What is the "Law"?

Although we encounter the “Law” (or its consequence) nearly every day it is an abstract term which does not have a universally accepted definition. Commonly law is regarded as a system of rules and guidelines which are enforced through social institutions to govern behavior.

Social Norm – Order & Chaos

Law plays a universal role in our society. It functions as a restraint for managing the evil and perfidious humans’ actions, helps to keep discipline and order, and limits freedom to some extent. If not for law that maintains and supports our environment organized, our normal everyday life’s activity would be destroyed by chaos, since the world we inhabit is disorganized and chaotic.

Law represents a social norm and its violation leads to imposing of punitive sanctions or application of physical force by the authorized institutions that possess this socially accepted privilege to act in this way. This brings about order and certainty and predictability to the society and helps settle disputes and problems by way of providing protection to individuals and their property, securing the general welfare and guaranteeing and protecting individual freedoms.

However, law and all this order and predictability it backs up are unable to make our world we are living in an absolutely safe place. But it has power to create a climate that will help and inspire people and give them impetus to work and produce, to venture, to response to challenges whatever they are, to look optimistically in the future, to retain hope for the best, and live for tomorrow.

Society & Law

Keeping things in order within a society and maintaining discipline is very important as it has a definite impact on a society’s well-being. It is laws that are on a daily service in all societies and work for providing protection and security to individuals, property, businesses and states.

Basic freedoms that are protected by law include freedom of speech, religion, the press, the right to a fair trial, the freedom from cruel and unusual punishment.

In the United States paying respect for the law is considered to be of a great significance and very important. Any case of disobedience or violation is subjected to punishment. The laws in the country are ordained by such legal documents and bodies as the Constitution, acts of Legislative bodies, orders of Rulings of Political Executives, Judicial Decisions and Decisions of Quasi-Legislative and Quasi-Judicial Bodies.

It is a common knowledge that most societies these days live in accordance with laws and rules in order to avoid the state of anarchy and chaos. It proves that law exercises very important and big impact on a society as a whole and each and every person’s life in particular.