INTRODUCTION TO LAW AND LEGAL AND POLITICAL SYSTEMS

 WHAT IS LAW?

The definition of law is rules by the government with a coercive sanction if the rule isn’t respected. A
rule with a coercive sanction has a three-part framework:

 Duties: a duty is an obligation to do something, or to refrain from doing something. Every duty
has a corresponding right: one person’s duty corresponds to another person’s right
 e.g.: If a legal system gives the right to life to its citizen, it also imposes an obligation on him
to not expose his life in trouble, as well as to respect the life and convenience of others.
 Rights: a right is an entitlement to do something, to receive something or to refrain from doing
something. Every right has a corresponding duty.
 Remedies: a remedy is the means by which someone with a right can either compel compliance
with the right’s corresponding duty, obtain compensation for injury caused by noncompliance
with that corresponding duty, or otherwise vindicate the right.
 e.g.: imprisonment; an order to pay a fine*; an order to pay compensation to an injured
person; an order to do something, or to refrain from doing something.

*Fine (=payment to the government) is different from damage (=payment to the injured person)

.1 LEGAL SYSTEMS

Legal systems are made up of:

 Primary rules – which forbid or compel something. These are sometimes called “substantive”
rules.
 Secondary rules – that exist to manage primary rules (for recognition, modification, and
adjudication). These are sometimes called “procedural” rules.
 Legal principles

In the EU, the main legal systems are civil law and common law.

.2 PERVASIVENESS OF NORMS

A law’s rules are normative.

There’s a partial but incomplete overlap between legal norms and other norms. For instance, a
dietary restriction can be a religious norm without being a legal norm; a requirement to cross the
street only at a marked crosswalk can be a legal norm without being a social norm; and so on…

.3 NATURAL OR POSITIVE LAW

Law can be natural or positive:

 Natural law exists in nature, inherently

It exists even if never actively, positively identified or declared by humans. It might be derived or
revealed from divine sources (e.g.: God) or from philosophical sources (e.g.: rationalism, inner
good, etc.)
 Law is what nature teaches all animals – cit. Ulpian
 Positive law is human made (and emerge from the government)
It doesn’t have natural sources and it’s adopted or imposed by people recognized to have the
competence to do so
 Civil law is that which every nation has established for its own government – cit. Gaius