Law is a set of rules that people follow to regulate their behavior. It can be created by governments, groups of individuals or individual private parties.
The word “law” is derived from the Latin verb, lex, which means “rule.” Law can be broadly defined as any rule that can be enforced by a government or group of people. This includes statutes, regulations and court decisions.
There are many different types of laws that people follow, but a few key ones are:
Public law (also called civil law) is the set of rules that governs how people behave in society. It can be made by a government or group of people through a legislative process, such as a statute, or by the executive through decrees and regulations.
Private law is the set of rules that governs how individuals behave. This can include contracts between people, such as a sale of a car or a rental agreement.
Legal rights are a type of reason that is deemed to have a qualitative precedence over other reasons that might be relevant to deciding a case. This can be determined through the application of normative jurisprudence, political theory and judicial practice.
The legal system that is based on rights is oriented toward the ideal of treating the person as law’s primary unit of concern. This view is rooted in the natural law tradition.