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law is a system of rules and guidelines which are enforced through social institutions to govern
behaviour.

Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to
regulate behavior,with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been variously
described as a science and as the art of justice. State-enforced laws can be made by a group legislature
or by a single legislator, resulting in statutes; by the executive through decrees and regulations; or
established by judges through precedent, usually in common law jurisdictions. Private individuals may
create legally binding contracts, including arbitration agreements that adopt alternative ways of
resolving disputes to standard court litigation. The creation of laws themselves may be influenced by a
constitution, written or tacit, and the rights encoded therein. The law shapes politics, economics, history
and society in various ways and also serves as a mediator of relations between people.

State-enforced laws can be made by a group legislature or by a single legislator, resulting in statutes; by
the executive through decrees and regulations; or established by judges through precedent, usually in
common law jurisdictions. Private individuals may create legally binding contracts, including arbitration
agreements that adopt alternative ways of resolving disputes to standard court litigation. The creation
of laws themselves may be influenced by a constitution, written or tacit, and the rights encoded therein.
The law shapes politics, economics, history and society in various ways and also serves as a mediator of
relations between people.

LEGISLATURE - is a deliberative assembly with the legal authority to make laws for a political
entity such as a country, nation or city on behalf of the people therein.

STATUTES -is a formal written enactment of a legislative body,[1] a stage in the process
of legislation. Typically, statutes command or prohibit something, or declare policy.[1] Statutes are
laws made by legislative bodies; they are distinguished from case law or precedent, which is decided
by courts, regulations issued by government agencies, and oral or customary law.[1][2]
[better source needed]
Statutes may originate with the legislative body of a country, state or province, county,
or municipality.

Precedent is a principle or rule established in a legal case that becomes authoritative to a court or
other tribunal when deciding subsequent cases with similar legal issues or facts.[1][2][3] The legal
doctrine stating that courts should follow precedent is called stare decisis (a Latin phrase with the
literal meaning "to stand by things decided").[4]

Common law (also known as judicial precedent, judge-made law, or case law) is the body of law
created by judges and similar quasi-judicial tribunals by virtue of being stated in written opinions.[2][3][4]

Alternative dispute resolution (ADR), or external dispute resolution (EDR), typically denotes a
wide range of dispute resolution processes and techniques that parties can use to settle disputes
with the help of a third party.[1] They are used for disagreeing parties who cannot come to an
agreement short of litigation. However, ADR is also increasingly being adopted as a tool to help
settle disputes within the court system.[2][3]
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A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute
the legal basis of a polity, organization or other type of entity, and commonly determines how that
entity is to be governed.[1]

Rights are legal, social, or ethical principles of freedom or entitlement; that is, rights are the
fundamental normative rules about what is allowed of people or owed to people according to some
legal system, social convention, or ethical theory.[1] Rights are an important concept
in law and ethics, especially theories of justice and deontology.

Legal systems vary between jurisdictions, with their differences analysed in comparative law. In civil
law jurisdictions, a legislature or other central body codifies and consolidates the law. In common
law systems, judges may make binding case law through precedent,[10] although on occasion this
may be overturned by a higher court or the legislature.[11] Historically, religious law has influenced
secular matters and is, as of the 21st century, still in use in some religious communities. [12][13][14] Sharia
law based on Islamic principles is used as the primary legal system in several countries,
including Iran and Saudi Arabia.[15][16]

The scope of law can be divided into two domains: public law concerns government and society,
including constitutional law, administrative law, and criminal law; while private law deals with legal
disputes between parties in areas such as contracts, property, torts, delicts and commercial law.
[17]
This distinction is stronger in civil law countries, particularly those with a separate system
of administrative courts;[18][19] by contrast, the public-private law divide is less pronounced in common
law jurisdictions.[20][21]

Law provides a source of scholarly inquiry into legal history,[22] philosophy,[23] economic
analysis[24] and sociology.[25] Law also raises important and complex issues concerning equality,
fairness, and justice.[26][27]

Philosophy of law
Main articles: Jurisprudence and Philosophy of law
But what, after all, is a law? [...] When I say that the object of laws is always general, I mean that law
considers subjects en masse and actions in the abstract, and never a particular person or action. [...]
On this view, we at once see that it can no longer be asked whose business it is to make laws, since
they are acts of the general will; nor whether the prince is above the law, since he is a member of the
State; nor whether the law can be unjust, since no one is unjust to himself; nor how we can be both
free and subject to the laws, since they are but registers of our wills.
Jean-Jacques Rousseau, The Social Contract, II, 6.[29]

The philosophy of law is commonly known as jurisprudence. Normative jurisprudence asks "what
should law be?", while analytic jurisprudence asks "what is law?"

Analytical jurisprudence
Main article: Analytical jurisprudence
There have been several attempts to produce "a universally acceptable definition of law". In
1972, Baron Hampstead suggested that no such definition could be produced.[30] McCoubrey and
White said that the question "what is law?" has no simple answer. [31] Glanville Williams said that the
meaning of the word "law" depends on the context in which that word is used. He said that, for
example, "early customary law" and "municipal law" were contexts where the word "law" had two
different and irreconcilable meanings.[32] Thurman Arnold said that it is obvious that it is impossible to
define the word "law" and that it is also equally obvious that the struggle to define that word should
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not ever be abandoned.[33] It is possible to take the view that there is no need to define the word "law"
(e.g. "let's forget about generalities and get down to cases").[34]

But what, after all, is a law? [...] When I say that the object of laws is always general, I mean that law considers
subjects en masse and actions in the abstract, and never a particular person or action. [...] On this view, we at once
see that it can no longer be asked whose business it is to make laws, since they are acts of the general will; nor
whether the prince is above the law, since he is a member of the State; nor whether the law can be unjust, since no
one is unjust to himself; nor how we can be both free and subject to the laws, since they are but registers of our wills.
Jean-Jacques Rousseau, The Social Contract, II, 6.[29]

Connection to morality and justice

See also: Rule according to higher law

.Definitions of law often raise the question of the extent

to which law incorporates morality.[42] John Austin's utilitarian answer was that law is "commands,
backed by threat of sanctions, from a sovereign, to whom people have a habit of obedience".
[36]
Natural lawyers, on the other hand, such as Jean-Jacques Rousseau, argue that law reflects
essentially moral and unchangeable laws of nature. The concept of "natural law" emerged in
ancient Greek philosophy concurrently and in connection with the notion of justice, and re-entered
the mainstream of Western culture through the writings of Thomas Aquinas, notably his Treatise on
Law.
Hugo Grotius, the founder of a purely rationalistic system of natural law, argued that law arises from
both a social impulse—as Aristotle had indicated—and reason.[43] Immanuel Kant believed a moral
imperative requires laws "be chosen as though they should hold as universal laws of nature".
[44]
Jeremy Bentham and his student Austin, following David Hume, believed that this conflated
the "is" and what "ought to be" problem. Bentham and Austin argued for law's positivism; that real
law is entirely separate from "morality".[45] Kant was also criticised by Friedrich Nietzsche, who
rejected the principle of equality, and believed that law emanates from the will to power, and cannot
be labeled as "moral" or "immoral".[46][47][48]

