Law is the set of rules created by a state that form a framework to ensure a peaceful society, with sanctions imposed on people who break the laws. The precise nature of laws is a subject of debate. For example, some theories of law – called natural law – assert that laws are created and enforced by God or nature, or that certain ethical norms are innately moral, or that the principles of equality, for instance, are a priori universal (that is, they exist in the mind before and independently of experience). Other schools of thought have a more empirical approach to defining what the law is.
Law can be passed by a group legislature, or by the executive through decrees and regulations; or established through court decisions, in the case of common law jurisdictions. The law can also be created by individuals, through contracts and arbitration agreements that adopt alternative ways of resolving disputes to standard court litigation. Different laws may have overlapping aims. For example, environmental standards are often set by both federal and state governments, and employment law covers a tripartite relationship between worker, employer and trade union, and can involve collective bargaining regulation.
A fundamental issue in the study of law is whether the purposes that law serves are legitimate or not. This debate is reflected in the wide variety of aims that the legal system can be used to achieve, including economic goals, social control and justice, the protection of the environment, and even a sense of moral right and wrong.
The main function of the law, however, is to serve as a means of social control. This is why a large part of the law’s definition is concerned with power and politics. Who has the authority to make and enforce laws is a major issue in most countries, with the most powerful being able to create and impose their own laws.
The nature of the laws created by a given legal system will vary greatly from country to country, reflecting differences in history and culture. In common law systems, the law is largely determined by precedent, in which cases decided by the courts will provide a general rule or interpretation of a particular situation or fact pattern that can then be applied to other similar situations. The courts will also look to decisions from other jurisdictions where these are persuasive. This will happen, for example, in “cases of first impression,” where the courts are encountering a fact pattern that is new to them. Courts in different states will often share jurisprudence on these issues, and this is known as federalism. This can lead to the development of uniform rules across a number of jurisdictions, although this is not always desirable. There is a long history of rebellions against political-legal authority, and debates about the legitimacy or otherwise of a regime are a vital element of any democratic society.