Definisi Of Law

What Is Meant by Law?. Law is a system of rules that are created and enforced through social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior. It has been defined both as "the Science of Justice" and "the Art of Justice". Law is a system that regulates and ensures that individuals or a community adhere to the will of the state. State-enforced laws can be made by a collective legislature or by a single legislator, resulting in statutes, by the executive through decrees and regulations, or established by judges through precedent, normally in common law jurisdictions. Private individuals can create legally binding contracts, including arbitration agreements that may elect to accept alternative arbitration to the normal court process. The formation of laws themselves may be influenced by a constitution, written or tacit, and the rights encoded therein. The law shapes politics, economics, history and society in various ways and serves as a mediator of relations between people.

Definisi Of Law

Law is a set of rules that plays an important part in the creation and maintenance of social order.

John Austin’s law definition states “Law is the aggregate set of rules set by a man as politically superior, or sovereign to men, as political subjects.” Thus, this definition defines law as a set of rules to be followed by everyone, regardless of their stature.

Mainstream definitions. Numerous definitions of law have been put forward over the centuries. The Third New International Dictionary from Merriam-Webster [1] defines law as: "Law is a binding custom or practice of a community; a rule or mode of conduct or action that is prescribed or formally recognized as binding by a supreme controlling authority or is made obligatory by a sanction (as an edict, decree, rescript, order, ordinance, statute, resolution, rule, judicial decision, or usage) made, recognized, or enforced by the controlling authority."

The Dictionary of the History of Ideas published by Scribner's in 1973 defined the concept of law accordingly as: "A legal system is the most explicit, institutionalized, and complex mode of regulating human conduct. At the same time, it plays only one part in the congeries of rules which influence behavior, for social and moral rules of a less institutionalized kind are also of great importance."[2]

Hans Kelsen created the ‘pure theory of law’. Kelsen states that law is a ‘normative science’. In Kelson’s law definition, the law does not seek to describe what must occur, but rather only defines certain rules to abide by.

Sir John Salmond’s definition: Law is the body of principles recognised and applied by the State in the administration of justice.

Legal systems of the world

1. Civil (continental) law

• Based on Roman law
• Main source of law is legislation
• Laws provide general principles and guidelines to be applied to each particular case
• Characterised by codification (written collections of laws which apply to all)

2. Common law

• Developed in England in the 12th century
• Made by judges 
• Main source of law are precedents (previous decisions made by superior courts on similar facts).

3. Religious law

• Religious law refers to ethical and moral codes taught by religious traditions.
• Legal system using a religious system or documents as a legal source
• Usually follows the principles of either civil or common law
• Examples: Islamic sharia, hindu law

source

[1] Third New International Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, Inc., Springfield, Massachusetts

[2] Dictionary of the History of Ideas, Charles Scribner's Sons, Editor Philip P. Weiner, 1973.