Kinds of law
There are various kinds of law. No single law is sufficient to control all the activities of the society so different laws have been made to regulate such activities. Following are some kinds of laws:
- Common law: Common law is the law made by judicial decision. It is not declared by a law-making body i.e. sovereign. It is binding in nature.
- Equity law: Equity law refers to the principle of fairness. While it is often used interchangeably with the related principle of equality, equity encompasses a wide variety of educational models, programs, and strategies that may be considered fair, but not necessarily equal.
- Environmental law: Environmental law is the law relating to the environment. It deals with the management of the environment and strategies for tackling the problems affecting the environment.
- Military law: Military law is the law that regulates the behavior of those serving in the armed forces and is subjected to this jurisdiction of court-martial.
- By law: The legislation of subordinate law-making bodies is known as by-laws. Law made by other than legislature is called by law.
Read this also: what do you mean by law?
Salmond has described the following kinds of law :
- Positive law: The chief advocate of positive law is John Austin who defines law as a command of the sovereign which must be followed by a person. If anyone doesn’t follow this law then he/she will be punished. It is also called imperative law. Imperative law is a type of law that is enacted and imposed by the sovereign political authority.
- Physical and Scientific law: Physical law or the law of sciences are expressions of uniformities of nature and general principles expressing the regularity and harmony observed in the activities and operations of the universe. Physical laws are also known as the law of nature and natural as. E.g. rule of motion, rule of gravity, rule of heat etc.
- Natural and Moral law: Natural law or moral law is meat the principles of natural right and wrong and follows the rules of natural justice. It is also called divine law, the law of reasons, universal law and eternal law etc.
- Conventional law: Conventional law means any law or rules agreed by two or more persons to perform certain duties towards each other. It is a contract between several parties that each parties are bound by. E.g. the law of cricket and the law of any game or the law of contract.
- Customary law: The law which is developed from custom is called customary law. It means any rule of action which is followed voluntary group of people. Customary law may differ from society to society.
- Constitutional law: Constitutional law is a body of rules governing the relation between the sovereign and his subjects. Constitutional law defines the Constitution and specifies the rights, duties, function and power of the government and its organs.
- International law: International law is the body of law principles and rules that civilized independent states consider as binding upon them in their mutual relations. International law regulations the relationship between two or more countries.
- Practical and Technical law: Practical and Technical law consists of rules for the attainment of certain ends. These rules guide us as to what we ought to do to attain a certain end. E.g. the law of health, the law of music etc.
- Civil law : Civil law is the law of the state or the law of the land and so on. Civil law refers to the municipal law of a particular state having a binding force.
- Administrative law : Administrative law is law relating to administration. It determines the organization, power and duties of administrative authorities.
Read this also: What are the roles of law in society?