CHAPTER III: BASIC CONCEPTS OF LAW
I. FIELDS OF LAW: PRIVATE AND INTERNATIONAL LAW
PUBLIC LAW:
o Branch of law in which the government interferes
o Administrative Law
o Constitutional Law
o Criminal law
o Public International Law
PRIVATE LAW
o Branch of law in which the government doesn’t play a role
o Concerns mutual relations between citizens
o Tort Law
o Contract Law
o Family Law
o Property Law
o Commercial Law
o Private International Law
II. FIELDS OF LAW:PROCEDURAL AND SUBSTANTIVE LAW
Substantive Law
o rules that give people rights and determine what people should do
in order to act lawfully
o Establishes principles and limitations
Procedural Law
o Sets rules and methods to apply the abovementioned rules
o Provides rules that define how courts should act and how should
they be conducted
o Each branch of law has its own procedures
III. FIELDS OF LAW: ‘FUNCTIONAL’ FIELDS OF LAW
Fields that don’t belong to a specific substantive or procedural field
Characterized by the function they fulfil
Cover a topic(e.g. environmental law)
IV. LEGAL SUBJECTS
NATURAL PERSONS
o Human beings
, o Distinguished from a corporation/company
o Protected by human rights
LEGAL PERSONS
o Companies; The State
o Most of criminal Law and Human rights are assigned to this legal
persons even though it is very hard to address them by this kind of
law
V. RULES, OPERATIVE FACTS AND LEGAL CONSEQUENCES
STRUCTURE OF RULES
o Conditional form (If… then…)
o Each rule has
A condition part( in which cases does the rule applies)
A conclusion( legal consequence)
OPERATIVE FACTS
o The facts of a case that match the conditions
o If they don’t match the conditions then they are not operative facts
o It also needs to attach legal consequences
VI. JURIDICAL ACTS
Means ( contracts, last wills, legislative acts, judicial decisions and
administrative dispositions) that legal subjects use to intentionally
change their legal positions or rules
Different from FACTUAL ACTS- acts performed but not with the
intention to bring about legal consequences
REQUISITS TO PERFORM A JURIDICAL ACT
o INTENTION
Legal subjects perform a juridical act in order to bring
about legal consequences
o COMPETENCE
only people with some legal authority and knowledge of
law are competent/can perform a juridical act
Ordinary citizens cannot perform one
o FORMALITIES
I. FIELDS OF LAW: PRIVATE AND INTERNATIONAL LAW
PUBLIC LAW:
o Branch of law in which the government interferes
o Administrative Law
o Constitutional Law
o Criminal law
o Public International Law
PRIVATE LAW
o Branch of law in which the government doesn’t play a role
o Concerns mutual relations between citizens
o Tort Law
o Contract Law
o Family Law
o Property Law
o Commercial Law
o Private International Law
II. FIELDS OF LAW:PROCEDURAL AND SUBSTANTIVE LAW
Substantive Law
o rules that give people rights and determine what people should do
in order to act lawfully
o Establishes principles and limitations
Procedural Law
o Sets rules and methods to apply the abovementioned rules
o Provides rules that define how courts should act and how should
they be conducted
o Each branch of law has its own procedures
III. FIELDS OF LAW: ‘FUNCTIONAL’ FIELDS OF LAW
Fields that don’t belong to a specific substantive or procedural field
Characterized by the function they fulfil
Cover a topic(e.g. environmental law)
IV. LEGAL SUBJECTS
NATURAL PERSONS
o Human beings
, o Distinguished from a corporation/company
o Protected by human rights
LEGAL PERSONS
o Companies; The State
o Most of criminal Law and Human rights are assigned to this legal
persons even though it is very hard to address them by this kind of
law
V. RULES, OPERATIVE FACTS AND LEGAL CONSEQUENCES
STRUCTURE OF RULES
o Conditional form (If… then…)
o Each rule has
A condition part( in which cases does the rule applies)
A conclusion( legal consequence)
OPERATIVE FACTS
o The facts of a case that match the conditions
o If they don’t match the conditions then they are not operative facts
o It also needs to attach legal consequences
VI. JURIDICAL ACTS
Means ( contracts, last wills, legislative acts, judicial decisions and
administrative dispositions) that legal subjects use to intentionally
change their legal positions or rules
Different from FACTUAL ACTS- acts performed but not with the
intention to bring about legal consequences
REQUISITS TO PERFORM A JURIDICAL ACT
o INTENTION
Legal subjects perform a juridical act in order to bring
about legal consequences
o COMPETENCE
only people with some legal authority and knowledge of
law are competent/can perform a juridical act
Ordinary citizens cannot perform one
o FORMALITIES
