Law
Types of Law
Types of law refer to the various categories of legal principles and regulations that govern different aspects of society. Common types include criminal law, which deals with offenses against the state or public, and civil law, which addresses disputes between individuals or organizations. Other types include administrative law, constitutional law, and international law, each focusing on specific areas of governance and regulation.
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7 Key excerpts on "Types of Law"
eBook - PDF- A Kruger(Author)
- 2013(Publication Date)
- Future Managers(Publisher)
Module 4 Classification of law and the different courts The aim of this module is to explain the different Types of Law and courts. Upon completion of this module, the learner must be able to: • Identify and explain the different Types of Law; • Identify and explain the different types of public law; • Identify and explain the different types of private law; • Identify and explain the different types of adjective law; • Identify and explain the different types of courts found in South Africa. 22 FutureManagers Public Law N6 4.1 Introduction Law includes everything concerning human activity but there is no perfect or ideal classification of the law. The Romans classified the law into different disciplines and branches, but authors differ as to exactly where some divisions of law fit into the classification. INTERNATIONAL LAW Material law (Substantive law) Adjective law: • Law of Criminal Procedure • Law of Civil Procedure • Law of Evidence • Legal Interpretation PUBLIC LAW: • Constitutional Law • Administrative Law • Criminal Law • Procedural Law PRIVATE LAW: • Law of Persons • Family Law • Law of Partrimony • Law of Personality • Indigenous Law • Mercantile Law THE LAW NATIONAL LAW 4.2 National Law National Law is divided into: • Material Law the part of law that determines the meaning of the different legal rules, for example, which human acts are criminal. Material law can be divided into: – Private Law the relationship between two legal subjects; and – Public Law the relationship between the state and a legal subject. • Adjective law determines the manner in which a case must be practically handled when a legal rule has allegedly been violated and can be divided into: – Law of Criminal Procedure – Law of Civil Procedure – Law of Evidence – Legal interpretation.
eBook - ePubLaw and Society
An Introduction
- Steven Barkan, Steven E. Barkan(Authors)
- 2023(Publication Date)
- Routledge(Publisher)
5Types of LawDOI: 10.4324/9781003288480-5Learning Objectives
- Identify the elements of a crime.
- Describe the major legal defenses to criminal responsibility.
- List the types of executive orders.
- Explain the difference between substantive law and procedural law.
- Summarize criticisms of military law and military justice.
Many Types of Law exist in the United States and other modern nations. We review the major types in the United States and devote much of our attention to the criminal law, the most familiar and interesting type to many Americans but also one that is very complex and the source of much controversy and debate.Criminal Law
Criminal law
eBook - PDF- Richard Mann, Barry Roberts(Authors)
- 2019(Publication Date)
- Cengage Learning EMEA(Publisher)
2 either directly or indirectly. Law is, in part, prohibitory: certain acts must not be committed. For example, one must not steal; one must not murder. Law is also partly mandatory: certain acts must be done or be done in a prescribed way. Thus, taxes must be paid; corporations must make and file certain reports with state or federal authorities; traffic must keep to the right. Finally, law is permissive: certain acts may be done. For instance, one may or may not enter into a contract; one may or may not dispose of one’s estate by will. Because the areas of law are so highly interrelated, you will find it helpful to begin the study of the differ- ent areas of business law by first considering the nature, classification, and sources of law. This will enable you not only to understand each specific area of law better but also to understand its relationship to other areas of law. C HAPTER 1 The life of the law has not been logic; it has been experience. OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES THE COMMON LAW (1881) 1. Identify and describe the basic functions of law. 2. Distinguish between (a) law and justice and (b) law and morals. 3. Distinguish between (a) substantive and procedural law, (b) public and private law, and (c) civil and criminal law. 4. Identify and describe the sources of law. 5. Explain the principle of stare decisis. I NTRODUCTION TO LAW L aw concerns the relations between individuals as such relations affect the social and economic order. It is both the product of civilization and the means by which civilization is maintained. As such, law reflects the social, economic, political, religious, and moral phi- losophy of society. Law is an instrument of social control. Its function is to regulate, within certain limitations, human conduct and human relations. Accordingly, the laws of the United States affect the life of every U.S. citizen. At the same time, the laws of each state influence the life of each of its citizens and the lives of many noncitizens as well.
eBook - PDFJudicial Process
Law, Courts, and Politics in the United States
- David Neubauer, Stephen Meinhold(Authors)
- 2016(Publication Date)
- Cengage Learning EMEA(Publisher)
Statutes, for example, address the future in general and flexible language. The interpre-tations that courts provide can either expand or contract the statute’s meaning. No lawyer is comfortable with his or her interpretation of a statute or an administrative regulation without first checking to see how the courts have interpreted it. Public and Private Law U.S. law also draws a distinction between public law and private law. Public law directly involves government. One branch of public law is international law, which is the customary law that applies to the relationships and interactions between countries. Other branches relate to the operations of government itself—the most prominent examples being administrative law and constitutional law. Yet other branches of public law spell out the rights and duties of citi-zens vis- a-vis the government. Criminal law, for example, specifies public wrongs that will be punished, and tax laws delineate how much money a citizen is required to pay the government. Private law governs relationships between private citizens and falls into several major divisions. Tort law involves the legal wrong done to another person. Suits over injuries suf-fered during automobile accidents are prime examples of tort law. When lawyers speak of an injury , they do not necessarily mean a physical injury. Rather, the term has a broader mean-ing, including any wrong, hurt, or damage done to a person’s rights, body, reputation, or property. Another type of private law covers contracts , or agreements between two or more persons involving a promise (termed a consideration in legal proceedings). Insurance policies and bank loans are considered contracts. Property , which centers on the ownership of things, is another division of private law. Property is usually divided into real property (land and things attached to it) and personal property (everything else).
