Law is any set of strong rules that someone in power has the authority to enforce. It serves a variety of purposes including setting standards, maintaining order, resolving disputes, and protecting liberties and rights. Law shapes politics, economics, history and society in many ways.
The study of law includes the history of legal systems, the development of the legal profession, and the philosophical basis of law. Legal studies also investigates the relationship of law to social structures and the impact of the law on human rights. Other topics include legal theory, legal methodology, and the role of the media in the legal system.
A major defining feature of law is that it is coercive, meaning that it is used by the state to control the actions of its citizens. This power is based on the state’s authority to impose sanctions on anyone who disobeys the law. The question of the proper balance between the various interests involved in creating and enforcing the law has long been a topic of debate.
Several theories about the nature of law have been proposed. One early approach, that of John Austin, was a utilitarian one: he defined law as “commands, backed by the threat of sanctions, from a sovereign, to whom people have a habit of obedience.” This view gained influence in the nineteenth century, when Jeremy Bentham, who wrote extensively about the moral basis of law, promoted the idea that the law reflects a natural law of right and wrong, which can be discovered through careful observation of the world around us.
More recent theories of law have emphasized the way that laws are socially constructed, and that they are created by the interaction of social forces and institutions. Roscoe Pound and Hans Kelsen developed the idea that law is a “normative science” which has the task of satisfying social needs. This view of law suggests that custom and tradition play a greater role in the creation of laws than does legislation alone.
In the United States, federal laws, created by Congress and codified in the Code of Federal Regulations, often preempt state law in many areas, but there are exceptions, such as bankruptcy law. State and local laws, however, remain very important in some areas. These include family law, which deals with marriage and divorce proceedings, as well as property law, which establishes people’s rights to their possessions, whether land or money; tort law, which covers wrongful acts such as automobile accidents or defamation; and criminal law, which deals with offences against the state or its representatives.
In the case of a legal article, it is important to keep its length reasonable. Most readers are not familiar with the technical terms used in the field, and an article that is too long will be difficult for them to read and understand. It is also helpful to avoid jargon, except where it is necessary for clarity and understanding.