Law is a system of rules that a society or government develops in order to deal with crime, business agreements and social relationships. The word can also be used to refer to the people who work in this field. The idea of what constitutes law is complex, and the topic is widely debated in books and on websites. Many different ideas and definitions exist, but most systems of law include the concept that sanctions can be imposed on those who break the rules.
A key principle in law is due process, which entails that a person will be given a fair hearing before their legal rights are decided. This was first guaranteed in the Magna Carta, a document that recognized that a person’s fate should not be left solely in the hands of one individual. It is this idea that has formed the basis of the legal systems of Western countries, as well as the international human rights treaties.
In common law countries, judicial decisions are considered to be “law” on an equal footing with legislative statutes. This concept, known as the doctrine of stare decisis, helps to assure consistency in rulings. This allows commercial parties to predict with reasonable accuracy whether or not a course of action will be lawful, and can make a country’s law more robust than a civil law system.
A specific area of law is property, which covers both real and personal property. Real property includes ownership of land and the structures built on it, while personal property is movable objects like cars, computers, jewellery, money and stocks. Other types of law include immigration, nationality and asylum law; family law; intellectual property; tax law; and biolaw.