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Meaning and Classification of Law

This document discusses the meaning and classification of law. It defines law as a uniform set of rules backed by the state's authority that applies equally to all citizens. Law aims to achieve justice and facilitate peaceful social change. Laws are classified as public or private, substantive or procedural, and municipal or international. Public law governs relationships between states and citizens, while private law addresses disputes between individuals. Substantive law defines rights and duties, and procedural law establishes legal processes. Municipal law operates within a state, while international law governs relations between states.

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147 views3 pages

Meaning and Classification of Law

This document discusses the meaning and classification of law. It defines law as a uniform set of rules backed by the state's authority that applies equally to all citizens. Law aims to achieve justice and facilitate peaceful social change. Laws are classified as public or private, substantive or procedural, and municipal or international. Public law governs relationships between states and citizens, while private law addresses disputes between individuals. Substantive law defines rights and duties, and procedural law establishes legal processes. Municipal law operates within a state, while international law governs relations between states.

Uploaded by

Joy Bose
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Meaning and Classification of Law

Meaning of Law

The Teutonic word ‘Lag, is the predecessor of the word “Law”. It means “definite”. Law can be
defined as something which is definite in nature and yet contemporary. It is a uniform rule of
conduct that applies to each citizen of the state. Law is the rules and regulations which define the
basic conducts and activities of humans in a society.

1. “Law is the command of the sovereign.” “It is the command of the superior to an inferior and
force is the sanction behind Law.” —Austin

2. “A Law is a general rule of external behavior enforced by a sovereign political authority.” –


Holland

Law is a definite set of rules which is backed up by the sovereign power of the state. Violation of
law results in punishment by the state. The degree of punishment is different for every law.
Punishment is one side of the law, whereas the other side of law involves justice for the victim.
A.V Dicey propounded three principles or postulates of the rule of law. According to Dicey,
these three principles would help achieve the supremacy of law. These principles were:
1. Supremacy of Law
2. Equality before Law
3. The predominance of Legal Spirit

• Functions: Justice and Peaceful Change

Justice is something that represents just and right. Justice is being impartial, just, and right.
Being just depends on the context but its requirement is essential to the idea of justice.
Justice has various definitions under different schools of jurisprudence. The natural law school of
jurisprudence says that justice is the implementation of religious laws. The modern school of
jurisprudence says that justice is incomplete without implementing concepts like equality and
liberty. In both cases, justice is the enforcement of what holds good in the eyes of law. The
modern school of jurisprudence says that whatever the legislature makes and the implementation
of it is the law.

Law through peaceful change aims to achieve a state of social justice, which is an evolution and
is permanent in nature. In the current scenario, social justice can be defined as something which
is based on equality of States, right of all people to self-determination and recognition of all the
fundamental rights. Another aspect of peaceful change is to build international relationships with
other states without the use of force.

Peaceful change, in fact, aims to achieve a given concept of social justice, which itself is in
permanent evolution. At the present time, this concept of social justice could be roughly defined
as being based on the equality of States, on the equality and right of all people to self-
determination, furthermore on the respect of fundamental human rights and freedom, and on
other purposes which lead to more just, more peaceful and more harmonious international
relations without the use of force.

• Classification of laws: Public and Private Law

Public Law – Public law deals with the relationship between the states, its citizens, and other
states. Public law mostly deals with the problems of the citizens with their states. When any right
is violated by any citizen, public law deals with it. Also when a citizen goes does something
which is wrong “In rem”, the aspect of public law comes into place. Examples of public law are
Constitutional law, Criminal Law, Administrative Law, International Law, etc.

Private Law - Private law is mostly concerned with the rights and liabilities between
individuals. The area of private law is very limited. It focuses on resolving the disputes between
the two parties. Here the states are involved in providing a proper mechanism for the dispute
resolution. The legal process I started by the individual against an individual. Private law is also
called ‘Civil Law’.

• Substantive and procedural Law

Substantive Law – It is a statutory law that deals with the legal relationship between people or
in some cases between people and the state. The substantive law defines the rights and duties of a
person and also defines the punishments on breaking the substantive law. It defines how people
need to behave inside a society and governs them with rules and regulations. For example,
substantive law is used to determine whether a crime was a hate crime or not.

Procedural Law – It is the set of rules which govern the procedure followed in a court of law.
Procedural law is for both criminal and civil cases. The courts need to follow the procedure set
up by the procedural laws. The rules set by the procedural law establish a fair practice and due
process of law.

• Municipal and International Law

Municipal Law – Municipal laws are the laws that are made by the sovereign state for them.
These are also known as internal laws. Municipal laws include the law from the local level to the
national level. It includes the law at the state, provincial and territorial. In a Democratic,
Republic State, the laws are made by the representatives of the general public.

International Law - International laws are made by the collective decision of two or more
states. International laws are first made with the view of world peace. International laws were
developed after the First World War with the Treaty of Versailles. After the Second World War,
the United Nations was formed which is the largest International Body of the world, and many
other International Organizations like WHO, UNESCO, and UNICEF come under it.
International law is divided between two-parts
1. Private International law – Private International law deals with the differences between
the two states. For example, treaties are made; International arbitration takes place
between the two states.
2. Public International Law – These laws include the standard of international behavior,
the laws of the sea, diplomatic law, human rights law, and environmental law. These laws
are known as “customary “laws.

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