Law is a set of rules created by a society to govern it and enforced by police and courts. A country will usually have a constitution which sets out the overall framework of its laws and then make further laws for specific matters of detail. Generally, members of society have freedom within the legal things they can choose to do and activities which are outside the laws are considered illegal and can result in punishment.
Many legal systems are influenced by religion, culture and historical traditions. However, as the world becomes more interconnected through trade and travel, people have more access to ideas from other countries, which can influence how they use their own laws and legal system. Modern military, policing and bureaucratic power over ordinary people’s daily lives also poses new challenges to the role of law which earlier writers like Max Weber did not anticipate.
Most modern countries have a judiciary which judges disputes and determines the guilt or innocence of people charged with crimes. The judicial system is normally divided into two parts: appeals and trial courts. Appeals are decisions which other courts can review or overturn, whilst trials are when people argue about facts of a case and who is right and wrong.
The main purpose of law is to control people and prevent them from taking advantage of other members of society. The law can do this by controlling the use of force and enforcing punishment for breaking the laws. It can also prevent people from making false claims, and stop them from stealing other people’s property.
In addition to criminal and civil laws, law covers a wide range of other topics. Contract law regulates agreements for exchanges of goods and services, so includes everything from buying a bus ticket to trading on a stock market. Family law covers issues like marriage and divorce. Employment law covers workers’ rights and employer responsibilities. Intellectual property law concerns ownership and use of intangible assets such as copyright, trademarks and patents. Property law concerns both real estate and personal possessions. The distinction between the legal concepts of ‘right in rem’ (a right to a piece of land) and ‘right in personam’ (the right to something possessed by someone) is the basis for most property law.
In addition to these broad areas, there are a number of specialist fields. Administrative law deals with the way in which government departments operate. Commercial law covers business and finance. Environmental law is concerned with natural resources, such as oil and gas. Immigration and nationality law involves the rights of people to live in a country, and their rights and duties to that country. The jurisprudence of the biosciences is a growing area of law. In the United States and Britain, a professional who studies and practices law is called an attorney or lawyer. In the Commonwealth of Nations, these are known as solicitors and barristers respectively. Occasionally, these professionals are given titles of respect such as Esquire or Doctor of Law to indicate their level of education and training.