In 1934, the Austrian philosopher Hans Kelsen continued the positivist tradition in his book the Pure
Theory of Law.[49] Kelsen believed that although law is separate from morality, it is endowed with
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"normativity", meaning we ought to obey it. While laws are positive "is" statements (e.g. the fine for
reversing on a highway is €500); law tells us what we "should" do. Thus, each legal system can be
hypothesised to have a 'basic norm' (German: Grundnorm) instructing us to obey. Kelsen's major
opponent, Carl Schmitt, rejected both positivism and the idea of the rule of law because he did not
accept the primacy of abstract normative principles over concrete political positions and decisions.
[50]
Therefore, Schmitt advocated a jurisprudence of the exception (state of emergency), which denied
that legal norms could encompass all of the political experience.[51]

Later in the 20th century, H. L. A. Hart attacked Austin for his simplifications and Kelsen for his
fictions in The Concept of Law.[52] Hart argued law is a system of rules, divided into primary (rules of
conduct) and secondary ones (rules addressed to officials to administer primary rules). Secondary
rules are further divided into rules of adjudication (to resolve legal disputes), rules of change
(allowing laws to be varied) and the rule of recognition (allowing laws to be identified as valid). Two
of Hart's students continued the debate: In his book Law's Empire, Ronald Dworkin attacked Hart
and the positivists for their refusal to treat law as a moral issue. Dworkin argues that law is an
"interpretive concept"[37] that requires judges to find the best fitting and most just solution to a legal
dispute, given their Anglo-American constitutional traditions. Joseph Raz, on the other hand,
defended the positivist outlook and criticised Hart's "soft social thesis" approach in The Authority of
Law.[38] Raz argues that law is authority, identifiable purely through social sources and without
reference to moral reasoning. In his view, any categorisation of rules beyond their role as
authoritative instruments in mediation are best left to sociology, rather than jurisprudence.[53]

History
Main article: Legal history

King Hammurabi is revealed the code of laws by the

Mesopotamian sun god Shamash, also revered as the god of justice.
The history of law links closely to the development of civilization. Ancient
Egyptian law, dating as far back as 3000 BC, was based on the concept
of Ma'at and characterised by tradition, rhetorical speech, social equality and
impartiality.[54][55][56] By the 22nd century BC, the ancient Sumerian ruler Ur-
Nammu had formulated the first law code, which consisted of casuistic statements
("if … then ..."). Around 1760 BC, King Hammurabi further developed Babylonian
law, by codifying and inscribing it in stone. Hammurabi placed several copies of his
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law code throughout the kingdom of Babylon as stelae, for the entire public to see;
this became known as the Codex Hammurabi. The most intact copy of these stelae
was discovered in the 19th century by British Assyriologists, and has since been
fully transliterated and translated into various languages, including English, Italian,
German, and French.[57]

The Old Testament dates back to 1280 BC and takes the form of moral imperatives
as recommendations for a good society. The small Greek city-state, ancient Athens,
from about the 8th century BC was the first society to be based on broad inclusion of
its citizenry, excluding women and enslaved people. However, Athens had no legal
science or single word for "law",[58] relying instead on the three-way distinction
between divine law (thémis), human decree (nomos) and custom (díkē).
[59]
Yet Ancient Greek law contained major constitutional innovations in the
development of democracy.[60]

Roman law was heavily influenced by Greek philosophy, but its detailed rules were
developed by professional jurists and were highly sophisticated.[61][62] Over the
centuries between the rise and decline of the Roman Empire, law was adapted to
cope with the changing social situations and underwent major codification
under Theodosius II and Justinian I.[a] Although codes were replaced
by custom and case law during the Early Middle Ages, Roman law was rediscovered
around the 11th century when medieval legal scholars began to research Roman
codes and adapt their concepts to the canon law, giving birth to the jus commune.
Latin legal maxims (called brocards) were compiled for guidance. In medieval
England, royal courts developed a body of precedent which later became
the common law. A Europe-wide Law Merchant was formed so that merchants could
trade with common standards of practice rather than with the many splintered facets
of local laws. The Law Merchant, a precursor to modern commercial law,
emphasised the freedom to contract and alienability of property.
[63]
As nationalism grew in the 18th and 19th centuries, the Law Merchant was
incorporated into countries' local law under new civil codes.
The Napoleonic and German Codes became the most influential. In contrast to
English common law, which consists of enormous tomes of case law, codes in small
books are easy to export and easy for judges to apply. However, today there are
signs that civil and common law are converging.[64] EU law is codified in treaties, but
develops through de facto precedent laid down by the European Court of Justice.[65]
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The Constitution of India is the longest written constitution

for a country, containing 444 articles, 12 schedules, numerous amendments and 117,369 words.
Ancient India and China represent distinct traditions of law, and have historically had
independent schools of legal theory and practice. The Arthashastra, probably
compiled around 100 AD (although it contains older material), and
the Manusmriti (c. 100–300 AD) were foundational treatises in India, and comprise
texts considered authoritative legal guidance.[66] Manu's central philosophy was
tolerance and pluralism, and was cited across Southeast Asia.[67] During the Muslim
conquests in the Indian subcontinent, sharia was established by the Muslim
sultanates and empires, most notably Mughal Empire's Fatawa-e-Alamgiri, compiled
by emperor Aurangzeb and various scholars of Islam.[68][69] In India, the Hindu legal
tradition, along with Islamic law, were both supplanted by common law when
India became part of the British Empire.[70] Malaysia, Brunei, Singapore and Hong
Kong also adopted the common law system. The eastern Asia legal tradition reflects
a unique blend of secular and religious influences.[71] Japan was the first country to
begin modernising its legal system along western lines, by importing parts of
the French, but mostly the German Civil Code.[72] This partly reflected Germany's
status as a rising power in the late 19th century.

