“ABOUT LAW, AN INTRODUCTION” BY TONY HONORÉ
CHAPTER I: LAW
THE AIMS OF LAW
The aims of law are all concerned with making society more stable and enabling people to
flourish, by:
1. Setting up an official framework of compulsion: within this framework of do’s and
don’ts people can live more securely – which will hopefully make people treat each
other better;
2. To provide facilities for people to make their own arrangements;
3. To settle disputes about what the law is and whether it has been broken;
Together, these three aims do not only threaten those who do what it forbids, but also
promises to protect people’s interests. It imposes restrictions on them but also gives them
certain guarantees.
4. To settle what the system of government is to be: the state occupies the center stage,
especially when it comes to enforcing laws. Even with today’s international bodies.
The state
The state has an important part to play in making and enforcing law. A state is a political unit
with a territory that the international community treats as independent.
- law settles how the state is to be governed (its constitution);
- what duties it owes to its citizens;
- what duties they owe to one another and to it;
Legal systems are called legal systems because in each state or part of a state with its own
laws there are official bodies concerned with the whole of its law.
- these bodies, the branches of the state, are the legislature: makes the laws;
- the executive government: puts laws in effect;
- the judges: decide disputes about the law;
They make sure that the laws do not conflict with one another.
International law
International law is dependent on the cooperation of states. It serves the international
community by being the guideline to equal relationships between independent states. Their
laws aim at stability in international life and the encouragement of trade and other contacts
between states. International law gives guidelines;
- on how to treat one another;
- how to behave towards the international bodies and vice versa;
- provides facilities for states to make bindings agreements (treaties);
- provides facilities for states for the settlement of disputes;
LAW, MORALITY AND SELF-INTEREST
CHAPTER I: LAW
THE AIMS OF LAW
The aims of law are all concerned with making society more stable and enabling people to
flourish, by:
1. Setting up an official framework of compulsion: within this framework of do’s and
don’ts people can live more securely – which will hopefully make people treat each
other better;
2. To provide facilities for people to make their own arrangements;
3. To settle disputes about what the law is and whether it has been broken;
Together, these three aims do not only threaten those who do what it forbids, but also
promises to protect people’s interests. It imposes restrictions on them but also gives them
certain guarantees.
4. To settle what the system of government is to be: the state occupies the center stage,
especially when it comes to enforcing laws. Even with today’s international bodies.
The state
The state has an important part to play in making and enforcing law. A state is a political unit
with a territory that the international community treats as independent.
- law settles how the state is to be governed (its constitution);
- what duties it owes to its citizens;
- what duties they owe to one another and to it;
Legal systems are called legal systems because in each state or part of a state with its own
laws there are official bodies concerned with the whole of its law.
- these bodies, the branches of the state, are the legislature: makes the laws;
- the executive government: puts laws in effect;
- the judges: decide disputes about the law;
They make sure that the laws do not conflict with one another.
International law
International law is dependent on the cooperation of states. It serves the international
community by being the guideline to equal relationships between independent states. Their
laws aim at stability in international life and the encouragement of trade and other contacts
between states. International law gives guidelines;
- on how to treat one another;
- how to behave towards the international bodies and vice versa;
- provides facilities for states to make bindings agreements (treaties);
- provides facilities for states for the settlement of disputes;
LAW, MORALITY AND SELF-INTEREST
