Law is a set of rules that form the framework for society, and are enforced by mechanisms created by the state to prevent people from breaking them. If they are broken, people may face penalties including fines and jail time. The laws can be written or tacit, and they are usually based on a constitution (written or not) that encodes the rights of the citizens. Law also shapes politics, economics and history in a variety of ways.
The laws of a country are normally written and voted on by people in a legislature, such as a parliament or congress, elected by the governed peoples. In modern times, most countries have a constitutional constitution for the overall frame of society and further laws to regulate specific activities like banking and financial regulation or water and energy services. The laws are typically enforced by police and courts that resolve disputes and determine whether a person who has committed a crime is guilty or not.
There are a variety of different kinds of law: criminal law involves punishing people who break the rules, constitutional law deals with the important rights encoded in a constitution and administrative law focuses on things like government regulations. Family law concerns things such as marriage and divorce proceedings, child custody arrangements, rights to property and money in the event of separation, while intellectual property laws cover patents, copyrights and trademarks. Immigration and nationality law concerns the right to live in a nation-state that is not your own, and it also includes the problem of stateless individuals.
Some laws are global in scope, like international treaties and agreements on the conduct of war. Other laws are focused on a particular grouping of people such as children or prisoners. In the United States, for example, a large number of laws are incorporated into the United States Code – a collection of all general and permanent laws of the nation. A few other areas of federal law have developed due to broad interpretations of the Commerce and Spending Clauses of the Constitution – these include aviation, railroads, oil, taxes and postal services.
The main functions of law are to keep the peace, maintain the status quo and protect individual rights. Some legal systems do this better than others. Those that are unstable or repressive are often the objects of revolts by peoples seeking democracy, a more equitable distribution of power and greater rights for their citizens.
