Month: December 2023

For anything to run acceptably and smoothly, it needs to follow certain principles and regulations. The importance of law is never understood unless there is a riot or unrest in society. Then people realize that there needs to certain rules and regulations that need to set up for society. Then society can smoothly and peacefully.

Importance of law in society

For a society to run smoothly and without any problems and riots, it needs the main order. Some rules and regulations need to be set to maintain justice and equality in society. If we look in history, countless wars and battles have been there among the human races due to the difference. They had in their beliefs, caste, and creeds. Many of the wars would have been not been there. If the people chose to talk peacefully and set up rules to live in harmony with each other.

In the century, we had two world wars where there were casualties and losses on both sides. The conclusion was differences will always be there and we cannot force anyone to follow what we believe in. Slowly, we learned that we should learn to tolerate one another. Now, we have proper law in our society which tells us how to interact with people within it. It accommodates people with different culture, background, and ethnicity and tells to live in harmony with each other.

Importance of law in education

Education is one of the basic needs of people living in any era.  Children learn different subjects in schools. Later, they enter college and then universities to pursue their passion and interests. It is not always smooth sailing among these three stages. Some educational institution preaches knowledge in such a way that it incites violence and hatred against a particular entity like religion or community.

So, laws need to set up to stop such institutions from spreading unrest in society. The children who are educated in these institutions are more prone to believing only the things they are told without investigating further about what they are told. These children start to harbor hatred and violence against some groups and communities in society. The violence shifts from verbal to physical and then to armed. The riots and violence in society grow, fueling hatred among different communities. This is the reason why we need to set up laws for the institution to respect certain policies that prevent such unrest and conflict in society.

Importance of law in business

Ethical and moral values must be upheld in business. Business means to make profits for the company or the brand making the products. But the company or the brand must make sure that their business policies do not cross the boundaries that are made in the law. These include many problems if a company chooses to use cheaper ingredients to make products which result in hazard for the health of the customers. Another example would be selling products at higher rates than assigned by the government. In such cases, action needs to be taken against these companies and brands.

Business needs to have certain laws to stop people from stealing capital from each other. In the digital age we live in, we need to come with strict and unique laws to prevent people to commit fraud against the people who make living through hard work. Since the world has grown in a much different way than before so the laws need to be made accordingly. For instance, when someone creates content on YouTube using their resources and someone uses the same video to snatch views which gives money to the staler rather than the original content creator. YouTube has made a system of copyrights to remove profits from the non-original video rendering the video useless for the staler.

Similarly, in terms of digital business, many other laws are made which regulate order in society. The people in business should work on improving their products, rather than demeaning and ruining the products of their competitors. Laws should also be made to punish such people to keep the market transparent and properly working for other people who are following rules and regulations.

Importance of law in politics

Democracy is the most common system of government in the world. People choose to vote for a certain person based on the person’s manifesto and previous record. Before voting there is campaigning for different candidates who want to contest for the open position in the government. Each candidate runs their campaign, presenting their manifesto and promising to work for the betterment of society. Although the cause is very noble, some people take this competition too personally and go to every extent just to win the elections.

There are others, which only promise about making things better for people while their true intentions are to make money and fill their own pockets. The importance of law in politics is that it makes policies against such people who frame other people and exploit them personally to win in the elections. Law also includes accountability for the people who do not work for the people but only choose to grow their bank accounts. After confiscating the money from them, they are also fined and heavily punished for their deeds.

The government can only make the life of their citizens better if it has a good system of accountability and it keeps check on the politicians whether they are handling their responsibilities well or not. This can only happen when there are strict laws for everyone who is in the government, no one is higher than the law. Principles and rules are meant to be followed, it does not matter whether one is the president or an assembly member. The system of accountability is the same for everyone, irrespective of their status, belief, or color.

Importance of law in national development

To develop as a nation, the nation needs to make laws to make its society a better place to live. It needs to create laws to make sure that there is no rigging in the elections to make sure there is transparency in politics. The candidates that are selected through the election, through transparent means deserve to sit in the government. The nation also needs to make laws to promote education peacefully and harmoniously.

Through education, the children will learn that it’s normal to have a difference among multiple cultures and ethnicity. Education will help the children to become tolerant and smart citizens. Apart from education, the nation also needs to implement laws to ensure that businesses do not violate health or ethical values while trying to make profits. Strict actions should be there to set examples for the people. When society, education, business, and politics start running according to the defined law, there will be peace and harmony among the society.

