法

Iustitia（「正義の女神」）は、法廷の強制力の象徴的な擬人化です。州の権威を表す剣、客観的な基準を表す目盛り、正義が公平であることを示す目隠しです。^[1]

法律は、行動を規制するために社会的または政府機関を通じて作成および施行される規則のシステムであり^[2]、その正確な定義は長年の議論の問題です。^{[3] [4] [5]}それは科学^{[6] [7]}および正義の芸術としてさまざまに説明されてきました。^{[8] [9] [10]}州が施行する法律は、グループの立法府または単一の立法者によって作成される可能性があり、その結果、制定法が制定されます。法令や規制を通じて行政によって;または判例を通じて裁判官によって確立された、通常はコモンローの管轄区域にあります。個人は、標準的な裁判所の訴訟に対する紛争解決の代替方法を採用する仲裁合意を含む、法的拘束力のある契約を作成することができます。法律自体の作成は、憲法、書面または暗黙の憲法、およびそこにエンコードされた権利によって影響を受ける可能性があります。法律は、政治、経済、歴史、社会をさまざまな形で形作り、人々の間の関係の仲介者として機能します。

法制度は国によって異なり、その違いは比較法で分析されています。で民法の 管轄区域、議会や他の中央本体体系化および統合法。でコモンローシステム、裁判官は作る結合を通じて判例法を先例、^[11]の機会に、これは高い裁判所や議会によって覆されるかもしれません。^[12]歴史的に、宗教法は世俗的な問題に影響を及ぼし^[13]、現在でも一部の宗教コミュニティで使用されています。^{[14] [15]} イスラム法に基づくシャリーア法原則は、イランやサウジアラビアを含むいくつかの国で主要な法制度として使用されています。^{[16] [17]}

法律の範囲は2つのドメインに分けることができます。公法は、憲法、行政法、刑法など、政府と社会に関係しています。プライベート法律は、個人および/またはなどの分野での組織間の法的紛争を扱う契約、財産、不法行為/ delictsと商法。^[18]この区別は、大陸法の国、特に行政裁判所の別個のシステムを持つ国でより強くなります。^{[19] [20]}対照的に、官民法の格差は、コモンローの管轄区域ではそれほど顕著ではありません。^{[21] [22]}

法律は、法の歴史、^[23] 哲学、^[24] 経済分析^[25]および社会学への学術的調査の源を提供します。^[26]法律はまた、平等、公正、正義に関する重要で複雑な問題を提起している。^{[27] [28]}

法哲学

法哲学は一般に法学として知られています。規範的法学は「法はどうあるべきか」を問いかけ、分析法学は「法とは何か」を問いかけます。

内部での「法」の彫刻大統領官邸でヘルシンキ、フィンランド

分析法学派

「普遍的に受け入れられる法の定義」を生み出すためのいくつかの試みがありました。 1972年、ハンプステッド男爵はそのような定義を作成することはできないと提案しました。^[30]マックーブリーとホワイトは、「法律とは何か」という質問をした。簡単な答えはありません。^[31] グランヴィル・ウィリアムズは、「法律」という言葉の意味は、その言葉が使われている文脈に依存すると述べた。彼は、例えば、「初期の慣習法」と「地方自治体の法律」は、「法律」という言葉が2つの異なる矛盾した意味を持っていた文脈であると述べました。^[32] サーマン・アーノルド「法」という言葉を定義することは不可能であることは明らかであり、その言葉を定義するための闘争が決して放棄されるべきではないことも同様に明白であると述べた。^[33]「法」という言葉を定義する必要はないという見方をすることは可能である（例えば、「一般性を忘れて、事件に取り掛かろう」）。^[34]

一つの定義は、法律は行動を統治するために社会制度を通じて施行される規則とガイドラインのシステムであるということです。^[2]では法律の考え方、ハートは法律は、「ルールのシステム」であると主張しました^[35]オースティンは、法律は「制裁の脅威に裏打ちされた主権者の命令」であると述べた。^[36]ドウォーキンは、法を「法の帝国」と題された彼のテキストで正義を達成するための「解釈概念」として説明している。^[37]そしてラズは、法律は人々の利益を仲介する「権威」であると主張している。^[38]ホームズは、「裁判所が実際に行うことの予言、そしてそれ以上の大げさなことは、私が法律によって意味するものである」と述べた。^[39]彼の中で法律に関する条約アクィナスは、法律は、地域社会の世話をしている人によって公布される公益に関係するものの合理的な順序であると主張しています。^[40]この定義には、実証主義的要素と自然主義的要素の両方が含まれています。^[41]

道徳と正義へのつながり

法律の定義は、法律が道徳をどの程度取り入れているかという問題を提起することがよくあります。^[42] ジョン・オースティンの功利主義的な答えは、法律は「人々が従順の習慣を持っている主権者からの制裁の脅威に裏打ちされた命令」であるというものでした。^[36] ジャン・ジャック・ルソーのような反対側の自然法学者は、法は本質的に道徳的で不変の自然法則を反映していると主張している。 「自然法」の概念は、正義の概念に関連して同時に古代ギリシャの哲学に現れ、トマス・アクィナス、特に彼の著作を通じて西洋文化の主流に再び入りました。法律に関する扱い。

オノレ・ド・バルザックは、彼の著書「Splendeursetmisèresdescourtisanes」の最初の2部を完成させた後、コンシェルジュリーを訪れました。その後、彼は、刑務所の状態を説明することに完全に専念する、最終的にOùmènentlesmauvaischemins（The Ends of Evil Ways）と名付けられた第3の部分を追加することを決定しました。^[43]この第3部では、彼は次のように述べています。

法律は良い、必要である、その執行は貧弱であり、マナーはそれらが実行される方法に基づいて法律を判断します。^[44]

自然法の純粋に合理的なシステムの創設者であるフーゴー・グローティウスは、法はアリストテレスが示したように社会的衝動と理由の両方から生じると主張した。^[45] イマヌエル・カントは、道徳的要請には「自然の普遍的な法則として保持されるべきであるかのように選択される」法則が必要であると信じていた。^[46] ジェレミー・ベンサムと彼の学生であるオースティンは、デイヴィッド・ヒュームに続いて、これが「ある」問題と「あるべき」問題を混同していると信じていた。ベンサムとオースティンは、法の実証主義を主張した。その本当の法則は「道徳」から完全に分離されています。^[47]カントはフリードリヒ・ニーチェからも批判された、平等の原則を拒否し、法は力への意志から発せられると信じており、「道徳的」または「不道徳的」とラベル付けすることはできません。^{[48] [49] [50]}

1934年、オーストリアの哲学者ハンスケルゼンは、彼の著書「純粋法学」で実証主義の伝統を続けました。^[51]ケルゼンは、法は道徳とは別であるが、それは「規範性」に恵まれていると信じていた。つまり、私たちはそれに従うべきだということを意味する。法律は肯定的な「is」ステートメントですが（たとえば、高速道路での逆転に対する罰金は500ユーロです）。法律は、私たちが「すべき」ことを教えてくれます。したがって、各法制度は、私たちに従うように指示する基本的な規範（Grundnorm）を持っていると仮定することができます。ケルゼンの主要な反対者であるカール・シュミットは、実証主義と法の支配の考えの両方を拒否しました彼は具体的な政治的立場と決定に対する抽象的な規範的原則の優位性を受け入れなかったからです。^[52]したがって、シュミットは例外（非常事態）の法学を提唱し、法規範がすべての政治的経験を包含する可能性があることを否定した。^[53]

