Law is a formal system of laws developed and enforced by governmental or communal institutions to govern behavior, with an exact definition still a matter of long-standing debate. In popular use, it is generally taken to be either a body of law that governs our interactions within a society, or a body of knowledge or arts which enables us to understand and interact with law. In a broader sense, however, the law may be defined as a body of knowledge or arts developed by someone who claims to have discovered a better way of doing things. The discovery may be philosophical, spiritual or even political. It can even be a scientific one. Still, it may also be a collection of partial truths, which we tend to accept as true, because of the authority of the people claiming to have discovered them.
The most traditional definition of law; is that it is the body of knowledge or arts that enables individuals and society as a whole to govern themselves and acts according to the rules established by those rules. By extension, this definition excludes the courts, creating a vast exception to what would otherwise be considered a norm in the field of law. It was, for example, an exception to the common law rule that a wife was not to be judged by her husband’s court, and thus, could not ask questions about the legitimacy of his marriage before it had been formally legalized.
There are many different definitions of Law in the United States and there are even more separate systems of law developed within individual states, each enforcing its own set of rules.
The most common definition of Law in the United States, used by attorneys, is “A body of law designed to protect the rights, privileges, and immunities of individuals”. It is derived from the idea that “rights are property rights”, and that a law exists to “ensure a just and fair distribution of these rights”. This, in turn, is based on the idea of “order” and of maintaining a “balance of power”.
In order to understand the Law in the United States; it is important to contrast it with other systems of law, especially those that are found in countries that are very similar to the United States (such as in Canada), since the basic theories of Law in the US are quite different from those of Canada, and indeed from that of England. In the United States, the courts are created by statute, which is subject to change in a number of circumstances. For instance, when a death occurs, the executor of the will may petition the court to have the decision review under the constitution. In addition, there are cases in which the legislature has passed laws which are required to be enforced by the courts. Similarly, there are decisions of Congress that require the courts to hear and decide cases, such as when a tax has been improperly assessed or a right is deprived without just cause.
A further difference between the US system and other western countries; is that the supreme court, created by the Constitution, is the only body of law in the US system that is not subject to any statutory rule. Such a rule would be a Constitutional amendment, or an act passed by both houses of Congress. The two bodies of law then review each other, with the courts acting as the final arbiters of legal disputes. In this aspect, it is clear that Law is different in the US than in other countries, although this is changing as the number of states increase.
As one can see, Law in the United States is significantly different than the rule of the common law in many other countries. However, the US system allows for the existence of many rules that are not specified in the constitution, including the three branches of the federal government, judicial review, and Congress (including its power of taxation). Because of this, it is often said, “Law and justice are synonymous,” since the courts cannot effectively decide upon the legitimacy of a government, and must therefore defer to the legislature.