Law is a set of rules created and enforced by a group or a government to regulate conduct and to provide a framework for peaceful society. It has been regarded as both a science and an art, and its precise definition is the subject of ongoing debate.
The law is not the only normative domain in a culture; morality, religion, social conventions, and etiquette also guide human conduct in many ways that are similar to those of the law. A major part of the study of law involves determining how the law differs from these other normative domains, and how it interacts with them.
Different legal systems have varying approaches to the creation and enforcement of law. For example, some nations have a common law system in which laws are derived from judges’ decisions in individual cases; the compilation of these decisions is known as case law. Other countries have a codified system of law in which laws are compiled and published in statutes and regulations. The law can be influenced by various social factors, including the political structure of a nation, its ideology, and its history of colonialism and imperialism.
Other legal fields include tort law, which covers damages resulting from personal injury or property damage; criminal law, which deals with the prosecution of people accused of committing crimes; administrative law, which governs the actions of administrative agencies; labor law, which covers workplace rights; and family law, which governs marriage, divorce, child custody, and property rights in the event of separation. In addition, civil procedure and evidence law deal with the rules that courts must follow as trials and appeals are conducted.
Law can have a profound effect on human behavior. For example, the legal system can encourage honesty and fair dealings by imposing fines on people who break the law. It can also encourage respect for private property by requiring people to use property only as they would if it were their own.
It is difficult to define law because it is a complex phenomenon. It has a normative as well as a prescriptive nature, which means it contains instructions about how people should behave or not, and it cannot be empirically verified in the same way that laws in other fields can be (such as the law of gravity). The fact that it is dependent on humans and their mental operations also makes it very difficult to prove or disprove. For these reasons, there are many different viewpoints on the nature of the law. A key debate is whether the law should be based on religion or on secular principles of justice. A variety of religious traditions have their own sets of laws, including the Jewish halakha and Islamic Shari’ah, and Christian canon law. Some of these laws are self-executing, while others require further elaboration through interpretation and jurisprudence. Laws that are based on religious precepts are generally known as Shari’ah or Fiqh. Laws that are based on secular principles are typically known as case law or the common law.