ベンサムの功利主義理論は、20世紀まで法律で支配的であり続けました。

20世紀後半、HLAハートはオースティンを単純化したことで攻撃し、ケルゼンは「法の概念」のフィクションで攻撃しました。^[54]ハートは、法律は一次（行動の規則）と二次（一次規則を管理するために役人に宛てられた規則）に分けられる規則のシステムであると主張した。二次規則はさらに、裁定規則（法的紛争を解決するため）、変更規則（法律の変更を許可する）、および承認規則（法律が有効であると識別されることを許可する）に分けられます。ハートの学生のうちの2人は議論を続けました：彼の本の法の帝国で、ロナルド・ドウォーキンは法を道徳的な問題として扱うことを拒否したためにハートと実証主義者を攻撃しました。ドウォーキンは、法律は「解釈主義の概念」^[37]は、裁判官が憲法上の伝統を踏まえて、法的な論争に最も適切で最も公正な解決策を見つけることを要求している。一方、ジョセフ・ラズは実証主義の見通しを擁護し、ハートの「ソフト社会的論文」アプローチを批判した。法律の権限。^[38]ラズが特定できるが、純粋に社会的な情報源を通じて、道徳的な推論を参照することなく、その法律は権威であると主張している。彼の見解では、調停で権威の楽器としての役割を越えたルールのいずれかの分類が最高に残っている社会学、法廷ではなく。^[55]

歴史

王ハンムラビが明らかにされた法律のコードメソポタミア日神シャマシュをも正義の神として崇め、。

法の歴史は文明の発展と密接に関連しています。紀元前3000年までさかのぼる古代エジプトの法律は、マアトの概念に基づいており、伝統、修辞的スピーチ、社会的平等、公平性を特徴としています。^{[56] [57] [58]} 22世紀紀元前では、古代シュメール定規ウル・ナンムは最初の定式化した法則コードから成って、詭弁的な文を（「もし...そして...」）。紀元前1760年頃、ハンムラビ王はバビロンの城壁をさらに発展させました、それを成文化し、石に刻むことによって。ハンムラビは、バビロン王国全体に彼の法典のいくつかのコピーを石碑として置き、一般の人々が見ることができるようにしました。これは、コーデックスハンムラビとして知られるようになりました。これらの石碑の最も無傷のコピーは、19世紀に英国のアッシリア学者によって発見され、その後、完全に音訳され、英語、イタリア語、ドイツ語、フランス語などのさまざまな言語に翻訳されています。^[59]

旧約聖書には戻って1280年にBCをさかのぼると良い社会のための提言として、道徳的責務の形をとります。紀元前8世紀頃からの小さなギリシャの都市国家、古代アテネは、女性と奴隷階級を除いて、市民の幅広い包含に基づいた最初の社会でした。しかし、アテネには法学や「法」という一言もありませんでした^[60]。代わりに、神定法（テミス）、人間の法令（ノモス）、慣習（ディケ）の3者間の区別に依存していました。^[61]それでも、古代ギリシャの法律には主要な憲法が含まれていた民主主義の発展における革新。^[62]

ローマ法はギリシャ哲学の影響を強く受けていましたが、その詳細な規則は専門の法律家によって開発され、非常に洗練されていました。^{[63] [64]}ローマ帝国の興亡の間の何世紀にもわたって、法律は変化する社会的状況に対処するために適応され、テオドシウス2世とユスティニアヌス1世の下で主要な成文化を受けた。^[65]中世初期に法は慣習法と判例法に置き換えられたが、中世の法学者がローマ法を研究し、その概念を教会法に適合させ始めた11世紀頃にローマ法が再発見された。、jusコミューンを出産します。ラテン語の法諺（ブロカードと呼ばれる）は、ガイダンスのために編集されました。中世のイギリスでは、宮廷は後にコモンローとなった一連の判例を開発しました。ヨーロッパ全体の法廷商人は、商人が現地の法律の多くの分裂した側面ではなく、共通の慣行基準で取引できるように設立されました。現代の商法の前身である法廷商人は、契約の自由と財産の譲渡可能性を強調しました。^[66]のようナショナリズムは、 18世紀と19世紀に成長し、法律商人は新しい市民のコードの下での国の現地の法律に組み込まれました。 NSナポレオンとドイツのコードが最も影響力のあるものになりました。判例法の膨大な量で構成される英国のコモンローとは対照的に、小さな本のコードはエクスポートが簡単で、裁判官が適用するのも簡単です。しかし、今日、民法とコモンローが収束している兆候があります。^[67] EU法は条約で成文化されていますが、欧州司法裁判所によって定められた事実上の判例を通じて発展しています。^[68]

インドの憲法は444件の記事、12のスケジュール、多数の修正および117369個の単語を含む、国のために最長書かれた憲法です。

古代インドと中国は異なる法の伝統を表しており、歴史的に法理論と実践の独立した学校がありました。実利論おそらく100年頃コンパイル、（それは古い資料が含まれているが）、およびManusmriti（C。100-300 AD）は、インドにおける基礎論文だった、と権威法的な指針と考えテキストを含んでいます。^[69]マヌーの中心的な哲学は寛容と多元主義であり、東南アジア全体で引用された。^[70]インド亜大陸でのイスラム教徒の征服の間に、シャリーアはイスラム教徒のスルタンと帝国、特にムガル帝国のFatawa-e-Alamgiriは、皇帝アウラングゼーブとさまざまなイスラム学者によって編集されました。^{[71] [72]}では、インド、ヒンドゥー教のインドの際の法的伝統は、イスラム法とともに、双方の共通の法則に取って代わられた一部となったの大英帝国。^[73]マレーシア、ブルネイ、シンガポールと香港はまた、普通法制度を採用しました。東アジアの法的な伝統は、世俗的な影響と宗教的な影響のユニークなブレンドを反映しています。^[74]日本は、フランスの一部を輸入することにより、西側の路線に沿って法制度を近代化し始めた最初の国であった。、しかし主にドイツ民法典。^[75]これは、19世紀後半の台頭する勢力としてのドイツの地位を部分的に反映している。同様に、伝統的な中国法は、主に日本のドイツ法モデルに基づいた6つの私法典の形で、清王朝の末期に向けて西洋化に取って代わった。^[76]今日、台湾の法律は、そこに逃げた蔣介石の国民党と、1949年に本土の支配権を獲得した毛沢東の共産主義者との間の分裂のために、その時代の成文化に最も近い親和性を保持している。中華人民共和国の現在の法的インフラストラクチャは、 私法の権利を犠牲にして行政法を本質的に膨らませるソビエト社会主義法。^[77]急速な工業化により、今日、中国は、少なくとも社会的および政治的権利ではないにしても、経済的権利の観点から改革の過程を経ている。1999年の新しい契約コードは、行政上の支配からの脱却を表しています。^[78]さらに、15年間続く交渉の後、2001年に中国は世界貿易機関に加盟した。^[79]

法制度

民法、慣習法、宗教法、慣習法、混合法を示す、世界中の法制度の色分けされた地図。^[80]コモンローシステムはピンク色で、大陸法システムはブルー/ターコイズ色で示されています。

一般に、法制度は、大陸法とコモンロー制度に分けることができます。^[81]現代の学者は、この区別の重要性は次第に低下していると主張している。現代法に典型的な多数の法的な移植は、慣習法または民法のいずれかに典型的であると伝統的に考えられてきた多くの特徴を現代の法制度によって共有する結果となる。^{[67] [82]}大陸ヨーロッパに端を発する民法制度を指す「大陸法」という用語は、刑法および公法とは異なるコモンローのトピックの意味での「大陸法」と混同されるべきではない。

政教分離なしに一部の国で受け入れられている第3のタイプの法制度は、経典に基づく宗教法です。国が支配する特定のシステムは、多くの場合、その歴史、他の国とのつながり、または国際基準の順守によって決定されます。ソースの管轄区域が正式結合として採用することは、法的システムの決定的な特徴です。しかし、同様の規則がしばしば優先されるため、分類は実体ではなく形式の問題です。

