Law is a set of rules, enforceable by social institutions. It ensures property rights, contracts and human rights. There are several common legal issues, including consumer rights, immigration, crime and punishment. Those who are involved in a legal dispute should always consult a lawyer.
Legal systems include both civil and common law. Common law legal systems have a system of judges who make decisions that bind future decisions. This practice is known as precedent. Civil law legal systems are less detailed. They often require fewer judicial decisions, and require less human elaboration.
There are three main categories of law: civil, administrative and administrative criminal. The first two are enforceable by government and are called state-enforced laws. However, they can also be created by private individuals or organizations.
Another category is civil procedure, which concerns the rules of courts. It includes evidence law, which is admissible materials in a court. These procedures are designed to be fair and efficient. Regulation, which is the law of providing public services, such as gas, water and telecomms, is a very common example of regulation.
Other types of law are religious, such as Islamic Sharia. Religious law is often based on a precept, such as the teachings of Jesus or Muhammad. Some religions are based on their own rules, while others are derived from a consensus.
Regardless of the type of law, it can be divided into three parts: a) the body of law, b) the law itself, and c) the social and political structure. Each part is important to people, and the various aspects of a legal system may be privileged.
In modern society, accountability is more difficult because of a wide variety of factors. Accountability is especially difficult to establish in a society that has powerful policing, military, and economic power. For this reason, the concept of “Rule of Law” has been a longstanding ideal in political tradition.
Rule of Law is an ideal that has been at the core of debates about the political nature of law. Arguments about the Rule of Law continued into the early modern period, and through the European Enlightenment. As early as the 18th century, the jurisprudence of John Austin defined law as a “threat from sovereign,” while the notion of “natural law” emerged in ancient Greek philosophy. Both concepts, however, could not predict modern accountability problems.
Aside from the rule of law, there are many other values that people believe should guide the creation of laws. These values range from democracy to economic freedom, to social justice, and to the idea that government is accountable to citizens.
Many of these values have been grouped together in a group of liberal political morality values. These values are a diverse collection of ideals that emphasize the importance of social justice, a free press, and the rule of law.
The modern legal system is a composite of many of the features of civil and common law. These features include the doctrine of precedent, the principle that courts bind future decisions, and the use of state-enforced laws.