Similarly, traditional Chinese law gave way to westernisation towards the final
years of the Qing Dynasty in the form of six private law codes based mainly on
the Japanese model of German law.[73] Today Taiwanese law retains the closest
affinity Legal systems
Main articles: Comparative law, List of national legal systems, and Comparative legal
history
In general, legal systems can be split between civil law and common law systems.
[77]
Modern scholars argue that the significance of this distinction has progressively
declined. The numerous legal transplants, typical of modern law, result in the sharing of
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many features traditionally considered typical of either common law or civil law.[64][78] The
third type of legal system is religious law, based on scriptures. The specific system that
a country is ruled by is often determined by its history, connections with other countries,
or its adherence to international standards. The sources that jurisdictions adopt as
authoritatively binding are the defining features of any legal system.

Colour-
coded map of the legal systems around the world, showing civil, common law, religious,
customary and mixed legal systems.[79] Common law systems are shaded pink, and civil law
systems are shaded blue/turquoise.
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Civil law
Main article: Civil law (legal system)

First page of the 1804 edition of the Napoleonic Code

Civil law is the legal system used in most countries around the world today. In civil law
the sources recognised as authoritative are, primarily, legislation—
especially codifications in constitutions or statutes passed by government—and custom.
[b]
Codifications date back millennia, with one early example being the Babylonian Codex
Hammurabi. Modern civil law systems essentially derive from legal codes issued
by Byzantine Emperor Justinian I in the 6th century, which were rediscovered by 11th
century Italy.[80] Roman law in the days of the Roman Republic and Empire was heavily
procedural, and lacked a professional legal class.[81] Instead a lay magistrate, iudex, was
chosen to adjudicate. Decisions were not published in any systematic way, so any case
law that developed was disguised and almost unrecognised.[82] Each case was to be
decided afresh from the laws of the State, which mirrors the (theoretical) unimportance
of judges' decisions for future cases in civil law systems today. From 529 to 534 AD
the Byzantine Emperor Justinian I codified and consolidated Roman law up until that
point, so that what remained was one-twentieth of the mass of legal texts from before.
[83]
This became known as the Corpus Juris Civilis. As one legal historian wrote,
"Justinian consciously looked back to the golden age of Roman law and aimed to
restore it to the peak it had reached three centuries before."[84] The Justinian Code
remained in force in the East until the fall of the Byzantine Empire. Western Europe,
meanwhile, relied on a mix of the Theodosian Code and Germanic customary law until
the Justinian Code was rediscovered in the 11th century, which scholars at
the University of Bologna used to interpret their own laws.[85] Civil law codifications
based closely on Roman law, alongside some influences from religious laws such
as canon law, continued to spread throughout Europe until the Enlightenment. Then, in
the 19th century, both France, with the Code Civil, and Germany, with the Bürgerliches
Gesetzbuch, modernised their legal codes. Both these codes heavily influenced not only
the law systems of the countries in continental Europe, but also
the Japanese and Korean legal traditions.[86][87] Today, countries that have civil law
systems range from Russia and Turkey to most of Central and Latin America.[88]

Common law and equity

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Main articles: Common law and Equity (law)

King John of England signs Magna Carta.

In common law legal systems, decisions by courts are explicitly acknowledged as "law"
on equal footing with legislative statutes and executive regulations. The "doctrine of
precedent", or stare decisis (Latin for "to stand by decisions") means that decisions by
higher courts bind lower courts to assure that similar cases reach similar results.
In contrast, in civil law systems, legislative statutes are typically more detailed, and
judicial decisions are shorter and less detailed, because the adjudicator is only writing to
decide the single case, rather than to set out reasoning that will guide future courts.

Common law originated from England and has been inherited by almost every country
once tied to the British Empire (except Malta, Scotland, the U.S. state of Louisiana, and
the Canadian province of Quebec). In medieval England during the Norman conquest,
the law varied shire-to-shire based on disparate tribal customs. The concept of a
"common law" developed during the reign of Henry II during the late 12th century, when
Henry appointed judges that had authority to create an institutionalised and unified
system of law common to the country. The next major step in the evolution of the
common law came when King John was forced by his barons to sign a document
limiting his authority to pass laws. This "great charter" or Magna Carta of 1215 also
required that the King's entourage of judges hold their courts and judgments at "a
certain place" rather than dispensing autocratic justice in unpredictable places about the
country.[89] A concentrated and elite group of judges acquired a dominant role in law-
making under this system, and compared to its European counterparts the English
judiciary became highly centralised. In 1297, for instance, while the highest court in
France had fifty-one judges, the English Court of Common Pleas had five.[90] This
powerful and tight-knit judiciary gave rise to a systematised process of developing
common law.[91]

As time went on, many felt that the common law was overly systematised and inflexible,
and increasing numbers of citizens petitioned the King to override the common law. On
the King's behalf, the Lord Chancellor started giving judgments to do what was
equitable in a case. From the time of Sir Thomas More, the first lawyer to be appointed
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as Lord Chancellor, a systematic body of equity grew up alongside the rigid common
law, and developed its own Court of Chancery. At first, equity was often criticised as
erratic.[92] Over time, courts of equity developed solid principles, especially under Lord
Eldon.[93] In the 19th century in England, and in 1937 in the U.S., the two systems
were merged.

In developing the common law, academic writings have always played an important
part, both to collect overarching principles from dispersed case law, and to argue for
change. William Blackstone, from around 1760, was the first scholar to collect, describe,
and teach the common law.[94] But merely in describing, scholars who sought
explanations and underlying structures slowly changed the way the law actually worked.
[95]

Religious law
Main article: Religious law
See also: Law and religion
Religious law is explicitly based on religious precepts. Examples
include the Jewish Halakha and Islamic Sharia—both of which
translate as the "path to follow". Christian canon law also survives in
some church communities. Often the implication of religion for law is
unalterability, because the word of God cannot be amended or
legislated against by judges or governments.[96] Nonetheless, most
religious jurisdictions rely on further human elaboration to provide for
thorough and detailed legal systems. For instance, the Quran has
some law, and it acts as a source of further law through
interpretation, Qiyas (reasoning by analogy), Ijma (consensus)
and precedent.[97] This is mainly contained in a body of law and
jurisprudence known as Sharia and Fiqh respectively. Another
example is the Torah or Old Testament, in the Pentateuch or Five
Books of Moses. This contains the basic code of Jewish law, which
some Israeli communities choose to use. The Halakha is a code of
Jewish law that summarizes some of the Talmud's interpretations.
A number of countries are sharia jurisdictions. Israeli
law allows litigants to use religious laws only if they choose. Canon
law is only in use by members of the Catholic Church, the Eastern
Orthodox Church and the Anglican Communion.
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Canon law
Main article: Canon law

