Introduction to Law

What is Law

• Rules must be established to guide the conduct of members in any group where people act together.
• It is difficult to imagine the existence of a community devoid of law.
• Anarchy describes social life without some following of cetain rules.
• Obedience enables all members of a community to cooperate to common ends.
• Rights and obligations are recognized by law and imposed upon human behavior.
• A right is only considered legal when it's recognized and protected by law.

Why Laws Are Important

• Laws are important because history shows violence has been used to resolve disputes.
• Laws regulate human behavior to prevent violence which can be used between groups and individuals.
• Justice is guaranteed, and carried out by courts and the judiciary rather than individual feelings.
• People who obey the law are protected.
• People who disobey the law will be punished.

Definition of Law

• Law is defined as a body of rules governing and regulating the social conduct of people.
• Law involves being enforced by a sanction.
• Law is defined as a set of rules that govern the behaviors and relations of individuals in society.
• People should obey laws, or face penalties enforced by a competent authority.
• A legal rule determines what is allowed and prohibited, to cover every aspect of life.
• A legal rule covers the individual's action, whether it affects the state, the community, or other people's interests.

The Legitimate Functions of Law:

• Settlement of disputes
• Protection of the individual and society
• Protection of property
• Promotion of worthwhile social objectives

Characteristics of Law

• Generality
• Abstract
• Social
• Sanction

Legal Rules - General

• Legal rules apply to every person as long as the specified conditions exist and are met.
• The criminal law states that the penalty of death in case of assassination applies when a person kills another premeditatedly.
• Legal rules don't have to be enforced on all people and cases in society.
• Legal rules can be decided for specific persons at a specific time or place, such is not contrary to generalization.
• Legal rules often organize the affairs of specific communities like lawyers, doctors, engineers, merchants, or university students.
• Specifying parameters for rules doesn't negate generality because the specification applies to the capacity of the members of the communities.
• The president of Egypt must be at least forty years old.
• Rules applies to all people who would be candidates for president and does not refer to a specific president.
• The rule is applicable to anyone in a position described by the rule of law, without favoring any particular person.

Legal Rules - Abstract

• Legal rules should not be designed to apply only to specific individuals or restricted situations.
• Legal rules lay down the conditions and descriptions whose application can be transferred to, and are applicable across similar situations in the future.

Legal Rules - Social

• Legal rules regulate relationships and ties among members of society, both in simple and complex scenarios.
• Law controls and regulates relations among people in a society, focusing only on the external conduct or behavior of individuals.
• Law is unconcerned with internal thoughts and beliefs, intervening only when a person acts upon those beliefs.
• Law may take into consideration the intentions and motives of people if they are associated with physical manifestations that link them to outer behavior of individuals.

Legal Rules - Enforced by Sanction

• Legal rules reflect a need for regulating behavior in society, so they should be respected and, if required, enforced.
• Legal rules must have an element of penalty to ensure compliance.
• Public authorities enforce penalties against anyone who violates legal rules.
• If violators are not punished, they continue to break the rules, nullifying law enforcement.

Legal Rules - Cont. - Enforced by Sanction

• Individuals are asked to obey the law voluntarily.
• If that fails, they're compelled to comply via state-applied sanctions.
• It is unrealistic to expect no infraction of laws.
• In the most civilized societies, some will ponder violating the legal rule, and are stopped only by imposing penalties.
• Sanctions induce obedience.
• Violations can be criminal, leading to criminal sanctions called punishments.
• Penalties should be physical: concrete, immediate, and organized.
• Penalties affect one's body, such as imprisonment or execution.
• Penalty should be immediate.
• Penalty should be organized, controlled by the competent authority in the state.
• Sanctions may be administrative; for example, a public employee not performing their duties may be excluded from government service.
• There are also civil sanctions.
• Examples are the invalidity of a contract, the payment of damages or compensations, and the restitution of payment.
• The most decisive factor distinguishing the rule of law from other rules governing society is probably this characteristic.