“Law” is a system of rules designed to regulate behavior in both public and private society. Social and/or governmental institutions create and enforce these rules. Humans have been making laws for thousands of years. Early examples include ancient Egyptian law, Babylonian law, ancient Chinese law, and Old Testament law. There are many categories of law, including criminal law, civil law, and so on. Why does law matter at all? Here are ten reasons why:

#1 Laws set the standard for acceptable (and unacceptable) behaviors

At its most basic, the law is about mitigating conflict. When creating laws, societies reckon with what drives conflict. Some things – like murder and theft- are obvious and have been included in laws stretching back to ancient times. However, as time goes on and societies change, what’s considered acceptable changes, too. Legal systems adapt so they can provide clarity and context for unacceptable actions. They also offer guidelines for appropriate consequences.

#2 Laws provide access to justice

If it’s against the law to punch someone in the face, someone who gets punched can do something about it other than simply swinging back. In a perfect world, justice is equal. It doesn’t matter who got punched or who did the punching. What matters is that the law against punching was broken. Everyone in a society – and not just a privileged few – must have equal access to justice through the law.

#3 Laws keep everyone safe

Laws don’t only respond to injustices and harm. They work to prevent them. Food safety laws are a prime example. In the past, the food industry was horrendously unregulated. In the 18th and 19th centuries, American food producers went to extreme measures in their quest for profit. They watered down milk and stirred in materials like chalk for color. They mixed dirt into coffee, tea, and spices and added lead to beer and wine. In 1906, President Roosevelt and Congress passed the Pure Food and Drug Act, as well as the Meat Inspection Act. This marked the beginning of modern food safety and monitoring. Today, food safety laws protect the public from potentially-fatal food poisoning.

#4 Laws protect the most vulnerable in society

Many laws are specifically designed to protect certain groups of people. Laws like the Civil Rights Act (the United States) and the Sex Discrimination Act (Australia) make it illegal to discriminate. These types of laws protect what’s known as “negative rights,” which is the right to be free from something, like discrimination. Anyone can be discriminated against, but as history shows, certain people are more at risk. Laws designed to prevent discrimination based on race, sex, gender, religion, and more protect these groups and give them better access to justice.

#5 The process of creating laws encourages civil and political engagement

As societies change, laws must change, too. Advancements in technology are a prime example of why. In recent times, the distribution of sexually explicit images or videos of individuals without their consent has become a major issue. According to one study, around 10 million Americans have had explicit photos shared without consent. While there are state laws, there is no federal law. In Australia, an electronic petition called upon the A.C.T. Legislative Assembly to criminalize the distribution of sexually explicit images or videos of individuals without their consent. The Assembly listened. This is a great example of people engaging with the law-making process and making law matter as issues evolve.

#6 Laws offers people a variety of career options

As a career, law is varied and versatile. Because there are so many different areas of law, there are hundreds of job options. Lawyers can specialize in everything from contracts to immigration to criminal law. A person can also become a professor of law, while there are also jobs for paralegals, consultants, and researchers. The legal system is big, so there is room for all kinds of skills and expertise.

#7 Laws are important to maintain peace

Earlier in this article, we touched on how law is essentially about mitigating conflict. That makes law essential to maintaining peace. This is because injustice fuels conflict. If destructive behaviors are allowed to flourish without remedy, people will suffer and become dissatisfied with their government. If justice is applied unequally, this also fans the flames of conflict. For the sake of peace, societies need to strengthen their rule of law and ensure that it’s fair.

#8 Laws are important for social progress

We’ve discussed how legal systems should adapt and evolve with the times. If laws remained stagnant, so would societies. Throughout history, law has been employed as a tool for social change. It was laws that made slavery, segregation, and apartheid illegal. Laws prevent people from getting fired from their jobs because of who they marry or because of a disability. The concept of law as a mechanism for social change is complicated because if the majority of a community doesn’t agree with the law, it’s likely that the law won’t be enforced. However, having a law on the books gives people more power than if the law didn’t exist at all. It’s an important step (though not necessarily the final step) to real social change.

#9 Laws make human rights a reality

Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor once said, “I firmly believe in the rule of law as the foundation for all our basic rights.” Basic rights are the human rights that everyone is entitled to. This includes the right to life, the right to marry, the right to be free from discrimination, and more. These are listed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, but that document is not legally binding. To make human rights a reality, they have to be protected through laws. Without law, human rights would be an abstract concept. If you would like to learn more about human rights, consider studying a masters.

#10 Laws are not always good for society

The fact that law can be used to harm is the last reason why it’s so important. Laws are not always beneficial to society or they’re only beneficial to a select group. Governments often use laws to increase their power and punish critics. Laws can also be problematic when they fail to address the root causes of a problem and even end up making it worse. Fines, which are meant to encourage people to follow laws, can add up to the point of putting people in debt and criminalizing poverty. The war on drugs is another key example of how laws can hurt people. Instead of treating drug addiction as a public health issue, laws have turned it into a criminal one. In these cases, laws end up violating human rights instead of protecting them.