市民法

皇帝ユスティニアヌスの（527から565）ビザンチン帝国の成文化命じたローマ法大全を。

ナポレオンコードの1804年版の最初のページ。

大陸法は、今日、世界中のほとんどの国で使用されている法制度です。民法では、権威があると認められている情報源は、主に、法律（特に政府によって可決された憲法または制定法の成文化）と慣習です。^[83]成文化は数千年前にさかのぼり、初期の例の1つはバビロニアのコーデックスハンムラビ法典です。現代の大陸法体系は、基本的に、6世紀にビザンチン皇帝ユスティニアヌス1世によって発行され、11世紀のイタリアによって再発見された法典に由来しています。^[84]共和政ローマ時代のローマ法 そして帝国は非常に手続き的であり、専門的な法律のクラスを欠いていました。^[85]その代わりレイ判事、iudexは、裁定に選択しました。決定は体系的な方法で公表されなかったので、開発された訴訟法は偽装され、ほとんど認識されていませんでした。^[86]各事件は、今日の大陸法制度における将来の事件に対する裁判官の決定の（理論的）重要性を反映する州法から新たに決定されることになっていた。西暦529年から534年まで、ビザンチン皇帝ユスティニアヌス1世は、それまでローマ法を成文化し、統合しました。その結果、残っていたのは、以前の法典の20分の1でした。^[87]これはとして知られるようになりましたコーパスジュリスシビリス。ある法史家が書いたように、「ユスティニアヌス帝は意識的にローマ法の黄金時代を振り返り、それを3世紀前に到達したピークに戻すことを目指した」。 ^[88]ユスティニアヌス法典は、ビザンチン帝国が崩壊するまで東部で効力を維持していた。一方、西ヨーロッパは、11世紀にユスティニアヌス法が再発見されるまで、テオドシウス法とドイツの慣習法の組み合わせに依存し、ボローニャ大学の学者はそれを使用して自分たちの法を解釈していました。 ^[89]ローマ法に密接に基づいた大陸法の成文化と、教会法などの宗教法からの影響、啓蒙主義までヨーロッパ中に広がり続けました; その後、19世紀には、両方のフランスでは、とのコード土木、ドイツ、とBürgerlichesGesetzbuch、その法的コードを近代化。これらの規範は両方とも、ヨーロッパ大陸（ギリシャなど）の国の法制度だけでなく、日本と韓国の法の伝統にも大きな影響を与えました。^{[90] [91]}今日、民法のシステムを持っている国はロシア]とトルコからの最も範囲の中央とラテンアメリカ。^[92]

アナキスト法

アナキズムは、世界の多くの社会で実践されてきました。シリアから米国に至るまでの大量アナキストコミュニティが存在し、数百から数百万までさまざまです。アナキズムは、さまざまな傾向と実施を伴う幅広い社会的政治哲学を網羅しています。

アナキスト法は主に、アナキズムが社会にどのように実施されるか、分散型組織と相互扶助に基づく枠組みを、直接民主主義の形で代表することを扱っています。法律は彼らの必要性に基づいています。^[93]アナルコサンディカリズムや無政府共産主義などのアナキストのイデオロギーの大部分は、主に、社会の主要な手段としての分散型労働組合、協同組合、シンジケートに焦点を当てている。^[94]

社会主義法

社会主義法は、旧ソビエト連邦や中華人民共和国などの共産主義国の法制度です。^[95]司法を執行与党に従属させるなど、マルクス・レーニン主義のイデオロギーに基づく大きな逸脱を考えると、それが大陸法とは別のシステムであるかどうかについて、学術的意見は分かれている。^{[95] [96] [97]}

コモンローと公平性

イギリスのジョン王がマグナカルタに署名

でコモンローの法制度、裁判所の決定は、明示的に対等な立場で「法」として認知されている法律の立法過程を経て採用して規制によって発行された行政府。 「判例の教義」または凝視決定（ラテン語で「決定を支持する」）とは、高等裁判所による決定が下級裁判所および同じ裁判所の将来の決定を拘束し、同様の事件が同様の結果に達することを保証することを意味します。では、コントラスト」で、民法「システム、立法は通常、より詳細であり、司法の決定はより短く、より詳細ではありません。裁判官または法廷弁護士は、将来の裁判所を導く推論を設定するのではなく、単一の事件を決定するためだけに書いているからです。

コモンローはイギリスに端を発し、かつて大英帝国と結びついたほぼすべての国に受け継がれています（マルタ、スコットランド、米国のルイジアナ州、カナダのケベック州を除く）。中世のイングランドでは、ノルマンは、異なる部族の慣習に基づいて、シャーごとに異なる法律を征服しました。 「コモンロー」の概念は、ヘンリー2世の治世中に、ヘンリーが国に「共通」の制度化され統一された法体系を作成する権限を持つ裁判官を任命したときに開発されました。コモンローの進化における次の主要なステップは、ジョン王が彼の男爵によって、法律を可決する彼の権限を制限する文書に署名することを余儀なくされました。この「偉大な憲章」または1215年のマグナカルタはまた、国の予測不可能な場所で独裁的な正義を分配するのではなく、王の裁判官の側近が「特定の場所」で裁判所と判決を保持することを要求しました。^[98]集中的でエリートな裁判官のグループは、このシステムの下での立法において支配的な役割を獲得し、ヨーロッパの裁判官と比較して、英国の司法は高度に中央集権化された。たとえば、1297年には、フランスの最高裁判所には51人の裁判官がいましたが、英国の共通の嘆願裁判所には5人の裁判官がいました。^[99]この強力で緊密な司法は、コモンローを発展させる体系化されたプロセスを生み出した。^[100]

しかし、システムは過度に体系化され、過度に厳格で柔軟性がなくなりました。その結果、時が経つにつれて、ますます多くの市民がコモンローを無効にするように国王に請願し、大法官は国王に代わって事件で公平なことをするための判決を下しました。大法官に任命された最初の弁護士であるトマス・モア卿の時代から、体系的な公平な組織が厳格なコモンローとともに成長し、独自の大法官裁判所を発展させました。当初、公平性は首相の足の長さによって異なるとしばしば不規則であると批判されました。^[101]時が経つにつれ、公平裁判所は、特に以下の下で確固たる原則を発展させた。エルドン卿。^[102] 19世紀のイギリスと1937年のアメリカでは、2つのシステムが統合されました。

コモンローの開発において、アカデミック・ライティングは、分散した判例法から包括的な原則を収集することと、変化を主張することの両方において、常に重要な役割を果たしてきました。ウィリアムブラックストンは、1760年頃から、コモンローを収集、説明、および教える最初の学者でした。^[103]しかし、単に説明するだけで、説明と基礎となる構造を求めた学者は、法律が実際に機能する方法をゆっくりと変えました。^[104]

宗教法

宗教法は、明示的に宗教的規範に基づいています。例としては、ユダヤ人のハラハーやイスラムのシャリーア（どちらも「たどる道」と訳されます）がありますが、キリスト教の教会法は一部の教会コミュニティでも存続しています。神の言葉は裁判官や政府によって修正または立法化することができないため、多くの場合、法律に対する宗教の影響は不変です。^[105]しかしながら、徹底的で詳細な法制度は一般的に人間の精緻化を必要とする。たとえば、コーランにはいくつかの法則があり、解釈、^[106] Qiyas（類推による推論）、Ijma（コンセンサス）、および先例を通じて、さらなる法則の源として機能します。。これは主に、それぞれシャリーアとフィクフとして知られる法学と法学に含まれています。別の例は、ある律法や旧約聖書では、五またはモーゼの五書。これには、一部のイスラエルのコミュニティが使用することを選択したユダヤ法の基本コードが含まれています。ハラーハーは、タルムードの解釈の一部をまとめたユダヤ人の法律のコードです。それにもかかわらず、イスラエルの法律は、訴訟当事者が選択した場合にのみ宗教法を使用することを許可しています。教会法は、カトリック教会、東方正教会、およびアングリカンコミュニオン。

