Law is the set of rules and standards that govern human behavior, enacted by governments and enforced through the courts.
The word Law is derived from the Latin root lege which means “rule.” The word can also be used to describe a legal system or the laws that govern a country.
A legal system is a set of rules that regulate human behavior and determine how society operates. It shapes politics, economics and history.
There are different types of law and they differ in their origin, concept, rule and development history. These differences can be attributed to the different historical backgrounds and social conditions that affected adoption of certain legal traditions in various countries.
The legal systems in most countries are divided into two main branches, namely Common law and Civil law.
Written law refers to those rules that have been enacted in a document, such as the Constitution of a country, the Acts of Parliament or other international agreements.
Unwritten law, on the other hand, refers to those rules that have not been enacted into formal documents and can be traced back to customs, practice or tradition.
Those laws that are enacted by a government and enforced through the courts are called statutes, acts or regulations.
When you research law, you can rely on a number of resources to help you find what you need. These sources include scholarly legal journals and law reviews, which contain scholarly articles about legal policy, rules and history.