The Corpus Juris Canonici, the fundamental collection of canon law

for over 750 years

Canon law (Ancient Greek: κανών, romanized: kanon, lit. 'a straight
measuring rod; a ruler') is a set of ordinances and regulations made
by ecclesiastical authority, for the government of a Christian
organisation or church and its members. It is the
internal ecclesiastical law governing the Catholic Church, the Eastern
Orthodox Church, the Oriental Orthodox Churches, and the individual
national churches within the Anglican Communion.[98] The way that
such church law is legislated, interpreted and at
times adjudicated varies widely among these three bodies of
churches. In all three traditions, a canon was originally[99] a rule
adopted by a church council; these canons formed the foundation of
canon law.
The Catholic Church has the oldest continuously functioning legal
system in the western world,[100][101] predating the evolution of modern
European civil law and common law systems. The 1983 Code of
Canon Law governs the Latin Church sui juris. The Eastern Catholic
Churches, which developed different disciplines and practices, are
governed by the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches.
[102]
The canon law of the Catholic Church influenced the common
law during the medieval period through its preservation of Roman
law doctrine such as the presumption of innocence.[103][c]
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Roman Catholic canon law is a fully developed legal system, with all
the necessary elements: courts, lawyers, judges, a fully articulated
legal code, principles of legal interpretation, and coercive penalties,
though it lacks civilly-binding force in most secular jurisdictions.[105]
Sharia law
Main article: Sharia
Further information: Sources of Sharia
Until the 18th century, Sharia law was practiced throughout
the Muslim world in a non-codified form, with the Ottoman
Empire's Mecelle code in the 19th century being a first attempt
at codifying elements of Sharia law. Since the mid-1940s, efforts have
been made, in country after country, to bring Sharia law more into line
with modern conditions and conceptions.[106][107] In modern times, the
legal systems of many Muslim countries draw upon both civil and
common law traditions as well as Islamic law and custom. The
constitutions of certain Muslim states, such as Egypt and Afghanistan,
recognise Islam as the religion of the state, obliging legislature to
adhere to Sharia.[108] Saudi Arabia recognises the Quran as its
constitution, and is governed on the basis of Islamic law.[109] Iran has
also witnessed a reiteration of Islamic law into its legal system after
1979.[110] During the last few decades, one of the fundamental features
of the movement of Islamic resurgence has been the call to restore
the Sharia, which has generated a vast amount of literature and
affected world politics.[111]
Socialist law
Main article: Socialist law
Socialist law is the legal systems in communist states such as the
former Soviet Union and the People's Republic of China.[112] Academic
opinion is divided on whether it is a separate system from civil law,
given major deviations based on Marxist–Leninist ideology, such as
subordinating the judiciary to the executive ruling party.[112][113][114]

Legal methods
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There are distinguished methods of legal reasoning (applying the law)
and methods of interpreting (construing) the law. The former are legal
syllogism, which holds sway in civil law legal systems, analogy, which
is present in common law legal systems, especially in the US, and
argumentative theories that occur in both systems. The latter are
different rules (directives) of legal interpretation such as directives of
linguistic interpretation, teleological interpretation or systemic
interpretation as well as more specific rules, for instance, golden
rule or mischief rule. There are also many other arguments and
cannons of interpretation which altogether make statutory
interpretation possible.
Law professor and former United States Attorney General Edward H.
Levi noted that the "basic pattern of legal reasoning is reasoning by
example"—that is, reasoning by comparing outcomes in cases
resolving similar legal questions.[115] In a U.S. Supreme Court case
regarding procedural efforts taken by a debt collection company to
avoid errors, Justice Sotomayor cautioned that "legal reasoning is not
a mechanical or strictly linear process".[116]
Jurimetrics is the formal application of quantitative methods,
especially probability and statistics, to legal questions. The use of
statistical methods in court cases and law review articles has grown
massively in importance in the last few decades.[117][118]

Legal institutions
It is a real unity of them all in one and the same person, made by
covenant of every man with every man, in such manner as if every
man should say to every man: I authorise and give up my right of
governing myself to this man, or to this assembly of men, on this
condition; that thou givest up, thy right to him, and authorise all his
actions in like manner.
Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan, XVII

The main institutions of law in industrialised countries are

independent courts, representative parliaments, an accountable
executive, the military and police, bureaucratic organisation, the legal
profession and civil society itself. John Locke, in his Two Treatises of
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Government, and Baron de Montesquieu in The Spirit of the Laws,
advocated for a separation of powers between the political, legislature
and executive bodies.[119] Their principle was that no person should be
able to usurp all powers of the state, in contrast to
the absolutist theory of Thomas Hobbes' Leviathan.[120] Sun Yat-
sen's Five Power Constitution for the Republic of China took the
separation of powers further by having two additional branches of
government—a Control Yuan for auditing oversight and
an Examination Yuan to manage the employment of public officials.[121]
Max Weber and others reshaped thinking on the extension of state.
Modern military, policing and bureaucratic power over ordinary
citizens' daily lives pose special problems for accountability that earlier
writers such as Locke or Montesquieu could not have foreseen. The
custom and practice of the legal profession is an important part of
people's access to justice, whilst civil society is a term used to refer to
the social institutions, communities and partnerships that form law's
political basis.
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Judiciary
Main article: Judiciary
S

Judges of the Israel Supreme

Court sitting at their bench in 1953
A judiciary is a number of judges mediating disputes to determine outcome. Most countries
have systems of appeal courts, with an apex court as the ultimate judicial authority. In the
United States, this authority is the Supreme Court;[122] in Australia, the High Court; in
India, the Supreme Court of India; in the UK, the Supreme Court;[123] in Germany,
the Bundesverfassungsgericht; and in France, the Cour de Cassation.[124][125] For most
European countries the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg can overrule national law,
when EU law is relevant. The European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg allows
citizens of the Council of Europe member states to bring cases relating to human rights
issues before it.[126]

Some countries allow their highest judicial authority to overrule legislation they determine to
be unconstitutional. For example, in Brown v. Board of Education, the United States
Supreme Court nullified many state statutes that had established racially
segregated schools, finding such statutes to be incompatible with the Fourteenth
Amendment to the United States Constitution.[127]

A judiciary is theoretically bound by the constitution, just as all other government bodies are.
In most countries judges may only interpret the constitution and all other laws. But in
common law countries, where matters are not constitutional, the judiciary may also create
law under the doctrine of precedent. The UK, Finland and New Zealand assert the ideal
of parliamentary sovereignty, whereby the unelected judiciary may not overturn law passed
by a democratic legislature.[128]

