Law is the set of rules that governs people’s behaviour and relations, and enforces them through punishment or reward. Laws can also be described as rules that are imposed by the superior power of a government, although this is not a common meaning for the term. Law is often considered a social contract between a government and its citizens, establishing standards, maintaining order, resolving disputes and protecting liberties.
It is possible for laws to be written, interpreted and enforced in different ways by different polities and cultures. This is a reflection of the variety of underlying assumptions, values and ideas that are embedded within the concept of Law.
Nevertheless, many people would agree that a central aspect of the law is that it must be impartial, objective and transparent. In addition, it should be enforceable and easily accessible to all people, regardless of their status in society. It is also important that the law be able to adapt to new circumstances by means of interpretation and creative jurisprudence.
In many areas, the law is a complex mix of regulations at federal and state levels, and between different countries. In the United States, for example, the law includes a wide range of civil and criminal statutes, as well as numerous federal agencies and courts with responsibilities and functions in relation to various issues. In some areas like aviation and railroads, a large body of federal law preempts state law. In other areas, such as family and employment law, a small number of powerful federal statutes coexist with a much larger body of state law.
Law informs everyday life in a huge variety of ways, from the simple act of parking a car to the more complex arrangements of contracts, property and intellectual property law. For example, contract law regulates agreements to exchange goods or services, and so covers everything from a bus ticket to a derivatives trading deal. Property law defines people’s rights and duties toward tangible property — land or buildings, movable objects (such as cars and furniture) or intangible things (like money, bank accounts and shares) — while intellectual property is the legal system’s way of regulating and protecting inventions and other creativity.
Law can also be used to refer to the professions that work with or study systems of law, including lawyers and judges. However, it is most commonly referred to in reference to the legal system itself and its rules. The idea of the rule of law has been a significant part of the political philosophy of many Western thinkers, including John Locke and Montesquieu. It is an enduring concept that continues to be debated and developed, as new challenges such as terrorism and cyber crime are thrown into the mix. More generally, the concept of the rule of law has been a source of inspiration for people working in a variety of other fields, such as political philosophy, economics and international relations. It has also been an important tenet of religious thought, including in Judaism with the Jewish Halakha and Islam with Sharia, and Christianity with canon law.