教会法

カノン法大全、750年以上にわたり、教会法の基本的なコレクション。

（からキヤノン法ギリシャの カノン、「ストレート測定棒、定規は」）によって行われた条例や規則のセットである教会の権威、キリスト教団体や教会とそのメンバーの政府のために、（教会のリーダーシップ）。これは、カトリック教会（ラテン教会と東方カトリック教会の両方）、東方正教会と東方正教会、および英国国教会内の個々の国立教会を統治する内部教会法です。^[107]そのような教会法が立法化される方法、解釈され、時には裁定されるのは、これらの3つの教会組織の間で大きく異なります。 3つの伝統すべてにおいて、カノンはもともと^[108]教会評議会によって採用された規則でした。これらの教会法は教会法の基礎を形成しました。

カトリック教会は最古の継続的に機能する法制度がある西部の世界、^{[109] [110]}モダンなヨーロッパの進化より以前の民法と慣習法のシステムを。キヤノン法の1983コードは支配ラテン教会 がsui法学を。東方典礼カトリック教会異なる分野や実践を開発し、によって支配されている東方教会の参事のコード。^[111]カトリック教会の教会法は、影響を受けたコモンローを中世の期間中に^[112]無罪推定の原則などのローマ法の教義の保存を通じて。^[113]

シャリーア法

オスマン帝国での裁判、1879年、メジェッレの下で宗教法が適用されたとき

18世紀まで、シャリーア法はイスラム世界全体で成文化されていない形で実践されていました。19世紀のオスマン帝国のメジェッレ法は、シャリーア法の要素を成文化する最初の試みでした。 1940年代半ば以降、シャリーア法を現代の状況や概念にさらに一致させるために、国ごとに努力が払われてきました。^{[114] [115]}現代では、多くのイスラム諸国の法制度は、民法と慣習法の両方の伝統、ならびにイスラム法と慣習を利用しています。エジプトやアフガニスタンなどの特定のイスラム国家の憲法は、イスラム教を国教として認めており、立法府はシャリーアを遵守することを義務付けています。^[116]サウジアラビアはコーランを憲法として認めており、イスラム法に基づいて統治されています。^[117]イランはまた、1979年以降、イスラム法が法制度に繰り返されるのを目撃した。^[118]過去数十年の間、イスラム復活運動の基本的な特徴の1つは、シャリーアを復活させるという呼びかけであった。膨大な量の文学を生み出し、世界の政治に影響を与えました。^[119]

法的方法

法的な推論（法律を適用する）の方法と法律を解釈する（解釈する）方法には区別されます。前者は、大陸法の法制度に影響を与える法的な三段論法、特に米国のコモンローの法制度に存在する類推、および両方の制度で発生する論議である。後者は、言語解釈、目的論的解釈、または体系的解釈の指令などの法的解釈の異なる規則（指令）、およびより具体的な規則、たとえば、ゴールデン規則またはいたずら規則です。法解釈を可能にする解釈の議論や大砲は他にもたくさんあります。

法学教授で元米国司法長官の エドワード・H・レヴィは、「法的な推論の基本的なパターンは例による推論である」、つまり、同様の法的問題を解決する場合の結果を比較することによる推論であると述べた。^[120]債権回収会社が誤りを回避するために取った手続き上の努力に関する米国最高裁判所の訴訟で、ソトマヨール判事は「法的推論は機械的または厳密に直線的なプロセスではない」と警告した。^[121]

ジュリメトリックスは、法的な質問に対する定量的手法、特に確率と統計の正式な適用です。訴訟や法律レビューの記事での統計的手法の使用は、過去数十年で非常に重要になっています。^{[122] [123]}

法制度

The main institutions of law in industrialised countries are independent courts, representative parliaments, an accountable executive, the military and police, bureaucratic organisation, the legal profession and civil society itself. John Locke, in his Two Treatises of Government, and Baron de Montesquieu in The Spirit of the Laws, advocated for a separation of powers between the political, legislature and executive bodies.^[124] Their principle was that no person should be able to usurp all powers of the state, in contrast to the absolutist theory of Thomas Hobbes' Leviathan.^[125] Sun Yat-sen's Five Power Constitution for the Republic of China took the separation of powers further by having two additional branches of government - a Control Yuan for auditing oversight and an Examination Yuan to manage the employment of public officials.^[126]

Max Weber and others reshaped thinking on the extension of state. Modern military, policing and bureaucratic power over ordinary citizens' daily lives pose special problems for accountability that earlier writers such as Locke or Montesquieu could not have foreseen. The custom and practice of the legal profession is an important part of people's access to justice, whilst civil society is a term used to refer to the social institutions, communities and partnerships that form law's political basis.

Judiciary

A judiciary is a number of judges mediating disputes to determine outcome. Most countries have systems of appeal courts, with an apex court as the ultimate judicial authority. In the United States, this authority is the Supreme Court;^[127] in Australia, the High Court; in the UK, the Supreme Court;^[128] in Germany, the Bundesverfassungsgericht; and in France, the Cour de Cassation.^[129][130] For most European countries the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg can overrule national law, when EU law is relevant. The European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg allows citizens of the Council of Europe member states to bring cases relating to human rights issues before it.^[131]

Some countries allow their highest judicial authority to overrule legislation they determine to be unconstitutional. For example, in Brown v. Board of Education, the United States Supreme Court nullified many state statutes that had established racially segregated schools, finding such statutes to be incompatible with the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution.^[132]

A judiciary is theoretically bound by the constitution, just as all other government bodies are. In most countries judges may only interpret the constitution and all other laws. But in common law countries, where matters are not constitutional, the judiciary may also create law under the doctrine of precedent. The UK, Finland and New Zealand assert the ideal of parliamentary sovereignty, whereby the unelected judiciary may not overturn law passed by a democratic legislature.^[133]

In communist states, such as China, the courts are often regarded as parts of the executive, or subservient to the legislature; governmental institutions and actors exert thus various forms of influence on the judiciary.^[134] In Muslim countries, courts often examine whether state laws adhere to the Sharia: the Supreme Constitutional Court of Egypt may invalidate such laws,^[135] and in Iran the Guardian Council ensures the compatibility of the legislation with the "criteria of Islam".^[135][136]

Legislature

The Chamber of the House of Representatives, the lower house in the National Diet of Japan.

Prominent examples of legislatures are the Houses of Parliament in London, the Congress in Washington D.C., the Bundestag in Berlin, the Duma in Moscow, the Parlamento Italiano in Rome and the Assemblée nationale in Paris. By the principle of representative government people vote for politicians to carry out their wishes. Although countries like Israel, Greece, Sweden and China are unicameral, most countries are bicameral, meaning they have two separately appointed legislative houses.^[137]

In the 'lower house' politicians are elected to represent smaller constituencies. The 'upper house' is usually elected to represent states in a federal system (as in Australia, Germany or the United States) or different voting configuration in a unitary system (as in France). In the UK the upper house is appointed by the government as a house of review. One criticism of bicameral systems with two elected chambers is that the upper and lower houses may simply mirror one another. The traditional justification of bicameralism is that an upper chamber acts as a house of review. This can minimise arbitrariness and injustice in governmental action.^[137]

To pass legislation, a majority of the members of a legislature must vote for a bill (proposed law) in each house. Normally there will be several readings and amendments proposed by the different political factions. If a country has an entrenched constitution, a special majority for changes to the constitution may be required, making changes to the law more difficult. A government usually leads the process, which can be formed from Members of Parliament (e.g. the UK or Germany). However, in a presidential system, the government is usually formed by an executive and his or her appointed cabinet officials (e.g. the United States or Brazil).^[138]

Executive

The G20 meetings are composed of representatives of each country's executive branch.

