Law is a system of rules that regulates conduct in a community and is enforced by a controlling authority through penalties. Law covers a wide range of issues, from the legal rights of children to the treatment of animals. The concept of law has a number of variations, such as natural laws, social norms, moral laws, and constitutional laws. The term is also used as a synonym for jurisprudence, which is the study of how people interact in a society.
The purpose of law is to set standards, maintain order, resolve disputes and protect liberties and rights. The guiding principles of law include the supremacy of the law, equality before the law, accountability to the law, transparency in decision-making and the rule of law, participation in governance, and the avoidance of arbitrariness.
Most modern societies have a complex legal system that covers a variety of subjects. Some areas of law are very specific, such as contract law (which includes everything from buying a bus ticket to trading options on the stock market), family law (which deals with marriage and divorce), property law (which determines ownership and rights toward tangible property) and administrative law (which relates to government regulations such as taxation and environmental controls).
Other areas of law are more general in nature. Banking and finance laws set minimum capital requirements for banks and rules about best practice in investments. Regulation law lays down guidelines for private companies that provide public services and utilities, such as water, energy and telecommunications. Company law arose with the formation of joint-stock companies, which separated ownership from control. Commercial law deals with complex contracts, insurance, bills of exchange and the law of property, tracing back to the medieval Lex Mercatoria.
While there are many different branches of law, a few core concepts are common across them all. For example, all laws should be publicly available and easily accessible, and they should be relatively stable in their content, so that people can plan activities with a reasonable degree of confidence as to the legal consequences. In addition, laws should be fair and impartial, and they should not be based on political considerations or personal biases.
The legal profession has a long history of defining its own standards of excellence, with the goal of being recognized as a legitimate and honourable occupation. Those who wish to practise law must typically undergo a rigorous training process, which may involve studying for a bachelor’s or master’s degree in law, and then completing a professional training course and being admitted to the bar. Laws that govern the behaviour of lawyers are generally regulated by the state, and they often include codes of conduct, ethical codes and rules of procedure. The status of a lawyer is also often marked by titles, such as Esquire, which suggests a high level of professional achievement.