The law is the set of rules that a society develops and enforces to deal with crime, business agreements, and social relationships. Unlike natural laws like the law of gravity, which are objective and scientific, laws are normative, in that they prescribe how people ought to behave or what they can or cannot do.
There are many kinds of law. Contract law regulates people’s agreements to exchange goods or services, from buying a bus ticket to trading options on a stock market. Property law establishes people’s rights and duties toward tangible property, such as land or buildings, as well as intangible property, such as bank accounts or shares of stock. Criminal law covers offenses against the state, including homicide, burglary and fraud.
Law is also a way to settle disagreements. If two people both claim ownership of the same piece of land, courts can decide who is right and resolve the dispute peacefully. Laws can also prevent powerful people from bullying or intimidating others. They can punish politicians and government officials who abuse their position, and they can help ensure that everyone gets the same treatment under the law.
Legal systems vary from country to country, and even within countries there are many different branches of law. In “common law” countries, judicial decisions are recognized as law on equal footing with statutes passed through legislative process and regulations issued by the executive branch. This principle, known as the rule of stare decisis, means that past court decisions bind lower courts in future cases, to assure that similar issues reach consistent conclusions. In contrast, in “civil law” systems, legislatures write legislative statutes, and judicial decisions are short and less detailed because judges and barristers only consider the facts of a single case when they make their decision.