Law is the set of rules that a society recognizes as regulating its members’ actions and which are enforced by a controlling authority through penalties. Its principal purposes are to establish standards, maintain order, resolve disputes and protect liberties and rights. Law shapes politics, economics, history and society in a variety of ways, and also serves as a mediator of relations between individuals.
Oxford Reference offers authoritative and comprehensive coverage of the law from around the world in a single online resource. With over 34,000 concise definitions and in-depth, specialist encyclopedic entries, this extensive coverage spans a range of legal subjects, from contract law to criminal law and from international law to family law. The articles include the major debates in legal theory and are written by trusted experts, providing essential background knowledge for any researcher at any level.
The concept of law is complex and varies across cultures. For example, a court’s decision can only be legally binding in a particular jurisdiction. Moreover, different courts may have more or less authority. For instance, decisions of higher courts tend to be more persuasive than those of lower courts.
In general, the law involves a complex process of interpreting and applying precedent to particular facts. It is important to understand how precedent works, and why decisions by earlier judges carry more weight than those of later ones. This is the basis of the rule of stare decisis, where the judgments of earlier courts are considered “law” and must be followed by subsequent judges.
The study of law is an important part of any undergraduate or postgraduate course, and there are a wide variety of careers in the field. These include advising others about the law, representing people in court and administering laws and punishments.
The law is closely linked to politics, economics and society in many different ways, and there are a wide variety of areas to explore. The relationship between the law and political structures is explored in articles on constitution; ideology; political party; and political system. The law is also linked to social justice and other issues in articles on social reform; land reform; and legal profession. It is also important to understand the relationship between the law and other institutions in society, such as education; media; and religion. In the modern world, the extent to which a state is able to enforce its laws can be seen in articles on democracy; civil society; and the state. Max Weber’s work reshaped thinking about the extension of the state in this respect and challenged many of the ideas of earlier writers such as Locke and Montesquieu. Nevertheless, it is still difficult to define what the state is able to do in practice and this remains an area of significant research. Moreover, the nature of the relationship between the state and its citizens is also changing rapidly. This is particularly true in the areas of policing, social care and health services.