Question

why do we need laws ? how have laws worked towards bringing about changes in our society

Answer 1

Every civilized society is governed by a system of laws. Historically, societies made these laws by formulating general principles about how citizens should behave (civil law), and by taking decisions about individual cases and then applying the same judgement to each similar case thereafter (common law, also known as case law). But as society becomes more global, law is changing — and with it, the job of academic legal scholars.

The seat of the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France. The EU’s unique position could see it bring together and supplement national legal arrangements.

In the past couple of decades, legal scholars have been moving away from studying the application of law (organizing and refining the ‘case-by-case’ legal system) and towards the study of law-making itself. By working in this way, they hope to come up with new ways of resolving legal problems before they arise. Rather than commenting on case law and refining existing legal doctrines, scholars are increasingly focusing on making proposals for new laws. This focus could prove to be a much more efficient way of maintaining and developing the legal system.

This task is complicated by the fact that there are now far more players in the legal system than ever before. Gone are the days in which only individual states set the rules. Increasingly, other components of society are setting legislation — for example, private companies can insist that their clients and business partners adhere to codes of conduct, and supranational organizations such as the European Union (EU) can instigate union-wide laws. The legal system is a multi-level, multi-player system.

This article focuses on two of the major ways in which the legal system is changing: the existence of ‘private’ lawmakers and the increasing trend for supranational organisations to make ‘optional’ laws that can be used in place of national versions.