Law
IGCSE Global Perspectives
Why do peoples make laws?
Do we need laws?
“The rule of law is better than
the rule of any individual”
Aristotle, Politics 3.16, 350 BC
Law
• The complete body of statutes, rules, enforced customs
and norms, and court decisions governing the relations
of individuals and corporate entities to one another and
to the state.
• The subset of such statutes and other rules and
materials dealing with a particular subject matter.
• The system by which such statutes and rules are
administered.
• The profession of interpreting such statutes and rules.
• A bill that becomes effective after enactment by the
legislature and signature (or failure to veto) by the
executive.
Source: Webster’s New World Law Dictionary, 2006, Wiley Publishing, Inc.
Law
• The enforceable body of rules that govern
any society.
• One of the rules making up the body of
law, such as and Act of Parliament.
Source: The Oxford Dictionary of Law, 5th edition, 2003, Oxford University Press
• Law is a system of rules, usually enforced
through a set of institutions.
• It shapes politics, economics and society
in numerous ways and serves as a
primary social mediator of relations
between people.
Natural Law
• Natural law or the law of nature (Latin: Lex Naturalis) is
a theory that posits the existence of a law whose content
is set by nature and that therefore has validity
everywhere.
• The permanent underlying basis of all law.
• The philosophers of ancient Greece, where the idea of
natural law originated, considered that there was a kind
of perfect justice given to man by nature and that man's
laws should conform to this as closely as possible.
• Theories of natural law have been an important part of
jurisprudence throughout legal history. Natural law is
distinguished from positive law, which is the body of law
imposed by the state.
• Natural law is both anterior and superior to positive law.
Positive Law
• In the strictest sense, it is law made by human
beings, that is, "Law actually and specifically
enacted or adopted by proper authority for the
government of an organized jural society.“
(Black's Law Dictionary, 5th Edition, 1979, West Publishing Co.)
• The body of laws that have been enacted in a
particular community and that are upheld by the
courts of that community, as distinct from
natural law.