The right regulates the behavior of the members of a society. That is why, although sometimes we cannot perceive it, it is present daily in our daily lives.
Law is defined as the set of legal rules that regulate the behavior of men in a specific social context. This means that what the law designates as legal in one society (one country or state) may be illegal in another society.
The function of law is to avoid chaos, proposing rules that facilitate harmonious coexistence in society. It is based on the principles of justice, security and order.
life in society
The human being needs to live in society to survive.
Even if the resources currently exist to be able to live in isolation, at least in the early years of our development and to learn the necessary survival activities, we need a set of individuals. That is why all societies, throughout history, have had a series of more or less formal rules that guarantee the possibility of living in harmony in society.
Each group or individual can govern their behavior by another type of rules, for example those of a moral or religious order. However, the only actions that are punishable by law are those that are explicitly prohibited by legal norms.
Branches of Law
The different branches of law indicate a series of bans, but they are aimed at guaranteeing the rights of all members of the community. The law seeks the difficult balance of granting autonomy to individuals while guaranteeing the proper functioning of society.
Each country has its own set of legal rules. However, a general organization of the law can be pointed out:
- Public Law. Its rules govern the interest of the State, of society as a whole, and the organization of public bodies.
- Constitutional right. Organize the form of the state.
- Private international right. It regulates the conflicts of its jurisdiction arising from acts of individuals from one country with another.
- public international law. It establishes the rights and duties of the States.
- Criminal law. It defines the behaviors that are considered crimes and the corresponding sanctions.
- Criminal Procedural Law. Organizes the courts, their powers and procedures.
- Administrative law. Organize public powers.
- civil procedural law. It organizes the civil courts, their powers, jurisdictions and processes.
- Private right. Its rules govern the interests of private individuals.
- Civil law. Governs the civil relations of individuals, families and property.
- commercial law. Governs civil relations of a commercial nature.
- Labor law. It governs the work activities of individuals, the relations between employees and employers.
Examples of law in everyday life
- At birth, we are registered as citizens. The law determines that from that moment we have certain rights and obligations.
- To the purchase in any trade, the exchange is governed by commercial law.
- If the purchases are made in a store that has employees, the employee’s work is governed by labor law.
- That is, when you buy a Newspaper Norms defined by commercial and labor law also apply.
- The content of the newspaper is also regulated by civil law, which guarantees freedom of expression but also protects privacy.
- By enrolling our children in school We follow civil law regulations.
- By using the service telephone, our interaction with the company providing the service is governed by commercial law.
- To the walk on public roads we are protected by civil law, but also by criminal law.
- If we suffer a Stole or an assault punishable by civil or criminal law, we can resort to the Judiciary to punish the guilty party.
- The trial processes are regulated by procedural law.
- The Labor laws determine how many rest days each worker has depending on their seniority.
- The legal age for drink alcohol It changes in each country. While in most countries it is 18 years (Argentina, Australia, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, China, Mexico, Spain, etc.), in other countries it is 16 years (Austria, Germany, Italy, etc.) and in other countries it can be up to 21 years (United States, Indonesia, etc.)
- Public law guarantees access to public health. This means that we can resort to a public hospital in the event of an illness or accident.
- The hiring of insurance is governed by commercial law.
- If we have a accident With a car that is insured, commercial law intervenes to obtain the insurance money, but also criminal law to ensure that there was no crime and civil law to protect the rights of third parties.