't drive
over the speed limit I'm sure you know that all of them are not lost what makes some of the rules as laws is
the fact that the parliament enacted them as statutes the reason we allow parliament to legislate a speeding
law for example is because we want to make sure that everyone is driving at a reasonable speed
furthermore if someone violates the speed limit they should be punished in the form of fines or
imprisonment this way the safety of everyone on the road is insured the third way of looking at the law is
through its constitutional arrangement there are different doctrines or principles that can be used to define a
legal system the first principle is parliamentary supremacy which means that the parliament is the supreme
law making authority the doctrine holds that the legislative body has absolute sovereignty and is supreme
over all other government institutions including executive and judicial bodies it also holds that the
legislative body may change our appeal any previous legislation and so it is not bound by written law or by
president the second principle is the rule of law which means that no one is above law the law should
govern a nation as opposed to being governed by arbitrary decisions of individual government officials the
third principle is separation of power and the power of the state is divided between different institutions and
no one an institution is absolutely powerful and free from accountability the power is divided between the
legislative executive and judicial branches of the state parliamentary sovereignty may be contrasted with
separation of powers which often limits the legislatures scope of general lawmaking were last passed by the
legislature may be declared invalid in certain circumstances through judicial review the 4th is the
prerogative powers of the crown at these powers are unique to the UK due to its history in countries like
EU S and France the revolutions and discontinuity gave way to the shift of such powers to the executive
branch at a later time you should watch more lectures on parliamentary sovereignty the rule of law
separation of power and the royal prerogative in the public law section