In communist states, such as China, the courts are often regarded as parts of the executive,
or subservient to the legislature; governmental institutions and actors exert thus various
forms of influence on the judiciary.[d] In Muslim countries, courts often examine whether
state laws adhere to the Sharia: the Supreme Constitutional Court of Egypt may invalidate
such laws,[129] and in Iran the Guardian Council ensures the compatibility of the legislation
with the "criteria of Islam".[129][130]

Legislature
Main article: Legislature
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The Chamber of the House of Representatives, the lower house in

the National Diet of Japan
Prominent examples of legislatures are the Houses of Parliament in London,
the Congress in Washington, D.C., the Bundestag in Berlin, the Duma in Moscow,
the Parlamento Italiano in Rome and the Assemblée nationale in Paris. By the principle of
representative government people vote for politicians to carry out their wishes. Although
countries like Israel, Greece, Sweden and China are unicameral, most countries
are bicameral, meaning they have two separately appointed legislative houses.[131]

In the 'lower house' politicians are elected to represent smaller constituencies. The 'upper
house' is usually elected to represent states in a federal system (as in Australia, Germany
or the United States) or different voting configuration in a unitary system (as in France). In
the UK the upper house is appointed by the government as a house of review. One criticism
of bicameral systems with two elected chambers is that the upper and lower houses may
simply mirror one another. The traditional justification of bicameralism is that an upper
chamber acts as a house of review. This can minimise arbitrariness and injustice in
governmental action.[131]

To pass legislation, a majority of the members of a legislature must vote for a bill (proposed
law) in each house. Normally there will be several readings and amendments proposed by
the different political factions. If a country has an entrenched constitution, a special majority
for changes to the constitution may be required, making changes to the law more difficult. A
government usually leads the process, which can be formed from Members of Parliament
(e.g. the UK or Germany). However, in a presidential system, the government is usually
formed by an executive and his or her appointed cabinet officials (e.g. the United States or
Brazil).[e]

Executive
Main article: Executive (government)

The G20 meetings are composed of representatives of each

country's executive branch.
The executive in a legal system serves as the centre of political authority of the State. In
a parliamentary system, as with Britain, Italy, Germany, India, and Japan, the executive is
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known as the cabinet, and composed of members of the legislature. The executive is led by
the head of government, whose office holds power under the confidence of the legislature.
Because popular elections appoint political parties to govern, the leader of a party can
change in between elections.[132]

The head of state is apart from the executive, and symbolically enacts laws and acts as
representative of the nation. Examples include the President of Germany (appointed
by members of federal and state legislatures), the Queen of the United
Kingdom (an hereditary office), and the President of Austria (elected by popular vote). The
other important model is the presidential system, found in the United States and in Brazil. In
presidential systems, the executive acts as both head of state and head of government, and
has power to appoint an unelected cabinet. Under a presidential system, the executive
branch is separate from the legislature to which it is not accountable.[132][133]

Although the role of the executive varies from country to country, usually it will propose the
majority of legislation, and propose government agenda. In presidential systems, the
executive often has the power to veto legislation. Most executives in both systems are
responsible for foreign relations, the military and police, and the bureaucracy. Ministers or
other officials head a country's public offices, such as a foreign ministry or defence ministry.
The election of a different executive is therefore capable of revolutionising an entire
country's approach to government.

Military and police

Main articles: Police and Military

Officers of the South African Police

Service in Johannesburg, 2010
While military organisations have existed as long as government itself, the idea of a
standing police force is a relatively modern concept. For example, Medieval England's
system of travelling criminal courts, or assizes, used show trials and public executions to
instill communities with fear to maintain control.[134] The first modern police were probably
those in 17th-century Paris, in the court of Louis XIV,[135] although the Paris Prefecture of
Police claim they were the world's first uniformed policemen.[136]

Max Weber famously argued that the state is that which controls the monopoly on the
legitimate use of force.[137][138] The military and police carry out enforcement at the request of
the government or the courts. The term failed state refers to states that cannot implement or
enforce policies; their police and military no longer control security and order and society
moves into anarchy, the absence of government.[f]
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Bureaucracy
Main article: Bureaucracy

The mandarins were powerful bureaucrats in imperial China

(photograph shows a Qing dynasty official with mandarin square visible).
The etymology of bureaucracy derives from the French word for office (bureau) and
the Ancient Greek for word power (kratos).[139][better source needed] Like the military and police, a legal
system's government servants and bodies that make up its bureaucracy carry out the
directives of the executive. One of the earliest references to the concept was made
by Baron de Grimm, a German author who lived in France. In 1765, he wrote:

The real spirit of the laws in France is that bureaucracy of which the late Monsieur de
Gournay used to complain so greatly; here the offices, clerks, secretaries, inspectors
and intendants are not appointed to benefit the public interest, indeed the public interest
appears to have been established so that offices might exist.[140]

Cynicism over "officialdom" is still common, and the workings of public servants is typically
contrasted to private enterprise motivated by profit.[141] In fact private companies, especially
large ones, also have bureaucracies.[142] Negative perceptions of "red tape" aside, public
services such as schooling, health care, policing or public transport are considered a crucial
state function making public bureaucratic action the locus of government power.[142]

Writing in the early 20th century, Max Weber believed that a definitive feature of a
developed state had come to be its bureaucratic support.[143] Weber wrote that the typical
characteristics of modern bureaucracy are that officials define its mission, the scope of work
is bound by rules, and management is composed of career experts who manage top down,
communicating through writing and binding public servants' discretion with rules.[144]

Legal profession
Main article: Legal profession
A corollary of the rule of law is the existence of a legal profession sufficiently autonomous to
invoke the authority of the independent judiciary; the right to assistance of a barrister in a
court proceeding emanates from this corollary—in England the function of barrister or
advocate is distinguished from legal counselor.[145] As the European Court of Human Rights
has stated, the law should be adequately accessible to everyone and people should be able
to foresee how the law affects them.[146]

In order to maintain professionalism, the practice of law is typically overseen by either a

government or independent regulating body such as a bar association, bar council or law
society. Modern lawyers achieve distinct professional identity through specified legal
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procedures (e.g. successfully passing a qualifying examination), are required by law to have
a special qualification (a legal education earning the student a Bachelor of Laws, a Bachelor
of Civil Law, or a Juris Doctor degree. Higher academic degrees may also be pursued.
Examples include a Master of Laws, a Master of Legal Studies, a Bar Professional Training
Course or a Doctor of Laws.), and are constituted in office by legal forms of appointment
(being admitted to the bar). There are few titles of respect to signify famous lawyers, such
as Esquire, to indicate barristers of greater dignity,[147][148] and Doctor of law, to indicate a
person who obtained a PhD in Law.

