The Concept of Law; what is Law to you?

There aree countless textbook definitions of what 'law' is.

Ideally the law is a system of rules for preserving society. This includes (and practically embraces) bureaucracy, which most people see as a burden on the law, but is necessary to define what laws mean and how they are implemented.

Most sane members of society have beliefs in certain fundamental rules, don't kill, don't steal, don't rape. But what turns these rules to law is bureaucracy and procedure, for example; Dont kill, unless your life is in danger in some way (bureaucracy). And the way society decides if you followed this exception or broke the law is through the judicial process (procedure).

It's the combination of these that make a legal system within a society. A network bult on fundamental values that humans within a society, share.

My professors would be proud. >_

Law is is a system of rules and guidelines made by human beings which are enforced through social institutions to govern behavior and maintain order wherever possible.
Laws are meant to control or change peoples behaviour and, unlike rules of morality, they are (mostly) enforced by the courts (or whatever term you have for it). If you break a law - whether you like that law or not - you may have to pay a fine, pay for the damage you have done, or go to jail.

Law and justice is a system that was created for protecting each individuals own human rights. Of course this differs from each country and state as to which and how many rights you have. Natural law is the only law that isn't subjective in this matter.

Law, in my personal opinion, are rules against certain behaviors that are enforced through the legitimate use of force. The purpose of laws is to ensure the given rights of a people by punishing behaviors or acts that may violate them.

[Before anyone points this out to me, I'm going to mention that tax laws are different. If you want to bring that up, that's another issue entirely.]

The inevitable result of human interaction, stemming from the social contract that man enters into when associating with other men.

Source - I'm a law student, I did a bit of jurisprudence in my first year. See J.J.Rousseau for more.

In my view ; the point of laws is so the society in question can perform productively and not in chaos. If or not the law is evil, good or just depends on societies view of it ; and of course originally it did not matter because it was the ruler of the land that set the laws therefor inherently just.

Here is another example. Law's of motion, energy and such. If these law's cease to exist nothing tangible can come into existence (like humans,animals,planets,etc)

However since they DO exist we are able to live and function. So comparatively.

Human law's exist therefor nations, civilization, and prosperity also can come into existence.

This is what I believe is the origins of Law, then branching out into debates about the law once the society in question is stable.

Did you agree to that? Did somone get you to sign somthing?


What I want to ask (I do say ask because I'm not adding to the disssusion but merely the question) is this:

What if I do not agree with the law? Why do I have to abide by these rules I never physicaly or verbaly agreed to? What if I beleive a law is immoral? Why should I have to obey somthing that goes against my beleives? Am I just being forced to follow a contract I am apparently being held to against my will? Will people start to rant about inhernt social and societal contrats? Find out more on next weeks episode.

Under the current system, you simple bend over and try to relax your anus as you get fucked by the state (a.k.a. Government). Under less federal systems (such as confederacy, Anarchy, Libertarian Marxism) you have less central authority and therefore you can move about to find a city, county or state that more closely resembles your own beliefs.

This is part of my beef with the Federal system. We're too dynamic and diverse of people for a single law to meet all of our needs. It's better to leave the regulations at the city, county and state levels.

To more directly answer the questions.

Under the current system.

1). If you don't agree with the law, sucks to be you and you better obey it.
2). The men with the guns say you have to.
3). Sucks to be you. You can try to change it but, in the meantime you better obey it otherwise the men with the guns will take you to jail.
4). The men with the guns say you have to obey it.
5). Yep.
6). Don't know what you're asking for specificly so I can't really answer that.

I watched part of a filmed university debate on the subject, I can't remember what it was called and I only remember enough to know that I left room for people to legitamently debate about it.

Law is made in order to control a community from creating chaos or destruction and in the mean time,protecting the people.Also,to make politicians work without worries.This is my opinion.

I know a little of a school of thought that existed two thousand years ago called "Legalism". It sums up what law means to me.

This school of thought advocates what I call "rule by law" (as opposed to rule of law). All laws ought to be adhered to. Any violation of the laws that are set would mean great disincentive or severe punishment. It may appear totalitarian or militaristic but I was told that the merits of such a system are:

It greatly facilitates the carrying out of operations. Any action can be justified, any dispute can be resolved just by referring to a set of directives called "the law". Think of it as referring to Standard Operation Procedures when carrying out operations or projects when working for any organisation.

It can be used as a tool to set the direction of where a country should be headed. For example, some ancient king made a decree that all citizens in a country would have to work in the agricultural and military sectors in an effort to transform the country into a military juggernaut. Of course this cannot be replicated in today's context but it goes to show the role law plays in governance.

If someone were to ask me what law is to me, I would say that it facilitates governance and administration. This means a lot. It empowers a government to muster resources and create conditions needed to run a country. It also turns the attention of government to other things leaving the matter of resolving disputes and the like to the judiciary.

Doesn't answer my question. Can you elaborate on what the question was asking for?

Law is formed not only by the government, but the society itself. There are written and unwritten rules one must abide to be socially accepted and keep out of jail.

Honestly, there are some are that very stupid. Perhaps it is just me, but the Church should not interfere with the State. What is morally wrong in a country can be accepted by society in another. Law does not only stop with policies of the government, because society itself makes rules and regulations.