WHAT IS LAW?

PART I

1. Read and translate

What is law? We have criminal law, civil law, public law, international law, family law and company law. They are all elements of the set of rules which forbid, permit or require actions among people and organizations. They are all branches of the law. Many of the most important legal developments will take place in international law.

There is also case law. In this context, a case refers to a binding or authoritative decision made by a court.

Let's look at this in a bit more detail. A case comes before a court in one of two ways. There is either a dispute between people in a civil case or between citizen and state in a criminal case. These cases are decided following a set of rules which forbid, allow or require people to do certain actions. These rules are then enforced.

Let's take an example that most people are familiar with. The law states that you must not drive more than 50 kilometres per hour in the centre of a town. If people drive at more than the 50 kilometres per hour speed limit they have broken the law, whether or not they get caught doing it. There is a reason for the law. It is dangerous to drive at more than 50 kilometres per hour in an area where people are walking and crossing the road.

If the driver is seen by the police or photographed by a speed camera, that driver will be prosecuted and punished. So this law helps people to live together in an organized and harmonious way. In fact, that is the meaning of the law in general. It is a set of rules that enables people to live together in an organized way.

Thus, law is a system of rules established by the state.

The main aim of law is to consolidate and safeguard the social and state system and its economic foundation.

One important distinction made in all countries is between private-or civil - law and public law. Civil law concerns disputes among citizens within a country, and public law concerns disputes between citizens and the state, or between one state and another.

The system of law in our country consists of different categories of law.

Constitutional law is a leading category of the whole system of law. Its principal source is the country's Constitution. It deals with social structure, the state system, organization of state power and the legal status of citizens.

Administrative law is closely connected with constitutional law but it deals with the legal forms of concrete executive and administrative activity of a government and ministries.

Criminal law defines the general principles of criminal responsibility, individual types of crimes and punishment applied to criminals. Crimes are wrongs, which, even committed against an individual are considered to harm the well-being of society in general. Criminal law takes the form of a criminal code.

International law regulates relations between governments and also between private citizens of one country and those of another.

Financial law regulates the budget, taxation, state credit and other spheres of financial activity.

Дата добавления: 2015-08-17