Courts orpolice may enforce this system of rules andpunish people who break the laws, such as by paying afine, or otherpenalty includingjail. In ancient societies, laws were written byleaders, to set out rules on how people can live, work and do business with each other. In most countries today, laws are written and voted on by groups of politicians in alegislature, such as aparliament or congress, elected (chosen) by the governed peoples. Countries today have aconstitution for the overall framework of society and make further laws as needed for matters of detail. Members of society generally have enough freedom within all thelegal things they can choose to do. An activity isillegal if it breaks a law or does not follow the laws.
Alegal code is a written code of laws that areenforced. This may deal with things likepolice,courts, or punishments. Alawyer, jurist or attorney is a professional who studies and argues the rules of law. In the United States, there are two kinds of attorneys - "transactional" attorneys who writecontracts and "litigators" who go tocourt. In the United Kingdom, these professionals are calledsolicitors andbarristers respectively.
TheRule of Law is the law which says that government can only legally use its power in a way the government and the people agree on. It limits the powers agovernment has, as agreed in a country'sconstitution. TheRule of Law prevents dictatorship and protects the rights of the people. When leaders enforce the legal code honestly, even on themselves and their friends, this is an example of the rule of law being followed. "The rule of law", wrote the ancient Greek philosopherAristotle in 350 BC, "is better than the rule of any individual."
Culture is usually a major source of the principles behind many laws, and people also tend to trust the ideas based onfamily and social habits. In many countries throughout history,religion and religious books like theVedas,Bible or theKoran have been a major source of law.
Medical law is the body oflaws concerning the rights and responsibilities ofmedical professionals and their patients. The main areas of focus formedical law includeconfidentiality,negligence and othertorts related tomedical treatment (especiallymedical malpractice), and criminallaw andethics.
Physician-Patient Privilege protects the patient's private conversations with a medical physician (doctor), this also extends to their personal information (like their contact details) shared with medical personnel.
Property law states the rights and obligations that a person has when they buy, sell, or rent homes and land (calledreal property orrealty), and objects (calledpersonal property).
Intellectual property law involves the rights people have over things they create, such as art, music, andliterature. This is calledcopyright. It also protects inventions that people make, by a kind of law calledpatent. It also covers the rights people have to the names of a company or a distinctive mark or logo. This is calledtrademark.
Trust law (business Law) sets out the rules for money that is put into aninvestment, such aspension funds that people save up for their retirement. It involves many different types of law, including administrative and property law.
Tort law helps people to make claims forcompensation (repayment) when someone hurts them or hurts their property.
Criminal law is used by the government to prevent people from breaking laws, and punish people who do break them.
Constitutional law deals with the important rights of the government, and its relationship with the people. It mainly involves the interpretation of aconstitution, including things like theSeparation of powers of the different branches of government.
Acourt order is an official proclamation by a judge that defines and authorizes the carrying out of certain steps for one or more parties to a case.
Administrative law is used by ordinary citizens who want to challenge decisions made by governments. It also involves things like regulations, and the operation of theadministrative agencies.
Custom and tradition are practices that are widely adopted and agreed upon in a society, thought often not in a written form. Custom and tradition can be enforced in courts and are sometimes considered as part of the legal reasoning in matters decided in courts. In some societies and cultures all law is or was custom and tradition. This is increasingly rare although there are some parts of the world where custom tradition are still binding or even the predominant form of law, for example tribal lands or failed states.
Civil law is the legal system used in most countries around the world today. Civil law is based on legislation that is found inconstitutions or statutes passed by government. The secondary part of civil law is the legal approaches that are part of custom. In civil law governments, judges do not generally have much power, and most of the laws andlegal precedent are created byMembers of Parliament.
Common law is based on the decisions made by judges in past court cases. It comes from England and it became part of almost every country that once belonged to the British Empire, exceptMalta,Scotland, the U.S. state ofLouisiana, and the Canadian province ofQuebec. It is also the predominant form of law in the United States, where many laws called statutes are written byCongress, but many more legal rules exist from the decisions of the courts. Common law had its beginnings in theMiddle Ages, whenKing John was forced by his barons to sign a document calledMagna Carta.
