Law is a system of rules that a society develops to deal with crime, business agreements, and social relationships. It can also refer to the people who work in this system.
A legal system can differ greatly from country to country, and even within a single nation. But many of them have some similarities based on historically accepted justice ideals. These groups include common law, civil law, and religious law.
Civil law is a system that relies on detailed records of prior court decisions to evaluate cases that come before it. Its main purpose is to provide judges with clear guidelines for deciding a case, and it often serves as inspiration for new laws that are enacted by legislators.
In countries that use a common law system, courts typically hear cases involving all types of crimes, including terrorism. However, some nations have specialized courts for terrorism cases that follow a slightly different procedure than the rest of the country’s criminal courts.
Law can serve many purposes for a society, such as setting standards, maintaining order, resolving conflicts, and protecting liberties and rights. However, some philosophers have criticized the concept of law for imposing societal values that are not universally acceptable. For example, a judge may decide that a defendant is guilty of a crime by considering circumstantial evidence, but some people do not think that this is a just way to determine guilt or innocence. For this reason, some scholars have looked at the concept of law from the outside in, rather than the inside out, analyzing it as a system that imposes external goals on society.