What Is Law?

Law is a set of rules created by a society that form a framework to ensure a peaceful society and are enforced by mechanisms which can be used to impose sanctions if the rules are broken. The meaning of the term ‘law’ is often controversial, with many books written containing various ideas about and definitions for it.

The main purpose of the law is to serve people by establishing standards, maintaining order, resolving disputes and protecting liberties and rights. A fundamental requirement is that the laws must be transparent, accessible and equal for all. It is also important that the laws be reasonably stable, allowing people to plan for their future and to have confidence in the legal consequences of their actions.

Different fields of law include contracts, property, labour, family, criminal and civil laws. The study of each field involves consideration of specific concepts, categories and rules that are influenced by different legal traditions. For example, contract law considers agreements to exchange goods or services, and property law defines people’s rights and duties towards tangible properties (such as land and buildings) and intangible assets such as money, cars, shares and bank accounts.

Criminal and civil law are the two branches of the legal system that deal with criminal cases and civil disputes respectively. They are both shaped by different theories about the nature of law and the role of a sovereign state in society. John Austin’s utilitarian answer to the question of what law is – “commands, backed by threat of sanction, from a sovereign to men as political subjects” – has been challenged by philosophers such as Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Thomas Aquinas who argue that the natural school of thought posits that law reflects essentially moral and unchanging laws of nature.

In the modern world, a large portion of the world’s people live in countries with civil law systems. These are based on concepts, categories and rules that are largely influenced by Roman law and canon law, and are supplemented or modified by local custom and culture. The civil law tradition aims to promote cooperation between human beings by devolving the power of making decisions about their lives from a sovereign to a court of justice.

Law is studied at universities around the world, and the profession of lawyers is an international one. In addition to teaching students the skills required to practise law, university law departments are increasingly involved in public interest work and research. Legal journals and periodicals are also important sources of information on law and have long been a part of the academic world. The first student-edited law review, Jussens Venner, was founded in 1952 at the University of Oslo and still exists today. Legal periodicals typically highlight recent court decisions and comment on current legislation. They may use more technical language than the general press and take a stance on controversial changes to the law. They are often published by scholarly societies, which in turn are regulated by the government or the country’s bar association.