Until the 1700s,Sharia law was the main legal system throughout the Muslim world. In some Muslim countries such asSaudi Arabia andIran, the whole legal systems still base their law on Sharia law. Islamic law is often criticised because it has harsh penalties for crimes. A serious criticism is the judgement of theEuropean Court that "sharia is incompatible with the fundamental principles ofdemocracy".[1][2][3]
TheTurkishRefah Party's sharia-based "plurality of legal systems, grounded on religion" was ruled to contravene theEuropean Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. The Court decided Refah's plan would "do away with the State's role as the guarantor of individual rights and freedoms" and "infringe the principle of non-discrimination between individuals as regards their enjoyment of public freedoms, which is one of the fundamental principles of democracy".[1]
The history of law is closely connected to the development of humancivilizations.Ancient Egyptian law developed in 3000 BC. In 1760 BC KingHammurabi, took ancientBabylonian law and organized it, and had it chiselled in stone for the public to see in the marketplace. These laws became known as theCode of Hammurabi.
TheTorah from theOld Testament is an old body of law. It was written around 1280 BC. It has moral rules such as theTen Commandments, which tell people what things are not permitted. Sometimes people try to change the law. For example, if prostitution is illegal, they try to make it legal.[4]
In democracies, the people in a country usually choose people called politicians to represent them in a legislature. Examples of legislatures include theHouses of Parliament in London, theCongress in Washington, D.C., theBundestag in Berlin, theDuma in Moscow and the Assemblée nationale in Paris. Many legislatures have two chambers or houses, a 'lower house' and an 'upper house'. To pass legislation, a majority of Members of Parliament must vote for a bill in each house. The legislature is the branch of government that writes laws, and votes on whether they will be approved.
Thejudiciary is a group ofjudges who resolve people's disputes and determine whether people who are charged with crimes areguilty. In some places the judge does not find guilt or innocence but instead directs a jury, how to interpret facts from a legal perspective, but the jury determines the facts based on evidence presented to them and finds the guilt or innocence of the charged person. Most countries of common law and civil law systems have a system ofappeals courts, up to a supreme authority such as theSupreme Court. The highest courts usually have the power to remove laws that areunconstitutional (which go against the constitution).
The executive is the governing center of political authority. In most democratic countries, the executive is elected from people who are in the legislature. This group of elected people is called the cabinet. There may be aPresident which exists separately from the legislature.
The executive suggests new laws and deals with other countries. The executive usually controls themilitary, thepolice, and thebureaucracy. The executive selects ministers, or secretaries of state to control departments such as the health department or the department of justice.
In many jurisdictions the Head of State takes a largely ceremonial role. This is the case in manyCommonwealth nations where the Head of State, usually a Governor almost exclusively acts "on the advice" of the head of the Executive (e.g. the Prime Minister, First Minister or Premier). The primary legal role of the Head of State in these jurisdictions is to act as a check or balance against the Executive, as the Head of State has the rarely exercised power todissolve the legislature, call elections and dismiss ministers.
Thepolice enforce the criminal laws by arresting people suspected of breaking the law.Bureaucrats are the government workers and government organizations that do work for the government. Bureaucrats work within a system of rules, and they make their decisions in writing.
Lawyers are people who have learned about laws. Lawyers give people advice about their legal rights and duties and represent people incourt. To become a lawyer, a person has to complete a two- or three-yearuniversity program at a law school and pass an entrance examination. Lawyers work in law firms, for the government, for companies, or by themselves.
"Corporations are among the organizations that use the legal system to further their goals. Like the others, they use means such ascampaign donations andadvertising to persuade people that they are right. Corporations also engage incommerce and make new things such asautomobiles,vaporisers/e-cigarettes, andUnmanned aerial vehicles (i.e. "drones") that the old laws are not well equipped to deal with. Corporations also makes use of a set of rules and regulations to ensure their employees remain loyal to them (usually presented in a legal contract), and that any disobedience towards these rules are considered uncivilized and therefore given grounds for immediate dismissal.
↑Farley, Melissa. "“Bad for the body, bad for the heart”: prostitution harms women even if legalized or decriminalized." Violence against women 10.10 (2004): 1087-1125.
