It is
not possible to enumerate accurately the number of the different kinds of law.
Laws are various. You will recall in our attempt to define law what Blackstone
thought law was. He said that law in its most general and comprehensive sense
signifies a rule of action, and is applied indiscriminately to all kinds of
action, whether animate or inanimate, rational or irrational.
The
scope and extent of this definition or description of law suffices to inform
you that law can be used in a wide range of senses. We can only attempt to
identify a number of them.
The objective of this article is that participants should be able to trace the source of law; and its authority and so be able to distinguish legal rules from metaphysical or external rules or legal from non-legal source and what is law from non-law.
Classification of law
A. Classes of
Law
There
are no criteria for classifying law, laid down in Statute or specified by
Court. Different writers have classified aw at their discretion and by
different methods.
For
example, law may be classified according to the mode of development as follows:
Common
law
Equity
Legislation
(including delegated legislation) Custom
The Law
Merchant
Canon
Law
Legal
treaties
Another
method of classification of law is into:
Law in
action (i.e. legislation, law reform and judicial precedent)
Criminal
law Law of Contract Law of Tort
Law of
Property
Negotiable
Instrument
Other
writers have taken a global view of law and have classified law as follows:
1.
Imperative Law: Commands of a sovereign or rules
of action imposed on people by some authority that enforces obedience. John
Austin expressed this in terms of a Command set, either directly or
circuitously by a sovereign individual or body to a member or members of some
independent political society in which his authority is supreme. Examples are
the law of the land – Civil Law.
2. Physical
Law: This covers a wide range of laws including
Laws of Gravitation; of Motion, of Nature, of Nations. It also includes law of
mechanics. These laws are expressions of uniformities founded upon observations
of regularity and harmony in the universe.
3. Natural Law: Also
called Lex Eterna and it includes:
(i) Physical law of nature
e.g. law of gravitation
(ii)
Principle of what is right or wrong; Ideal form of law, Higher law.
A system
of legal and moral principles purportedly deriving from a universalized conception
of human nature or divine justice. At different times natural law took the
forms of divine law, law of reason, unwritten law, universal law, eternal law and
moral law.
4.
Conventional Law: Law of agreement; Rules of games
and sports, clubs or society.
5. Customary Law: Code of conduct, mores; - law which men set for themselves voluntarily and obey under pain of censure or coercion. They are rules, which in a particular community, has from long usage obtained the force of law.
It includes Islamic Law and those local customs,
which are not repugnant to natural justice, equity and good conscience or
incompatible with any law for the time being in force or contrary to public
policy. It is law per excellence being
a reflection or mirror of the common consciousness of the people.
6.
Technical Law: The rules guiding persons who
are engaged in a particular trade or profession if they are to practice that calling
effectively well. Examples are Rules and regulations, which guide Legal
Practitioners, Engineers, and Architects etc in the fulfillment of their trade
practices or professions.
Read on: What is the Most Important Feature of Law?
B. International Law
This
refers to the Law of nations; Common law of Nations; the principal subjects of
which are nation-states, Particular Law of Nations between two or more
countries. This type of law may be enforced by:
(i) Economic
sanction
(ii) Severance
or break-up of relations or ties
(iii)
Arbitration by the International Court of Justice at The Hague or other tribunal
e.g. War Tribunal established by United Nations Organisaton (UNO)
(iv) Use
of Force or military action.
International
Law itself is divided into
(a) Conflict
of laws (or private international law as it is sometimes called) and
(b) Public
international law (usually just termed International Law).
1.
Substantive Law: This is part of the law that
creates, defines and regulates legal relationships, powers, rights, and
obligations and liabilities of parties e.g. Criminal law and Penal Code, Laws
of Contract, of Agency, of Commercial Transactions or business Associations
etc.
Substantive
law prescribes those rules of civil conduct, which declare the rights and
duties of all who are subject to the law.
2.
Procedural Law: Laws of Procedure are rules that
prescribe the steps that require to be taken for purpose of having a right or
duty judicially enforced, as opposed to the law that defines the specific
rights or duties themselves. Also called Adjectival law as it prescribes
enforcement process and practice in Courts.
Examples
of procedural or adjectival laws are Criminal Procedure Act, Criminal Procedure
Code, Evidence Act, etc.
The
distinction between Substantive law and Procedural Law must be clearly drawn.
Glanville Williams states: “so far as the administration of justice is
concerned with the application of remedies to violated rights, we may say that
the substantive law defines the remedy and the right, while the law of
Procedure defines the modes and conditions of the application of the one to the
other”.
In
essence, procedural law relates to remedial agencies and procedure by which
rights are maintained, their invasion redressed and the methods by which such
results are accomplished in Courts.
3. Civil Law: Civil law deals with rules for dealing with rights and duties between individuals. It is concerned with disputes between citizens, the purpose being to enable people to enforce their rights, to redress a grievance or to recover property for their own benefit. Municipal law or law of State is an example of Civil Law.
The terms may also be used so as to
distinguish the laws under reference from the Criminal Law e.g. Laws of Tort;
of Contract; Law of Courts, Military law, Canon law, etc. See the Federal
Republic of Nigeria Constitution, 1999, See 33 & 45.
Also read: Law making process in Military Regime in Nigeria
Conclusion
on what are
the two classification of law
You have
reopened the discussion on law in this article. The focus was classification of
law. You noticed how difficult it has been to departmentalize law. You probably
faced challenges when one addresses some particular laws and attempt some form
of classification in order to increase your understanding of “law”.
We have
dealt with ten different types or classes of law. These classes are neither
exhaustive nor necessarily co-terminous. A substantive law or procedural law
may be imperative law and vice versa. Mercantile law or lex mercantile is based
on mercantile customs and usages but it developed independently of the Common
law. Imperial law is a formal law, co-existing with informal law in most
communities in Nigeria. Despite these evidences of interrelationship, it is
still possible to differentiate one class from another class of law; giving
examples or illustrations of each of them.
In the
next article, we shall conclude the lesion on the classes of law.
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