The executive in a legal system serves as the centre of political authority of the State. In a parliamentary system, as with Britain, Italy, Germany, India, and Japan, the executive is known as the cabinet, and composed of members of the legislature. The executive is led by the head of government, whose office holds power under the confidence of the legislature. Because popular elections appoint political parties to govern, the leader of a party can change in between elections.^[139]

The head of state is apart from the executive, and symbolically enacts laws and acts as representative of the nation. Examples include the President of Germany (appointed by members of federal and state legislatures), the Queen of the United Kingdom (an hereditary office), and the President of Austria (elected by popular vote). The other important model is the presidential system, found in the United States and in Brazil. In presidential systems, the executive acts as both head of state and head of government, and has power to appoint an unelected cabinet. Under a presidential system, the executive branch is separate from the legislature to which it is not accountable.^[139][140]

Although the role of the executive varies from country to country, usually it will propose the majority of legislation, and propose government agenda. In presidential systems, the executive often has the power to veto legislation. Most executives in both systems are responsible for foreign relations, the military and police, and the bureaucracy. Ministers or other officials head a country's public offices, such as a foreign ministry or defence ministry. The election of a different executive is therefore capable of revolutionising an entire country's approach to government.

Military and police

Officers of the South African Police Service in Johannesburg, 2010.

While military organisations have existed as long as government itself, the idea of a standing police force is a relatively modern concept. For example, Medieval England's system of traveling criminal courts, or assizes, used show trials and public executions to instill communities with fear to maintain control.^[141] The first modern police were probably those in 17th-century Paris, in the court of Louis XIV,^[142] although the Paris Prefecture of Police claim they were the world's first uniformed policemen.^[143]

Max Weber famously argued that the state is that which controls the monopoly on the legitimate use of force.^[144][145] The military and police carry out enforcement at the request of the government or the courts. The term failed state refers to states that cannot implement or enforce policies; their police and military no longer control security and order and society moves into anarchy, the absence of government.^[146]

Bureaucracy

The mandarins were powerful bureaucrats in imperial China (photograph shows a Qing dynasty official with mandarin square visible).

The etymology of bureaucracy derives from the French word for office (bureau) and the Ancient Greek for word power (kratos).^[147] Like the military and police, a legal system's government servants and bodies that make up its bureaucracy carry out the directives of the executive. One of the earliest references to the concept was made by Baron de Grimm, a German author who lived in France. In 1765, he wrote:

The real spirit of the laws in France is that bureaucracy of which the late Monsieur de Gournay used to complain so greatly; here the offices, clerks, secretaries, inspectors and intendants are not appointed to benefit the public interest, indeed the public interest appears to have been established so that offices might exist.^[148]

Cynicism over "officialdom" is still common, and the workings of public servants is typically contrasted to private enterprise motivated by profit.^[149] In fact private companies, especially large ones, also have bureaucracies.^[150] Negative perceptions of "red tape" aside, public services such as schooling, health care, policing or public transport are considered a crucial state function making public bureaucratic action the locus of government power.^[150]

Writing in the early 20th century, Max Weber believed that a definitive feature of a developed state had come to be its bureaucratic support.^[151] Weber wrote that the typical characteristics of modern bureaucracy are that officials define its mission, the scope of work is bound by rules, and management is composed of career experts who manage top down, communicating through writing and binding public servants' discretion with rules.^[152]

Legal profession

In civil law systems such as those of Italy, France, Germany, Spain and Greece, there is a distinct category of notary, a legally trained public official, compensated by the parties to a transaction.^[153] This is a 16th-century painting of such a notary by Flemish painter Quentin Massys.

A corollary of the rule of law is the existence of a legal profession sufficiently autonomous to invoke the authority of the independent judiciary; the right to assistance of a barrister in a court proceeding emanates from this corollary—in England the function of barrister or advocate is distinguished from legal counselor.^[154] As the European Court of Human Rights has stated, the law should be adequately accessible to everyone and people should be able to foresee how the law affects them.^[155]

In order to maintain professionalism, the practice of law is typically overseen by either a government or independent regulating body such as a bar association, bar council or law society. Modern lawyers achieve distinct professional identity through specified legal procedures (e.g. successfully passing a qualifying examination), are required by law to have a special qualification (a legal education earning the student a Bachelor of Laws, a Bachelor of Civil Law, or a Juris Doctor degree. Higher academic degrees may also be pursued. Examples include a Master of Laws, a Master of Legal Studies, a Bar Professional Training Course or a Doctor of Laws.), and are constituted in office by legal forms of appointment (being admitted to the bar). There are few titles of respect to signify famous lawyers, such as Esquire, to indicate barristers of greater dignity,^[156][157] and Doctor of law, to indicate a person who obtained a PhD in Law.

Many Muslim countries have developed similar rules about legal education and the legal profession, but some still allow lawyers with training in traditional Islamic law to practice law before personal status law courts.^[158] In China and other developing countries there are not sufficient professionally trained people to staff the existing judicial systems, and, accordingly, formal standards are more relaxed.^[159]

Once accredited, a lawyer will often work in a law firm, in a chambers as a sole practitioner, in a government post or in a private corporation as an internal counsel. In addition a lawyer may become a legal researcher who provides on-demand legal research through a library, a commercial service or freelance work. Many people trained in law put their skills to use outside the legal field entirely.^[160]

Significant to the practice of law in the common law tradition is the legal research to determine the current state of the law. This usually entails exploring case-law reports, legal periodicals and legislation. Law practice also involves drafting documents such as court pleadings, persuasive briefs, contracts, or wills and trusts. Negotiation and dispute resolution skills (including ADR techniques) are also important to legal practice, depending on the field.^[160]

Civil society

A march in Washington, D.C., during the civil rights movement in 1963

The Classical republican concept of "civil society" dates back to Hobbes and Locke.^[161] Locke saw civil society as people who have "a common established law and judicature to appeal to, with authority to decide controversies between them."^[162] German philosopher Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel distinguished the "state" from "civil society" (bürgerliche Gesellschaft) in Elements of the Philosophy of Right.^[163][164]

Hegel believed that civil society and the state were polar opposites, within the scheme of his dialectic theory of history. The modern dipole state–civil society was reproduced in the theories of Alexis de Tocqueville and Karl Marx.^[165][166] In post-modern theory, civil society is necessarily a source of law, by being the basis from which people form opinions and lobby for what they believe law should be. As Australian barrister and author Geoffrey Robertson QC wrote of international law, "one of its primary modern sources is found in the responses of ordinary men and women, and of the non-governmental organizations which many of them support, to the human rights abuses they see on the television screen in their living rooms."^[167]

Freedom of speech, freedom of association and many other individual rights allow people to gather, discuss, criticise and hold to account their governments, from which the basis of a deliberative democracy is formed. The more people are involved with, concerned by and capable of changing how political power is exercised over their lives, the more acceptable and legitimate the law becomes to the people. The most familiar institutions of civil society include economic markets, profit-oriented firms, families, trade unions, hospitals, universities, schools, charities, debating clubs, non-governmental organisations, neighbourhoods, churches, and religious associations. There is no clear legal definition of the civil society, and of the institutions it includes. Most of the institutions and bodies who try to give a list of institutions (such as the European Economic and Social Committee) exclude the political parties.^{[168][169][170]}

Areas of law

All legal systems deal with the same basic issues, but jurisdictions categorise and identify their legal topics in different ways. A common distinction is that between "public law" (a term related closely to the state, and including constitutional, administrative and criminal law), and "private law" (which covers contract, tort and property).^[171] In civil law systems, contract and tort fall under a general law of obligations, while trusts law is dealt with under statutory regimes or international conventions. International, constitutional and administrative law, criminal law, contract, tort, property law and trusts are regarded as the "traditional core subjects",^[172] although there are many further disciplines.

International law

Providing a constitution for public international law, the United Nations system was agreed during World War II.

The Italian lawyer Sir Alberico Gentili, the Father of international law.^[173]

International law can refer to three things: public international law, private international law or conflict of laws and the law of supranational organisations.

