What is Law?

y Law provides rules y It tells us what we can and cannot do y This is applicable to personal issues (e.g. criminal

law) and business issues (e.g. contract law) y Societies require order to allow people to live and deal with each other y Law is a means of creating and maintaining social order y It does this by helping to deal with arguments and conflicts
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y The body of rules accepted by a community; or y The command of the sovereign; or y The body of rules recognized and enforced by

courts of law; or y Abstract norms that make up a legal order

DEFINITIONS
y Law in its most general and comprehensive sense signifies- a rule of action and it applies indiscriminately to all kinds of action, animate or inanimate; rational or irrational - Blackstone y Law in general, is a rule of being or of conduct, established by an authority able to enforce its will; a controlling regulation; the mode or order according to which an agent or a power acts . y Law is a general rule of external human action enforced by the Sovereign Political Authority - Holland

y The word Law includes any ordinance, order, by-law,

rule, regulation, notification, custom or usage having in the territory of India the force of Law. y Law-in-Force includes laws passed or made by legislature or other competent authority in the territory of India and that is in operation and not repealed Indian Constitution.

Categories of Law
y Common Law y Civil Law y Statute law y Private Law y Public Law y Criminal Law

Common Law
y Common Law is used to describe legal systems

based on the English legal system y These are usually countries which were once part of the British Empire
y eg: America, Australia, New Zealand

Civil Law
y Civil Law is used to describe legal systems which are

based on old Roman Law (from the Roman Empire in what is now Italy) y eg: France, Germany y China is usually classified as a civil law system, although it is not based on Roman Law

Common Law v. Civil Law

Common Law y Case law and the courts are most important source of law Civil Law y Consists of a legal code of general principles which is the source of law

Statute Law
y Statute Law is legislation created by the

government
y Eg. Sale of Goods Act 1930

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Private Law and Public Law

y Private Law and Public Law are concerned with

relationships

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Public Law
y Public law is the law which deals with the powers and

obligations of governments and citizens

y there are three main types of public law
y Criminal law

body of rules under which certain acts are punished by the state laws dealing with government powers/decisions

y Administrative law y Constitutional law

rules governing the executive, judiciary and legislative functions

Private Law
Private law is the law which aims to regulate the relationships between individuals, companies and organisations.
y There are three main areas of private law:

contract law agreement between two or more parties recognised under the law tort law Civil Wrongs, interfering with the right of someone else (Negligence, nuisance, trespassing, defamation property law wide area of law dealing with things owned and that of commercial value

Criminal Law
y Criminal Law deals with rules created by the State

which forbid certain behaviour y These are crimes y Criminal Law punishes people
y it does not provide remedies

y Criminal Law is usually what people think of when

they think about The Law y Criminal Law is part of Public Law

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PURPOSE OF LAW
y Maintain order and secure justice within a given

society, maintain status quo in society ensuring stability and security of social order, enable individuals, maximum of freedom to assert themselves and determine the sphere within which the existence and activity of each individual will be secure and free.

ADVANTAGES OF LAW
y Provides uniformity and certainty to the

administration of justice. y Avoid dangers of arbitrary, biased and dishonest decisions. y Protects administration of justice from errors of individual judgment. y More reliable than individual judgment.