Legal Rules - Cont. - Enforced by Sanction

• Sanctions are enforced by the state through courts and administrative authorities.
• The state establishes courts, open to all for dispute resolution, as constitutionally mandated.
• There are many types of sanctions:
  • Criminal sanctions:
    • A person committing a felony, misdemeanor, or contravention may be punished by a criminal penalty.
    • Penalties include imprisonment or fines.
    • Dangerous crimes such as murder may incur the penalty of execution via hanging.

Legal Rules - b- Administrative sanctions:

• Government employees in default, failing work obligations, harming state funds, or injuring citizens, will be punished with an administrative sanction.
• Sanctions range from wage cuts to demotion or dismissal, potentially without pension rights.
• In minor cases, employees might receive warnings that repeated contravention results in severe penalties.
• Administrative sanctions don't exclude penal sanctions if the defaulting employee’s actions constitute a crime.

Legal Rules - c- Civil sanctions:

• In civil or commercial matters without a crime, parties can seek reparation for damage or pecuniary damages, constituting a civil sanction.
• If a party suffers non-performance in a contract, they may sue in court, becoming the "claimant" or "plaintiff," while the other party is the "defendant" or "respondent."
• The court decides on "specific reparation" of the obligation or the amount in cash as damages to be paid to the rightful claimant.
• If the respondent has a claim against the plaintiff, they file a counterclaim, and the court rules on both claims in one or more judgments.
• The court is empowered to offset debts between parties, if any exist.

Legal Rules - d- International law sanctions:

• There are some doubts about international public law as it is thought that they do not have the characteristics of legal rules particularly in regard to material sanction.
• No overseeing authority can impose sanctions on a state violating international rules, due to the absolute sovereignty of each state.
• Public international law rules are not legal rules in the proper sense of the word due to this lack of authority.
• Many international public law rules are respected by states without interference with their sovereignty.
• Violations lead to negotiations through diplomatic channels to resolve disputes.
• Failing negotiations, diplomatic or economic sanctions may be inflicted on the violating state via the United Nations or directly by concerned states.
• Public international law rules often lack material sanction, but this isn't always true.
• A major obstacle is "Double-standard Treatment," characterized by powerful countries selectively imposing or exempting sanctions.
• The USA imposed economic and political sanctions upon Iran for nuclear weapons manufacturing but is threatening North Korea for the same issue while setting aside Israel on related sanctions.

Differentiating Legal Rules from Other Rules:

• Rules regulating individual behavior stem from organizing society and stabilizing relations.
• Legal rules are not alone and need differentiation from other social rules.
• Rules controlling human conduct also include religion and moral rules.
• Religion rules are principles ordained by God, promising rewards or punishments in this life or the afterlife.
• These rules are found in the sacred books of various religions.
• Moral standards come from society's assessment of right and wrong, good and evil.
• Moral rule violations are not sanctioned by the state, courts, or agencies, but by social forces like censure, ridicule, contempt, and social exclusion.
• The laws of religion, law, and morality, vary their forms and functions, in the types of human conduct which they are directed, and in the sanctions intended compel compliance to them.
• The law controls external actions, religion, and moral rules control external actions and internal thoughts.
• The law is sanctioned by a determinate authority - the state.
• Moral rules are sanctioned by all members of society.
• Religious rules are sanctioned by God and generally in the life to come.
• Morality & religion overlap with law, but their fields are not always precisely aligned.
• Some legally regulated acts are outside the ambit of moral or religious rules.
• Many behavioral rules imposed by religion and morality remain outside law's control; charity and mercy are not enforced by law.
• Legal, moral, and religious rules aren't always contradictory.
• Many legal rules are based on morality or religion because of public sentiment.
• The principle that a contractor must perform obligations is a legal, moral, and religious one.
• Laws punishing theft align with religious and moral codes.