• Public international law concerns relationships between sovereign nations. The sources for public international law development are custom, practice and treaties between sovereign nations, such as the Geneva Conventions. Public international law can be formed by international organisations, such as the United Nations (which was established after the failure of the League of Nations to prevent World War II),^[174] the International Labour Organisation, the World Trade Organisation, or the International Monetary Fund. Public international law has a special status as law because there is no international police force, and courts (e.g. the International Court of Justice as the primary UN judicial organ) lack the capacity to penalise disobedience. The prevailing manner of enforcing international law is still essentially "self help"; that is the reaction by states to alleged breaches of international obligations by other states.^{[175][2][176]} However, a few bodies, such as the WTO, have effective systems of binding arbitration and dispute resolution backed up by trade sanctions.^[177]
• Conflict of laws, or private international law in civil law countries, concerns which jurisdiction a legal dispute between private parties should be heard in and which jurisdiction's law should be applied. Today, businesses are increasingly capable of shifting capital and labour supply chains across borders, as well as trading with overseas businesses, making the question of which country has jurisdiction even more pressing. Increasing numbers of businesses opt for commercial arbitration under the New York Convention 1958.^[178]
• European Union law is the first and so far the only example of a supranational law, i.e. an internationally accepted legal system, other than the United Nations and the World Trade Organization. Given the trend of increasing global economic integration, many regional agreements—especially the African Union—seek to follow a similar model.^[179][180] In the EU, sovereign nations have gathered their authority in a system of courts and the European Parliament. These institutions are allowed the ability to enforce legal norms both against or for member states and citizens in a manner which is not possible through public international law.^[181] As the European Court of Justice noted in its 1963 Van Gend en Loos decision, European Union law constitutes "a new legal order of international law" for the mutual social and economic benefit of the member states.^[182][183]

Constitutional and administrative law

The French Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen

Constitutional and administrative law govern the affairs of the state. Constitutional law concerns both the relationships between the executive, legislature and judiciary and the human rights or civil liberties of individuals against the state. Most jurisdictions, like the United States and France, have a single codified constitution with a bill of rights. A few, like the United Kingdom, have no such document. A "constitution" is simply those laws which constitute the body politic, from statute, case law and convention. A case named Entick v Carrington^[184] illustrates a constitutional principle deriving from the common law. Entick's house was searched and ransacked by Sheriff Carrington. When Entick complained in court, Sheriff Carrington argued that a warrant from a Government minister, the Earl of Halifax, was valid authority. However, there was no written statutory provision or court authority. The leading judge, Lord Camden, stated:

The great end, for which men entered into society, was to secure their property. That right is preserved sacred and incommunicable in all instances, where it has not been taken away or abridged by some public law for the good of the whole ... If no excuse can be found or produced, the silence of the books is an authority against the defendant, and the plaintiff must have judgment.^[185]

The fundamental constitutional principle, inspired by John Locke, holds that the individual can do anything except that which is forbidden by law, and the state may do nothing except that which is authorised by law.^[186][187] Administrative law is the chief method for people to hold state bodies to account. People can sue an agency, local council, public service, or government ministry for judicial review of actions or decisions, to ensure that they comply with the law, and that the government entity observed required procedure. The first specialist administrative court was the Conseil d'État set up in 1799, as Napoleon assumed power in France.^[188]

Criminal law

Criminal law, also known as penal law, pertains to crimes and punishment.^[189] It thus regulates the definition of and penalties for offences found to have a sufficiently deleterious social impact but, in itself, makes no moral judgment on an offender nor imposes restrictions on society that physically prevent people from committing a crime in the first place.^[190] Investigating, apprehending, charging, and trying suspected offenders is regulated by the law of criminal procedure.^[191] The paradigm case of a crime lies in the proof, beyond reasonable doubt, that a person is guilty of two things. First, the accused must commit an act which is deemed by society to be criminal, or actus reus (guilty act).^[192] Second, the accused must have the requisite malicious intent to do a criminal act, or mens rea (guilty mind). However, for so called "strict liability" crimes, an actus reus is enough.^[193] Criminal systems of the civil law tradition distinguish between intention in the broad sense (dolus directus and dolus eventualis), and negligence. Negligence does not carry criminal responsibility unless a particular crime provides for its punishment.^[194][195]

A depiction of a 17th-century criminal trial, for witchcraft in Salem

Examples of crimes include murder, assault, fraud and theft. In exceptional circumstances defences can apply to specific acts, such as killing in self defence, or pleading insanity. Another example is in the 19th-century English case of R v Dudley and Stephens, which tested a defence of "necessity". The Mignonette, sailing from Southampton to Sydney, sank. Three crew members and Richard Parker, a 17-year-old cabin boy, were stranded on a raft. They were starving and the cabin boy was close to death. Driven to extreme hunger, the crew killed and ate the cabin boy. The crew survived and were rescued, but put on trial for murder. They argued it was necessary to kill the cabin boy to preserve their own lives. Lord Coleridge, expressing immense disapproval, ruled, "to preserve one's life is generally speaking a duty, but it may be the plainest and the highest duty to sacrifice it." The men were sentenced to hang, but public opinion was overwhelmingly supportive of the crew's right to preserve their own lives. In the end, the Crown commuted their sentences to six months in jail.^[196]

Criminal law offences are viewed as offences against not just individual victims, but the community as well.^[190] The state, usually with the help of police, takes the lead in prosecution, which is why in common law countries cases are cited as "The People v ..." or "R (for Rex or Regina) v ...". Also, lay juries are often used to determine the guilt of defendants on points of fact: juries cannot change legal rules. Some developed countries still condone capital punishment for criminal activity, but the normal punishment for a crime will be imprisonment, fines, state supervision (such as probation), or community service. Modern criminal law has been affected considerably by the social sciences, especially with respect to sentencing, legal research, legislation, and rehabilitation.^[197] On the international field, 111 countries are members of the International Criminal Court, which was established to try people for crimes against humanity.^[198]

Contract law

The famous Carbolic Smoke Ball advertisement to cure influenza was held to be a unilateral contract

Contract law concerns enforceable promises, and can be summed up in the Latin phrase pacta sunt servanda (agreements must be kept).^[199] In common law jurisdictions, three key elements to the creation of a contract are necessary: offer and acceptance, consideration and the intention to create legal relations. In Carlill v Carbolic Smoke Ball Company a medical firm advertised that its new wonder drug, the smokeball, would cure people's flu, and if it did not, the buyers would get £100. Many people sued for their £100 when the drug did not work. Fearing bankruptcy, Carbolic argued the advert was not to be taken as a serious, legally binding offer. It was an invitation to treat, mere puffery, a gimmick. But the Court of Appeal held that to a reasonable man Carbolic had made a serious offer, accentuated by their reassuring statement, "£1000 is deposited". Equally, people had given good consideration for the offer by going to the "distinct inconvenience" of using a faulty product. "Read the advertisement how you will, and twist it about as you will", said Lord Justice Lindley, "here is a distinct promise expressed in language which is perfectly unmistakable".^[200]

Consideration indicates the fact that all parties to a contract have exchanged something of value. Some common law systems, including Australia, are moving away from the idea of consideration as a requirement. The idea of estoppel or culpa in contrahendo, can be used to create obligations during pre-contractual negotiations.^[201]

Civil law jurisdictions treat contracts differently in a number of respects, with a more interventionist role for the state in both the formation and enforcement of contracts.^[202] Compared to common law jurisdictions, civil law systems incorporate more mandatory terms into contracts, allow greater latitude for courts to interpret and revise contract terms and impose a stronger duty of good faith, but are also more likely to enforce penalty clauses and specific performance of contracts.^[202] They also do not require consideration for a contract to be binding.^[203] In France, an ordinary contract is said to form simply on the basis of a "meeting of the minds" or a "concurrence of wills". Germany has a special approach to contracts, which ties into property law. Their 'abstraction principle' (Abstraktionsprinzip) means that the personal obligation of contract forms separately from the title of property being conferred. When contracts are invalidated for some reason (e.g. a car buyer is so drunk that he lacks legal capacity to contract)^[204] the contractual obligation to pay can be invalidated separately from the proprietary title of the car. Unjust enrichment law, rather than contract law, is then used to restore title to the rightful owner.^[205]

Torts and delicts

The "McLibel case" was the longest-running case in UK history. It involved publishing a pamphlet that criticised McDonald's restaurants.

