LEGAL STUDIES - TERM 1 (NOTES)
Basic Legal Concepts
Meaning of Law:
What is A Law?
Laws create order for people to live safely within a society.
Key Features of Law:
- Are binding on the whole community
- Are enforced
- Are officially recognised
- Are accessible
- Relate to the public interest
- Reflect rights and duties
Important Features of Law:
- Universal
- Apply consistently and constantly
- Always in effect.
- Apply to everyone, regardless of position, wealth or power – individuals do not have authority to decide
whether or not to comply with laws; society expects compliance
Customs, Rules and The Law:
Define Customs
Usage or practice common to many or to a particular place or class or habitual with an individual.
Customs
- Ways of behaving established through long standing traditions
- Usually oral
- Develop when the behaviour becomes so common society expects all members of society to behave this
way
- Form through social pressures rather than a legal process
- Enforced by ridicule or exclusion
Define Rules
Explicit or understood regulations or principles governing conduct or procedure within a particular area of activity.
Rules
- Ensure smooth operation of society
- Apply only to certain people at certain times e.g. school uniform rules
- More enforceable than customs as penalties (fines, detentions etc) may apply for non-compliance
- Often written, usually with symbols
Define Laws
The system of rules which a particular country or community recognizes as regulating the actions of its members
and which it may enforce by the imposition of penalties.
, Values and Ethics:
Define Values
Regard that something is held to deserve; the importance, worth, or usefulness of something.
Define Ethics
Moral principles that govern a person's behavior or the conduct of an activity.
Importance of Values and Ethics
- To be effective, laws must be adaptable and dynamic.
- Changing values and ethics prompting law reform.
- Not everyone in society has the same values and ethics.
- Values will influence the legal system once a significant proportion of the society holds a particular view.
- Law reform is very challenging as there are many contentious issues which people’s opinions are divided
on.
Characteristics of Just Laws:
- Applies equally to everyone
- Reflects widely held values and ethics
- Utilitarian
- Redresses inequalities rather than creating it
- Minimizes delays
- Not retrospective
- Must be known
Nature of Justice:
Define Equality?
Justice is achieved when laws do not discriminate and apply equally to all people.
Define Fairness?
Ensures that laws do not impact an individual or group in a particularly harsh way.
Define Access?
Need access to legal information and assistance in order to understand the law.
Procedural Fairness:
- Laws apply equally to all.
- Laws minimize delays.
- Laws are utilitarian.
(Practice Example : Question - Using an example, compare the concepts of fairness and equality
Answer - Equality is treating all the people the same, regardless of their circumstances. Fairness on the other hand is
about providing outcomes for all people and may involve treating people unequally.)
Rule of Law:
Basic Legal Concepts
Meaning of Law:
What is A Law?
Laws create order for people to live safely within a society.
Key Features of Law:
- Are binding on the whole community
- Are enforced
- Are officially recognised
- Are accessible
- Relate to the public interest
- Reflect rights and duties
Important Features of Law:
- Universal
- Apply consistently and constantly
- Always in effect.
- Apply to everyone, regardless of position, wealth or power – individuals do not have authority to decide
whether or not to comply with laws; society expects compliance
Customs, Rules and The Law:
Define Customs
Usage or practice common to many or to a particular place or class or habitual with an individual.
Customs
- Ways of behaving established through long standing traditions
- Usually oral
- Develop when the behaviour becomes so common society expects all members of society to behave this
way
- Form through social pressures rather than a legal process
- Enforced by ridicule or exclusion
Define Rules
Explicit or understood regulations or principles governing conduct or procedure within a particular area of activity.
Rules
- Ensure smooth operation of society
- Apply only to certain people at certain times e.g. school uniform rules
- More enforceable than customs as penalties (fines, detentions etc) may apply for non-compliance
- Often written, usually with symbols
Define Laws
The system of rules which a particular country or community recognizes as regulating the actions of its members
and which it may enforce by the imposition of penalties.
, Values and Ethics:
Define Values
Regard that something is held to deserve; the importance, worth, or usefulness of something.
Define Ethics
Moral principles that govern a person's behavior or the conduct of an activity.
Importance of Values and Ethics
- To be effective, laws must be adaptable and dynamic.
- Changing values and ethics prompting law reform.
- Not everyone in society has the same values and ethics.
- Values will influence the legal system once a significant proportion of the society holds a particular view.
- Law reform is very challenging as there are many contentious issues which people’s opinions are divided
on.
Characteristics of Just Laws:
- Applies equally to everyone
- Reflects widely held values and ethics
- Utilitarian
- Redresses inequalities rather than creating it
- Minimizes delays
- Not retrospective
- Must be known
Nature of Justice:
Define Equality?
Justice is achieved when laws do not discriminate and apply equally to all people.
Define Fairness?
Ensures that laws do not impact an individual or group in a particularly harsh way.
Define Access?
Need access to legal information and assistance in order to understand the law.
Procedural Fairness:
- Laws apply equally to all.
- Laws minimize delays.
- Laws are utilitarian.
(Practice Example : Question - Using an example, compare the concepts of fairness and equality
Answer - Equality is treating all the people the same, regardless of their circumstances. Fairness on the other hand is
about providing outcomes for all people and may involve treating people unequally.)
Rule of Law:
