What is Law?
Latin's
use of the word "law" suggests that it refers to a sovereign's
command. Only a few of the definitions or descriptions that have been offered
will be covered here:
Following
is a definition of law:
(a)
A set of guidelines that control how people interact and conduct themselves.
This definition seems incredibly broad, taking into account the rules of every
game, of clubs, and even of thief gangs.
(b)
"A rule of action prescribed or dictated by some superior which some
inferior is bound to obey" and is used uniformly to describe all types of
actions, whether animate or inanimate, rational or irrational (Blackstone).
Note
the following observations: Blackstone and Austin's definitions appear to be
silent on omission or inaction.
(c)
A command issued, directly or indirectly, to members of some independent
political society in which a sovereign individual or body's authority is
supreme. Rules of a father to his son or rules of a husband to his wife that
are not legal are included in the definition of law as a rule of action.
d)
A collection of rules that the government upholds and uses to administer the
law (Salmond). Does the State not follow moral principles that don't fit the
legal definitions?
(e)
Rules, which the Courts will abide by; Oliver Wendell Home. These rules
foretell what the courts will actually do. They are not pretentious in any way.
This is a typical "egg and the chick" scenario.
(f)
Rules that the Courts, the body's judicial organs, establish to determine one's
legal rights and obligations (John Chipman Gray).
Law,
then, refers to the court's regulations.
(g)
A collection of laws, generally accepted legal doctrines, and the overall body
of governing bodies for judicial and administrative actions. This is more of a
description than a definition.
(h)
A general set of laws, customs, and community norms that express the
preferences of the ruling class. The state's coercive power ensures that these
norms are followed for the protection, comfort, and growth of social relations
and the maintenance of the public order, all of which are advantageous to and
desirable to the ruling class.
(i)
A general set of moral standards created or authorized by the state, whose
coercive power ensures that these standards are followed.
Law
is a complicated word that has many different meanings, none of which are
generally accepted. Definitional disagreements were most likely caused by
historical, ideological, social, or cultural factors, or they could have simply
been a conflict between words and meanings. It appears that linguistic issues
may never be resolved.
Older
words continue to take on new meanings as new words continue to be used.
You
should be familiar with the idea of law in different countries and be able to
define "law" in several ways. You should be able to discuss the
benefits and drawbacks of each definition and be able to justify your choice.
This issue has been agitating many Nigerians since the general elections in
1979 (not earlier), and it still will for some time. However, it is now settled
law.
Features
of Law
Law
differs from other phenomena in that:
(a)
Body of Norms
A
norm is literally a model or a standard that the society or other large group
accepts (voluntarily or involuntarily) and uses as a yardstick for judging
someone or something. It speaks of the actual or established standard that is
based on the typical or prevalent behavior of a group.
The
benchmark for right and wrong behavior is an illustration of a norm. In terms
of legal theory, Hans Kelsen holds that laws are norms and that a society's
legal system is made up of those norms, each of which derives its legitimacy
from the other norms. In essence, the grundnorm (also known as the basic norm)
serves as the ultimate standard by which all laws are evaluated for validity.
(b)
Imperative
According
to proponents of the Imperative Theory, the rules of the law are the general
directives that a nation or other political community issues to its citizens
and that are then upheld by courts using the threat of physical force. According
to their argument, if there were laws that predated or existed independently of
the nation, they might closely resemble the law or even serve as a substitute
for it, but they are not laws.
(c)
Sanction
The
word "sanction" comes from the Latin word "sancio," which
means "to ordain, confirm, or forbid under penalty.". It is a
punishment or coercive action that is taken as a result of breaking a law,
rule, or order. According to the law, breaking a statute is punishable by
physical force. Ostracism or another punishment is the appropriate response to
a moral wrong, whereas excommunication and/or hell may be the result of
breaking a religious rule.
According
to international law, sanctions against a renegade country can take the form of
economic or military coercion by one or more nations to make it abide by the
law. Just as following religious rites is a religious norm, being truthful is a
moral standard.
The
responsibility of courts is to uphold the law, not a moral or religious
standard. But a validating factor is morality. Additionally, every Nigerian is
a moral being with a sense of what is right and wrong, even though this sense
may not always be shared by all. g. for psychosocial causes. John Austin claims
that every legal principle is supported by a sanction, but it seems that legal
principles come before sanctions.
Most
often, a sanction is a legally permitted post-conviction restriction or
financial loss imposed on a party and in favor of the injured party as a result
of a court's ruling. Additionally, laws without penalties must be acknowledged.
Despite
the fact that certain groups of people engaged in certain behaviors that would
have been punished in a normal situation, they are exempt from punishment.
Final
thought
You
have learned a few legal terms and their definitions in this course's
introductory unit. In an effort to define what law actually is, several
examples from Nigeria and other continents were brought to the forefront. You
learned the characteristics that can help you recognize "law" when
you encounter it because there is no single, widely accepted definition of what
it is. After fully understanding the benefits and drawbacks of the definitions
you have learned, you may feel challenged to try your own.
The
most contentious and challenging aspect of the study of the subject is
frequently the task of coming up with an adequate definition of law. You ought
to be able to assess some of the definitions we have offered. Blackstone's
definition predated Austin's, whose definition, for instance, refers to "a
law" or "a rule of law" rather than the actual law. No matter
how morally sound or not, a command that satisfies the definitional criteria is
a law. Justice Holmes' use of the future tense and inclusion of "prophesies"
in his definition added to the complexity of a subject that was already
complicated.
Be
aware that Gray also introduced the new factor:
i.
The state's laws.
ii.
The legislation of a men's club.
iii.
The Naturalists reject any definition of legal rights and obligations that does
not take moral principles into account or allows for unjust laws. Because of
these factors, Professor Glanville Williams proposed that the only sensible
approach to dealing with the definition of a word with multiple meanings like
"law" is to acknowledge that the definition, even if it were intended
to be of the ordinary meaning, would have to be multiple.
A
definition of law might begin, "Law may be defined as..., or...,
or...," or something similar.
According
to him, no one would be offended by this strategy.
Additionally,
the lack of specificity cancels out the benefit of comprehensiveness.
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