Certain civil wrongs are grouped together as torts under common law systems and delicts under civil law systems.^[206] To have acted tortiously, one must have breached a duty to another person, or infringed some pre-existing legal right. A simple example might be accidentally hitting someone with a cricket ball.^[207] Under the law of negligence, the most common form of tort, the injured party could potentially claim compensation for their injuries from the party responsible. The principles of negligence are illustrated by Donoghue v Stevenson.^[208] A friend of Donoghue ordered an opaque bottle of ginger beer (intended for the consumption of Donoghue) in a café in Paisley. Having consumed half of it, Donoghue poured the remainder into a tumbler. The decomposing remains of a snail floated out. She claimed to have suffered from shock, fell ill with gastroenteritis and sued the manufacturer for carelessly allowing the drink to be contaminated. The House of Lords decided that the manufacturer was liable for Mrs Donoghue's illness. Lord Atkin took a distinctly moral approach and said:

The liability for negligence [...] is no doubt based upon a general public sentiment of moral wrongdoing for which the offender must pay. [...] The rule that you are to love your neighbour becomes in law, you must not injure your neighbour; and the lawyer's question, Who is my neighbour? receives a restricted reply. You must take reasonable care to avoid acts or omissions which you can reasonably foresee would be likely to injure your neighbour.^[209]

This became the basis for the four principles of negligence, namely that (1) Stevenson owed Donoghue a duty of care to provide safe drinks; (2) he breached his duty of care; (3) the harm would not have occurred but for his breach; and (4) his act was the proximate cause of her harm.^[208] Another example of tort might be a neighbour making excessively loud noises with machinery on his property.^[210] Under a nuisance claim the noise could be stopped. Torts can also involve intentional acts such as assault, battery or trespass. A better known tort is defamation, which occurs, for example, when a newspaper makes unsupportable allegations that damage a politician's reputation.^[211] More infamous are economic torts, which form the basis of labour law in some countries by making trade unions liable for strikes,^[212] when statute does not provide immunity.^[213]

Property law

A painting of the South Sea Bubble, one of the world's first ever speculations and crashes, led to strict regulation on share trading.^[214]

Property law governs ownership and possession. Real property, sometimes called 'real estate', refers to ownership of land and things attached to it.^[215] Personal property, refers to everything else; movable objects, such as computers, cars, jewelry or intangible rights, such as stocks and shares. A right in rem is a right to a specific piece of property, contrasting to a right in personam which allows compensation for a loss, but not a particular thing back. Land law forms the basis for most kinds of property law, and is the most complex. It concerns mortgages, rental agreements, licences, covenants, easements and the statutory systems for land registration. Regulations on the use of personal property fall under intellectual property, company law, trusts and commercial law. An example of a basic case of most property law is Armory v Delamirie [1722].^[216] A chimney sweep's boy found a jewel encrusted with precious stones. He took it to a goldsmith to have it valued. The goldsmith's apprentice looked at it, sneakily removed the stones, told the boy it was worth three halfpence and that he would buy it. The boy said he would prefer the jewel back, so the apprentice gave it to him, but without the stones. The boy sued the goldsmith for his apprentice's attempt to cheat him. Lord Chief Justice Pratt ruled that even though the boy could not be said to own the jewel, he should be considered the rightful keeper ("finders keepers") until the original owner is found. In fact the apprentice and the boy both had a right of possession in the jewel (a technical concept, meaning evidence that something could belong to someone), but the boy's possessory interest was considered better, because it could be shown to be first in time. Possession may be nine-tenths of the law, but not all.

This case is used to support the view of property in common law jurisdictions, that the person who can show the best claim to a piece of property, against any contesting party, is the owner.^[217] By contrast, the classic civil law approach to property, propounded by Friedrich Carl von Savigny, is that it is a right good against the world. Obligations, like contracts and torts, are conceptualised as rights good between individuals.^[218] The idea of property raises many further philosophical and political issues. Locke argued that our "lives, liberties and estates" are our property because we own our bodies and mix our labour with our surroundings.^[219]

Equity and trusts

The Court of Chancery, London, England, early 19th century

Equity is a body of rules that developed in England separately from the "common law". The common law was administered by judges and barristers. The Lord Chancellor on the other hand, as the King's keeper of conscience, could overrule the judge-made law if he thought it equitable to do so.^[220] This meant equity came to operate more through principles than rigid rules. Whereas neither the common law nor civil law systems allow people to split the ownership from the control of one piece of property, equity allows this through an arrangement known as a trust. Trustees control property whereas the beneficial, or equitable, ownership of trust property is held by people known as beneficiaries. Trustees owe duties to their beneficiaries to take good care of the entrusted property.^[221] In the early case of Keech v Sandford [1722],^[222] a child had inherited the lease on a market in Romford, London. Mr Sandford was entrusted to look after this property until the child matured. But before then, the lease expired. The landlord had (apparently) told Mr Sandford that he did not want the child to have the renewed lease. Yet the landlord was happy (apparently) to give Mr Sandford the opportunity of the lease instead. Mr Sandford took it. When the child (now Mr Keech) grew up, he sued Mr Sandford for the profit that he had been making by getting the market's lease. Mr Sandford was meant to be trusted, but he put himself in a position of conflict of interest. The Lord Chancellor, Lord King, agreed and ordered Mr Sandford should disgorge his profits. He wrote: "I very well see, if a trustee, on the refusal to renew, might have a lease to himself few trust-estates would be renewed. [...] This may seem very hard, that the trustee is the only person of all mankind who might not have the lease; but it is very proper that the rule should be strictly pursued and not at all relaxed."

Lord King LC was worried that trustees might exploit opportunities to use trust property for themselves instead of looking after it. Business speculators using trusts had just recently caused a stock market crash. Strict duties for trustees made their way into company law and were applied to directors and chief executive officers. Another example of a trustee's duty might be to invest property wisely or sell it.^[223] This is especially the case for pension funds, the most important form of trust, where investors are trustees for people's savings until retirement. But trusts can also be set up for charitable purposes, famous examples being the British Museum or the Rockefeller Foundation.

Further disciplines

Law spreads far beyond the core subjects into virtually every area of life. Three categories are presented for convenience, although the subjects intertwine and overlap.

Law and society

A trade union protest by UNISON while on strike

• Labour law is the study of a tripartite industrial relationship between worker, employer and trade union. This involves collective bargaining regulation, and the right to strike. Individual employment law refers to workplace rights, such as job security, health and safety or a minimum wage.
• Human rights, civil rights and human rights law are important fields to guarantee everyone basic freedoms and entitlements. These are laid down in codes such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the European Convention on Human Rights (which founded the European Court of Human Rights) and the U.S. Bill of Rights. The Treaty of Lisbon makes the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union legally binding in all member states except Poland and the United Kingdom.^[224]
• Civil procedure and criminal procedure concern the rules that courts must follow as a trial and appeals proceed. Both concern a citizen's right to a fair trial or hearing.
• Evidence law involves which materials are admissible in courts for a case to be built.
• Immigration law and nationality law concern the rights of foreigners to live and work in a nation-state that is not their own and to acquire or lose citizenship. Both also involve the right of asylum and the problem of stateless individuals.
• Social security law refers to the rights people have to social insurance, such as jobseekers' allowances or housing benefits.
• Family law covers marriage and divorce proceedings, the rights of children and rights to property and money in the event of separation.
• Transactional law is the practice of law concerning business and money.