Many Muslim countries have developed similar rules about legal education and the legal
profession, but some still allow lawyers with training in traditional Islamic law to practice law
before personal status law courts.[149] In China and other developing countries there are not
sufficient professionally trained people to staff the existing judicial systems, and,
accordingly, formal standards are more relaxed.[150]

Once accredited, a lawyer will often work in a law firm, in a chambers as a sole practitioner,
in a government post or in a private corporation as an internal counsel. In addition a lawyer
may become a legal researcher who provides on-demand legal research through a library, a
commercial service or freelance work. Many people trained in law put their skills to use
outside the legal field entirely.[151]

Significant to the practice of law in the common law tradition is the legal research to
determine the current state of the law. This usually entails exploring case-law reports, legal
periodicals and legislation. Law practice also involves drafting documents such as
court pleadings, persuasive briefs, contracts, or wills and trusts. Negotiation and dispute
resolution skills (including ADR techniques) are also important to legal practice, depending
on the field.[151]

Civil society
Main article: Civil society

A march in Washington, D.C. during the American civil rights

movement in 1963
The Classical republican concept of "civil society" dates back to Hobbes and Locke.
[152]
Locke saw civil society as people who have "a common established law and judicature to
appeal to, with authority to decide controversies between them."[153] German
philosopher Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel distinguished the "state" from "civil society"
(German: bürgerliche Gesellschaft) in Elements of the Philosophy of Right.[154][155]

Hegel believed that civil society and the state were polar opposites, within the scheme of his
dialectic theory of history. The modern dipole state–civil society was reproduced in the
theories of Alexis de Tocqueville and Karl Marx.[156][157] In post-modern theory, civil society is
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necessarily a source of law, by being the basis from which people form opinions and lobby
for what they believe law should be. As Australian barrister and author Geoffrey Robertson
QC wrote of international law, "one of its primary modern sources is found in the responses
of ordinary men and women, and of the non-governmental organizations which many of
them support, to the human rights abuses they see on the television screen in their living
rooms."[158]

Freedom of speech, freedom of association and many other individual rights allow people to
gather, discuss, criticise and hold to account their governments, from which the basis of
a deliberative democracy is formed. The more people are involved with, concerned by and
capable of changing how political power is exercised over their lives, the more acceptable
and legitimate the law becomes to the people. The most familiar institutions of civil society
include economic markets, profit-oriented firms, families, trade unions, hospitals,
universities, schools, charities, debating clubs, non-governmental organisations,
neighbourhoods, churches, and religious associations. There is no clear legal definition of
the civil society, and of the institutions it includes. Most of the institutions and bodies who try
to give a list of institutions (such as the European Economic and Social Committee) exclude
the political parties.[159][160][161]

Areas of law
See also: List of areas of law
All legal systems deal with the same basic issues, but jurisdictions categorise and identify
their legal topics in different ways. A common distinction is that between "public law" (a term
related closely to the state, and including constitutional, administrative and criminal law),
and "private law" (which covers contract, tort and property).[g] In civil law systems, contract
and tort fall under a general law of obligations, while trusts law is dealt with under statutory
regimes or international conventions. International, constitutional and administrative law,
criminal law, contract, tort, property law and trusts are regarded as the "traditional core
subjects",[h] although there are many further disciplines.

International law
Main article: International law
Further information: Sources of international law
See also: Conflict of laws, European Union law, and Public international law

Wikisource has original text related to this article:

Consolidated version of the Treaty on European Union
Consolidated version of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union
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United Nations Security Council in 2005

International law can refer to three things: public international law, private international law
or conflict of laws and the law of supranational organisations.

 Public international law concerns relationships between sovereign nations.

The sources for public international law development are custom, practice and treaties
between sovereign nations, such as the Geneva Conventions. Public international law
can be formed by international organisations, such as the United Nations (which was
established after the failure of the League of Nations to prevent World War II),
[i]
the International Labour Organisation, the World Trade Organisation (WTO), or
the International Monetary Fund. Public international law has a special status as law
because there is no international police force, and courts (e.g. the International Court of
Justice as the primary UN judicial organ) lack the capacity to penalise disobedience.
The prevailing manner of enforcing international law is still essentially "self help"; that is
the reaction by states to alleged breaches of international obligations by other states.[163]
[1][164]
However, a few bodies, such as the WTO, have effective systems of binding
arbitration and dispute resolution backed up by trade sanctions.[165]
 Conflict of laws, or private international law in civil law countries, concerns
which jurisdiction a legal dispute between private parties should be heard in and which
jurisdiction's law should be applied. Today, businesses are increasingly capable of
shifting capital and labour supply chains across borders, as well as trading with
overseas businesses, making the question of which country has jurisdiction even more
pressing. Increasing numbers of businesses opt for commercial arbitration under
the New York Convention 1958.[166]
 European Union law is the first and so far the only example of a supranational law, i.e.
an internationally accepted legal system, other than the United Nations and the World
Trade Organization. Given the trend of increasing global economic integration, many
regional agreements—especially the African Union—seek to follow a similar model.[167]
[168]
In the EU, sovereign nations have gathered their authority in a system of courts and
the European Parliament. These institutions are allowed the ability to enforce legal
norms both against or for member states and citizens in a manner which is not possible
through public international law.[169] As the European Court of Justice noted in its
1963 Van Gend en Loos decision, European Union law constitutes "a new legal order of
international law" for the mutual social and economic benefit of the member states.[170][171]
[172]

 Constitutional and administrative law

 Main articles: Administrative law and Constitutional law

Constitutional and administrative law

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Main articles: Administrative law and Constitutional law

The French Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen

Constitutional and administrative law govern the affairs of the state. Constitutional law
concerns both the relationships between the executive, legislature and judiciary and the
human rights or civil liberties of individuals against the state. Most jurisdictions, like
the United States and France, have a single codified constitution with a bill of rights. A few,
like the United Kingdom, have no such document. A "constitution" is simply those laws
which constitute the body politic, from statute, case law and convention.

The fundamental constitutional principle, inspired by John Locke, holds that the individual
can do anything except that which is forbidden by law, and the state may do nothing except
that which is authorised by law.[173][174] Administrative law is the chief method for people to
hold state bodies to account. People (wheresoever allowed) may potentially have
prerogative to legally challenge (or sue) an agency, local council, public service, or
government ministry for judicial review of the offending edict (law, ordinance, policy order).
Such challenge vets the ability of actionable authority under the law, and that the
government entity observed required procedure. The first specialist administrative court was
the Conseil d'État set up in 1799, as Napoleon assumed power in France.[175]

A sub-discipline of constitutional law is election law. It along with Elections commissions,

councils, or committees deal with policy and procedures facilitating elections. These rules
settle disputes or enable the translation of the will of the people into
functioning democracies. Election law addresses issues who is entitled to vote, voter
registration, ballot access, campaign finance and party
funding, redistricting, apportionment, electronic voting and voting machines, accessibility of
elections, election systems and formulas, vote counting, election disputes, referendums,
and issues such as electoral fraud and electoral silence.

