Questions
- Why does there not exist a global set of laws?
- Why is it the case that certain drugs are legal in one state, yet illegal in another?
- Why are legal systems so complex (and growing continuously more complex) that you require the assistance of lawyers to understand them?
- It’s the same reason why sports rulebooks are so long. There is a tradeoff between simplicity and enforceability. Simple language is inherently easier to manipulate, which you mustn’t allow for when the legal system is meant to protect the wellbeing of society. Complexity is inevitable for precision. The simpler the legal system, the more opportunity for vindicating the guilty and criminalising the innocent.
- Why do lawyers exist? Because the legal system is complex to interpret and it is very challenging to formulate a legally valid and convincing argument in a court. You have better ways to spend your time than trying to do what lawyers do, hence their existence. There is also the circular argument that lawyers exist because lawyers exist — you cannot hope to formulate a better legal argument for yourself if your opponent is much more knowledgeable and skilled.
Law is a set of rules used to get society to conform to certain behaviours. They’re enforced by governments and exist primarily to ensure society works effectively.
Laws exist to ensure the
Law is classified into two scopes: public law and criminal law.
- Legal system — the set of laws in a country or place and how they’re made and enforced.
- Legislation — a law or set of laws, or the process making of new laws.
- Legislature — a group of people with the authority to make new laws.
- Legislative — having the authority to make new laws.
- Statutes —
- Decrees —
- Tribunal —
- Jurisdiction — the authority, or entity with the authority, to interpret and apply the law.
- (Court) Litigation
- Judge
- Judicial
- Judiciary — branch of government that judges when laws have been violated based on evidence presented in court cases.
- Constitution — a set of rules. The Constitution of Australia is a document that came into force on the first day of 1901.
- Federation — a group of self-governing states with a central government.
- Commonwealth — a political union of 56 countries, most of which are former British Empire territories.
- Referendum
- Common Law —
- Allegation
- Acquittal
- (Arrest) Warrant
- (Search) Warrant
- (On) Bail
- (On) Parole
- Court
- Defendant
- Exhibit
- Felony
- Jury
- Jury pool
- Parliament —
- Hearsay
- Impeachment
- Jurisprudence
- Lawsuit
- Litigation
- Objection
- Plaintiff
- Probation
- Prosecute
- Public defenders
- Solicitor
- Attorney
- Sentence
- Testimony
- Testify
- Verdict
- High Court