Law and commerce

• Company law sprang from the law of trusts, on the principle of separating ownership of property and control.^[225] The law of the modern company began with the Joint Stock Companies Act 1856, passed in the United Kingdom, which provided investors with a simple registration procedure to gain limited liability under the separate legal personality of the corporation.
• Commercial law covers complex contract and property law. The law of agency, insurance law, bills of exchange, insolvency and bankruptcy law and sales law are all important, and trace back to the medieval Lex Mercatoria. The UK Sale of Goods Act 1979 and the US Uniform Commercial Code are examples of codified common law commercial principles.
• Admiralty law and the sea law lay a basic framework for free trade and commerce across the world's oceans and seas, where outside of a country's zone of control. Shipping companies operate through ordinary principles of commercial law, generalised for a global market. Admiralty law also encompasses specialised issues such as salvage, maritime liens, and injuries to passengers.
• Intellectual property law aims at safeguarding creators and other producers of intellectual goods and services. These are legal rights (copyrights, trademarks, patents, and related rights) which result from intellectual activity in the industrial, literary and artistic fields.^[226]
• Restitution deals with the recovery of someone else's gain, rather than compensation for one's own loss.
• Unjust enrichment When someone has been unjustly enriched (or there is an "absence of basis" for a transaction) at another's expense, this event generates the right to restitution to reverse that gain.
• Space law is a relatively new field dealing with aspects of international law regarding human activities in Earth orbit and outer space. While at first addressing space relations of countries via treaties, increasingly it is addressing areas such as space commercialisation, property, liability, and other issues.

Law and regulation

The New York Stock Exchange trading floor after the Wall Street Crash of 1929, before tougher banking regulation was introduced

• Tax law involves regulations that concern value added tax, corporate tax, and income tax.
• Banking law and financial regulation set minimum standards on the amounts of capital banks must hold, and rules about best practice for investment. This is to insure against the risk of economic crises, such as the Wall Street Crash of 1929.
• Regulation deals with the provision of public services and utilities. Water law is one example. Especially since privatisation became popular and took management of services away from public law, private companies doing the jobs previously controlled by government have been bound by varying degrees of social responsibility. Energy, gas, telecomms and water are regulated industries in most OECD countries.
• Competition law, known in the United States as antitrust law, is an evolving field that traces as far back as Roman decrees against price fixing and the English restraint of trade doctrine. Modern competition law derives from the U.S. anti-cartel and anti-monopoly statutes (the Sherman Act and Clayton Act) of the turn of the 20th century. It is used to control businesses who attempt to use their economic influence to distort market prices at the expense of consumer welfare.
• Consumer law could include anything from regulations on unfair contractual terms and clauses to directives on airline baggage insurance.
• Environmental law is increasingly important, especially in light of the Kyoto Protocol and the potential danger of climate change. Environmental protection also serves to penalise polluters within domestic legal systems.
• Aviation law deals with all regulations and technical standards applicable to the safe operation of aircraft, and is an essential part both of pilots' training and pilot's operations. Non adherence to Air Law regulations and standards renders a flight operation illegal. It is framed by national civil aviation acts (or laws), themselves mostly aligned with the recommendations or mandatory standards of the International Civil Aviation Organisation or ICAO. Regulations are often abbreviated as CARS and standards as CATS. They constantly evolve in order to adapt to new technologies or science (for example in medical protocols which pilots have to adhere to in order to be fit to fly or hold a license).

Intersection with other fields

Economics

In the 18th century, Adam Smith presented a philosophical foundation for explaining the relationship between law and economics.^[227] The discipline arose partly out of a critique of trade unions and U.S. antitrust law. The most influential proponents, such as Richard Posner and Oliver Williamson and the so-called Chicago School of economists and lawyers including Milton Friedman and Gary Becker, are generally advocates of deregulation and privatisation, and are hostile to state regulation or what they see as restrictions on the operation of free markets.^[228]

Richard Posner, one of the Chicago School, until 2014 ran a blog with Bank of Sweden Prize winning economist Gary Becker.^[229]

The most prominent economic analyst of law is 1991 Nobel Prize winner Ronald Coase, whose first major article, The Nature of the Firm (1937), argued that the reason for the existence of firms (companies, partnerships, etc.) is the existence of transaction costs.^[230] Rational individuals trade through bilateral contracts on open markets until the costs of transactions mean that using corporations to produce things is more cost-effective. His second major article, The Problem of Social Cost (1960), argued that if we lived in a world without transaction costs, people would bargain with one another to create the same allocation of resources, regardless of the way a court might rule in property disputes.^[231] Coase used the example of a nuisance case named Sturges v Bridgman, where a noisy sweetmaker and a quiet doctor were neighbours and went to court to see who should have to move.^[210] Coase said that regardless of whether the judge ruled that the sweetmaker had to stop using his machinery, or that the doctor had to put up with it, they could strike a mutually beneficial bargain about who moves that reaches the same outcome of resource distribution. Only the existence of transaction costs may prevent this.^[232] So the law ought to pre-empt what would happen, and be guided by the most efficient solution. The idea is that law and regulation are not as important or effective at helping people as lawyers and government planners believe.^[233] Coase and others like him wanted a change of approach, to put the burden of proof for positive effects on a government that was intervening in the market, by analysing the costs of action.^[234]

Sociology

Sociology of law is a diverse field of study that examines the interaction of law with society and overlaps with jurisprudence, philosophy of law, social theory and more specialised subjects such as criminology.^[235] The institutions of social construction, social norms, dispute processing and legal culture are key areas for inquiry in this knowledge field. Sociology of law is sometimes seen as a sub-discipline of sociology, but its ties to the academic discipline of law are equally strong, and it is best seen as a transdisciplinary and multidisciplinary study focused on the theorisation and empirical study of legal practices and experiences as social phenomena. In the United States the field is usually called law and society studies; in Europe it is more often referred to as socio-legal studies. At first, jurists and legal philosophers were suspicious of sociology of law. Kelsen attacked one of its founders, Eugen Ehrlich, who sought to make clear the differences and connections between positive law, which lawyers learn and apply, and other forms of 'law' or social norms that regulate everyday life, generally preventing conflicts from reaching barristers and courts.^[236] Contemporary research in sociology of law is much concerned with the way that law is developing outside discrete state jurisdictions, being produced through social interaction in many different kinds of social arenas, and acquiring a diversity of sources of (often competing or conflicting) authority in communal networks existing sometimes within nation states but increasingly also transnationally.^[237]

Max Weber in 1917, Weber began his career as a lawyer, and is regarded as one of the founders of sociology and sociology of law.

Around 1900 Max Weber defined his "scientific" approach to law, identifying the "legal rational form" as a type of domination, not attributable to personal authority but to the authority of abstract norms.^[238] Formal legal rationality was his term for the key characteristic of the kind of coherent and calculable law that was a precondition for modern political developments and the modern bureaucratic state. Weber saw this law as having developed in parallel with the growth of capitalism.^[235] Another leading sociologist, Émile Durkheim, wrote in his classic work The Division of Labour in Society that as society becomes more complex, the body of civil law concerned primarily with restitution and compensation grows at the expense of criminal laws and penal sanctions.^[239] Other notable early legal sociologists included Hugo Sinzheimer, Theodor Geiger, Georges Gurvitch and Leon Petrażycki in Europe, and William Graham Sumner in the U.S.^[240][241]

See also

• By-law
• Law dictionary
• Legal research in the United States
• Legal treatise
• Natural law
• Political science
• Public interest law
• Social law
• Translating "law" to other European languages

References

Citations

Sources

External links

• DRAGNET: Search of free legal databases from New York Law School
• WorldLII – World Legal Information Institute
• CommonLII – Commonwealth Legal Information Institute
• AsianLII – Asian Legal Information Institute (AsianLII)
• AustLII – Australasian Legal Information Institute
• BaiLII – British and Irish Legal Information Institute
• CanLII – Canadian Legal Information Institute
• NZLII – New Zealand Legal Information Institute
• PacLII – Pacific Islands Legal Information Institute
• SAfLII – Southern African Legal Information Institute