Criminal law
Main article: Criminal law
Criminal law, also known as penal law, pertains to crimes and punishment.[176] It thus
regulates the definition of and penalties for offences found to have a sufficiently deleterious
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social impact but, in itself, makes no moral judgment on an offender nor imposes
restrictions on society that physically prevent people from committing a crime in the first
place.[177][178] Investigating, apprehending, charging, and trying suspected offenders is
regulated by the law of criminal procedure.[179] The paradigm case of a crime lies in the
proof, beyond reasonable doubt, that a person is guilty of two things. First, the accused
must commit an act which is deemed by society to be criminal, or actus reus (guilty act).
[180]
Second, the accused must have the requisite malicious intent to do a criminal act,
or mens rea (guilty mind). However, for so called "strict liability" crimes, an actus reus is
enough.[181] Criminal systems of the civil law tradition distinguish between intention in the
broad sense (dolus directus and dolus eventualis), and negligence. Negligence does not
carry criminal responsibility unless a particular crime provides for its punishment.[182][183]

Adolf Eichmann (standing in glass booth at left) being tried

and sentenced to death by the Israeli Supreme Court in 1961, an example of a criminal law
proceeding
Examples of crimes include murder, assault, fraud and theft. In exceptional circumstances
defences can apply to specific acts, such as killing in self defence, or pleading insanity.
Another example is in the 19th-century English case of R v Dudley and Stephens, which
tested a defence of "necessity".[184]

Criminal law offences are viewed as offences against not just individual victims, but the
community as well.[177][178] The state, usually with the help of police, takes the lead in
prosecution, which is why in common law countries cases are cited as "The People v ..." or
"R (for Rex or Regina) v ...". Also, lay juries are often used to determine the guilt of
defendants on points of fact: juries cannot change legal rules. Some developed countries
still condone capital punishment for criminal activity, but the normal punishment for a crime
will be imprisonment, fines, state supervision (such as probation), or community service.
Modern criminal law has been affected considerably by the social sciences, especially with
respect to sentencing, legal research, legislation, and rehabilitation.[185] On the international
field, 111 countries are members of the International Criminal Court, which was established
to try people for crimes against humanity.[186]

Contract law
Main article: Contract
Contract law concerns enforceable promises, and can be summed up in the Latin
phrase pacta sunt servanda (agreements must be kept).[187] In common law jurisdictions,
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three key elements to the creation of a contract are necessary: offer and
acceptance, consideration and the intention to create legal relations.

Consideration indicates the fact that all parties to a contract have exchanged something of
value. Some common law systems, including Australia, are moving away from the idea of
consideration as a requirement. The idea of estoppel or culpa in contrahendo, can be used
to create obligations during pre-contractual negotiations.[188]

Civil law jurisdictions treat contracts differently in a number of respects, with a more
interventionist role for the state in both the formation and enforcement of contracts.
[189]
Compared to common law jurisdictions, civil law systems incorporate more mandatory
terms into contracts, allow greater latitude for courts to interpret and revise contract terms
and impose a stronger duty of good faith, but are also more likely to enforce penalty
clauses and specific performance of contracts.[189] They also do not require consideration for
a contract to be binding.[190] In France, an ordinary contract is said to form simply on the
basis of a "meeting of the minds" or a "concurrence of wills". Germany has a special
approach to contracts, which ties into property law. Their 'abstraction principle'
(Abstraktionsprinzip) means that the personal obligation of contract forms separately from
the title of property being conferred. When contracts are invalidated for some reason (e.g. a
car buyer is so drunk that he lacks legal capacity to contract)[191] the contractual obligation to
pay can be invalidated separately from the proprietary title of the car. Unjust
enrichment law, rather than contract law, is then used to restore title to the rightful owner.[192]

Torts and delicts

Main articles: Delict and Tort
Certain civil wrongs are grouped together as torts under common law systems
and delicts under civil law systems.[193] To have acted tortiously, one must have breached a
duty to another person, or infringed some pre-existing legal right. A simple example might
be unintentionally hitting someone with a ball.[194] Under the law of negligence, the most
common form of tort, the injured party could potentially claim compensation for their injuries
from the party responsible. The principles of negligence are illustrated by Donoghue v
Stevenson.[j] A friend of Donoghue ordered an opaque bottle of ginger beer (intended for the
consumption of Donoghue) in a café in Paisley. Having consumed half of it, Donoghue
poured the remainder into a tumbler. The decomposing remains of a snail floated out. She
claimed to have suffered from shock, fell ill with gastroenteritis and sued the manufacturer
for carelessly allowing the drink to be contaminated. The House of Lords decided that the
manufacturer was liable for Mrs Donoghue's illness. Lord Atkin took a distinctly moral
approach and said:

The liability for negligence [...] is no doubt based upon a general public sentiment of moral
wrongdoing for which the offender must pay. [...] The rule that you are to love your
neighbour becomes in law, you must not injure your neighbour; and the lawyer's question,
Who is my neighbour? receives a restricted reply. You must take reasonable care to avoid
acts or omissions which you can reasonably foresee would be likely to injure your
neighbour.[195]

This became the basis for the four principles of negligence, namely that:
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1. Stevenson owed Donoghue a duty of care to provide safe drinks;
2. he breached his duty of care;
3. the harm would not have occurred but for his breach; and
4. his act was the proximate cause of her harm.[j]
Another example of tort might be a neighbour making excessively loud noises with
machinery on his property.[196] Under a nuisance claim the noise could be stopped. Torts can
also involve intentional acts such as assault, battery or trespass. A better known tort
is defamation, which occurs, for example, when a newspaper makes unsupportable
allegations that damage a politician's reputation.[197] More infamous are economic torts,
which form the basis of labour law in some countries by making trade unions liable for
strikes,[198] when statute does not provide immunity.[k]