eBook - PDFEnvironmental Law from the Policy Perspective
Understanding How Legal Frameworks Influence Environmental Problem Solving
- Chad J. McGuire(Author)
- 2014(Publication Date)
- Routledge(Publisher)
To aid in this process, some of the main points and examples presented in the previ-ous chapter will be utilized here so that underlying principles of environ-mental law are highlighted as the more formalized legal frameworks are presented. We begin our exploration of categorical areas of law existing in the environmental arena: common law, statutory law, and regulatory law. 3.2 Types of Law Recall that we have previously indicated that the term law is a bit amor-phous, or lacking in specific form. At its root, the law may be said to be a set of institutionalized rules and procedures developed as a way of manag-ing social interactions (Posner 1993). We have developed a bit of a more practical definition of the term law for this text, looking at the term from a human behavioral perspective, and suggesting that the law is a way of managing human expectations. I suggest this is a reasonable interpreta-tion of the term when thought of in the context of environmental law. The reason why is because environmental law operates by managing human expectations, and as such, the root of environmental problems derives Legal Frameworks in Environmental Law • 135 from human actions that impact the environment in some way the major-ity of society finds unacceptable (hence the need for law to intercede in the human behavior). Thus, when we are discussing environmental law, we are taking a specific definition of the term, one that focuses on managing human expectations. Understanding we are referencing a specific definition of law in our explo-ration of environmental issues, there is still a need to ground our exploration in specific facets of the law, what we will be referring to as legal frame-works . In order to understand the particular kinds of law being employed to deal with environmental problems, some foundation in the basic tenets of law itself is necessary.
- Yasuhiro Monden, Richard Rosner(Authors)
- 2003(Publication Date)
- CRC Press(Publisher)
The analysis of the concept of law, the attempt to elu-cidate the nature of the law, has a long and honorable history over the ages. Dworkin (1990) states that the concept of law has three different facets: 1 Law that exists as a distinct type of social institution, presupposing certain political attitudes and principles of legitimacy and morality. 2 Laws , or rules of law, distinct from other ‘law-like’ standards (e.g., conventions, taboos, customs, mores, moral precepts, etc.), with a particular type of pedigree, having been enacted or developed within a pre-existing legal institution within the particular society. 3 The law , or propositions of law, which declares certain relationships among people, especially relationships of rights, duties and powers. Generally, propositions of law attempt to correctly describe the content of rules of law , whose existence they presuppose. Golding (1975) offers a lucid and concise analysis of the elements of a legal system within a society. He attempts to answer the question of what it means to say that a legal system exists in S (any given society). He proposes that a legal system exists in S is true if: 1 There are laws in S . 2 There exists in S an agency for making and changing the laws. 3 There exists in S an agency for determining infractions of the laws. 4 There exists in S an agency for enforcing the laws. 5 There exists in S an agency for settling disputes between individuals. 764 Basic issues in law Golding’s five conditions set forth the general conditions for all legal systems. The first condition, that is, the exist-ence of laws, is a necessary element of any society claim-ing to have a legal system. It is inconceivable to have a ‘lawless’ legal system.
eBook - PDFLaw and Society
An Introduction
- John Harrison Watts, Cliff Roberson(Authors)
- 2013(Publication Date)
- Routledge(Publisher)
15 An Overview of Law and Society The principal legal systems may also be classified as common law, civil law, socialist, and Islamic systems. Common law is that system of law used in the United States and Great Britain, which relies on precedents set by judges to decide a case. In this classification, civil law refers to those legal systems whose developments are based not on case law, but on the basic law found in codes. The civil law systems’ development was influenced by the Corpus Juris Civilis , which were a collection of Roman law codes. France is a civil law system. France’s system is based on the civil code of France, which was first enacted in 1804. One distinction between a common law system and a civil law system is the role that precedents play in a case. For example, in a case involving a criminal homicide, in the common law system the judge would look to precedents for a definition of criminal homicide if the statute is unclear. In a civil law system, the judge would look only to the codes for the definition. The source of socialist law is legislation, and the role of the court is to apply it. In the Islamic system, law is integral to the religion. Islam implies that the individual should submit to the will of God, and the rules of conduct are based on divine command and revelation. The distinctions between these systems and the basic concepts of each are discussed later in the text. Separate Is Not Equal: Another Example of Judge-Made Law In the case of Brown v. Board of Education , the U.S. Supreme Court declared state laws establishing separate public schools for black and white students unconstitutional. 26 The decision overturned the 1896 decision of Plessy v. Ferguson , which held that state-sponsored segre-gation was legal.
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