Property law
Main article: Property law

A painting of the South Sea Bubble, one of the world's first ever
speculations and crashes, led to strict regulation on share trading.[199]
Property law governs ownership and possession. Real property, sometimes called 'real
estate', refers to ownership of land and things attached to it.[200] Personal property, refers to
everything else; movable objects, such as computers, cars, jewelry or intangible rights, such
as stocks and shares. A right in rem is a right to a specific piece of property, contrasting to a
right in personam which allows compensation for a loss, but not a particular thing back.
Land law forms the basis for most kinds of property law, and is the most complex. It
concerns mortgages, rental agreements, licences, covenants, easements and the statutory
systems for land registration. Regulations on the use of personal property fall under
intellectual property, company law, trusts and commercial law. An example of a basic case
of most property law is Armory v Delamirie [1722].[201] A chimney sweep's boy found a jewel
encrusted with precious stones. He took it to a goldsmith to have it valued. The goldsmith's
apprentice looked at it, sneakily removed the stones, told the boy it was worth
three halfpence and that he would buy it. The boy said he would prefer the jewel back, so
the apprentice gave it to him, but without the stones. The boy sued the goldsmith for his
apprentice's attempt to cheat him. Lord Chief Justice Pratt ruled that even though the boy
could not be said to own the jewel, he should be considered the rightful keeper ("finders
keepers") until the original owner is found. In fact the apprentice and the boy both had a
right of possession in the jewel (a technical concept, meaning evidence that
something could belong to someone), but the boy's possessory interest was considered
better, because it could be shown to be first in time. Possession may be nine-tenths of the
law, but not all.

This case is used to support the view of property in common law jurisdictions, that the
person who can show the best claim to a piece of property, against any contesting party, is
the owner.[202] By contrast, the classic civil law approach to property, propounded
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by Friedrich Carl von Savigny, is that it is a right good against the world. Obligations, like
contracts and torts, are conceptualised as rights good between individuals.[203] The idea of
property raises many further philosophical and political issues. Locke argued that our "lives,
liberties and estates" are our property because we own our bodies and mix our labour with
our surroundings.[204]

Equity and trusts

Main articles: Equity (law) and Trust law

The Court of Chancery, London, England, early 19th century

Equity is a body of rules that developed in England separately from the "common law". The
common law was administered by judges and barristers. The Lord Chancellor on the other
hand, as the King's keeper of conscience, could overrule the judge-made law if he thought it
equitable to do so.[205] This meant equity came to operate more through principles than rigid
rules. Whereas neither the common law nor civil law systems allow people to split the
ownership from the control of one piece of property, equity allows this through an
arrangement known as a trust. Trustees control property whereas the beneficial, or
equitable, ownership of trust property is held by people known as beneficiaries. Trustees
owe duties to their beneficiaries to take good care of the entrusted property.[206] Another
example of a trustee's duty might be to invest property wisely or sell it.[207] This is especially
the case for pension funds, the most important form of trust, where investors are trustees
for people's savings until retirement. But trusts can also be set up for charitable purposes.

Further disciplines
Law and society

A trade union protest by UNISON while on strike

 Labour law is the study of a tripartite industrial relationship between worker, employer
and trade union. This involves collective bargaining regulation, and the right to strike.
Individual employment law refers to workplace rights, such as job security, health and
safety or a minimum wage.
 Human rights, civil rights and human rights law. These are laid down in codes such as
the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the European Convention on Human
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Rights (which founded the European Court of Human Rights) and the U.S. Bill of Rights.
The Treaty of Lisbon makes the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European
Union legally binding in all member states except Poland and the United Kingdom.[208]
 Civil procedure and criminal procedure concern the rules that courts must follow as a
trial and appeals proceed. Both concern a citizen's right to a fair trial or hearing.
 Evidence law involves which materials are admissible in courts for a case to be built.
 Immigration law and nationality law concern the rights of foreigners to live and work in a
nation-state that is not their own and to acquire or lose citizenship. Both also involve
the right of asylum and the problem of stateless individuals.
 Family law covers marriage and divorce proceedings, the rights of children and rights to
property and money in the event of separation.
 Transactional law is the practice of law concerning business and money.
 Biolaw focuses on the intersection of law and the biosciences.
Law and commerce

 Company law sprang from the law of trusts, on the principle of separating ownership of
property and control.[209] The law of the modern company began with the Joint Stock
Companies Act 1856, passed in the United Kingdom, which provided investors with a
simple registration procedure to gain limited liability under the separate legal
personality of the corporation.
 Commercial law covers complex contract and property law. The law
of agency, insurance law, bills of exchange, insolvency and bankruptcy law and sales
law trace back to the medieval Law Merchant. The UK Sale of Goods Act 1979 and the
US Uniform Commercial Code are examples of codified common law commercial
principles.
 Admiralty law and the sea law lay a basic framework for free trade and commerce
across the world's oceans and seas, where outside of a country's zone of control.
Shipping companies operate through ordinary principles of commercial law, generalised
for a global market. Admiralty law also encompasses specialised issues such
as salvage, maritime liens, and injuries to passengers.
 Intellectual property law aims at safeguarding creators and other producers of
intellectual goods and services. These are legal rights (copyrights, trademarks, patents,
and related rights) which result from intellectual activity in the industrial, literary and
artistic fields.[210]
 Space law is a relatively new field dealing with aspects of international law regarding
human activities in Earth orbit and outer space. While at first addressing space relations
of countries via treaties, increasingly it is addressing areas such as space
commercialisation, property, liability, and other issues.
Law and regulation
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The New York Stock Exchange trading floor after the Wall Street
Crash of 1929, before tougher banking regulation was introduced

 Tax law involves regulations that concern value added tax, corporate tax, and income
tax.
 Banking law and financial regulation set minimum standards on the amounts of capital
banks must hold, and rules about best practice for investment. This is to insure against
the risk of economic crises, such as the Wall Street Crash of 1929.
 Regulation deals with the provision of public services and utilities. Water law is one
example. Especially since privatisation became popular and took management of
services away from public law, private companies doing the jobs previously controlled
by government have been bound by varying degrees of social
responsibility. Energy, gas, telecomms and water are regulated industries in
most OECD countries.
 Competition law, known in the United States as antitrust law, is an evolving field that
traces as far back as Roman decrees against price fixing and the English restraint of
trade doctrine. Modern competition law derives from the U.S. anti-cartel and anti-
monopoly statutes (the Sherman Act and Clayton Act) of the turn of the 20th century. It
is used to control businesses who attempt to use their economic influence to distort
market prices at the expense of consumer welfare.
 Consumer law could include anything from regulations on unfair contractual terms and
clauses to directives on airline baggage insurance.
 Environmental law is increasingly important, especially in light of the Kyoto Protocol and
the potential danger of climate change. Environmental protection also serves to
penalise polluters within domestic legal systems.
 Aviation law deals with all regulations and technical standards applicable to the safe
operation of aircraft, and is an essential part both of pilots' training and pilot's
operations. It is framed by national civil aviation acts (or laws), themselves mostly
aligned with the recommendations or mandatory standards of the International Civil
Aviation Organisation or ICAO.
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