What is law?

We explain what the law is and what is the purpose of the legal norms. In addition, types of laws and what are their characteristics.

1. What is law?

The concept of law comes from the Latin lex and within the legal scope it can be defined as those general and obligatory norms that have been dictated by the corresponding power with the objective of regulating human behaviors.

A law is a rule or legal norm that is dictated by the competent authority of each particular site. Its purpose is to order or prohibit any action in line with justice . In addition, laws limit free will , that is, to people within a society ; they are norms that govern social behavior. The law is the main source of the law because, to be issued, it needs a legislative body.

In case the laws are not complied with, the public force has the duty and obligation to sanction the corresponding person or institution.

Laws can be of three types :

• Prescriptive laws They are those whose objective is the regulation of certain behaviors.
• Organic laws. They are those created by law institutions.
• Constitutional laws. They are those that detail or expand some constitutional precept.

2. Characteristics of the laws

Some characteristics of the term law, within the law , are its obligation, impersonality, abstraction, permanence and generality.

• Mandatory With respect to their obligation , this implies that each and every person must respect and comply with the laws, even when they are against their own will.
• Impersonal. They are impersonal because of the simple fact that laws are not created to apply to a certain person, but to an undetermined number of them.
• Abstract. The laws are said to be abstract because they apply to all those cases that fall on the assumptions determined in the rules, which implies a number of cases not established or particularized.
• Permanent. Permanence is another quality of the laws, which refers to the fact that they are formulated indefinitely and permanently. They only cease to be valid when they are subrogated, repealed or repealed from subsequent laws.
• Generals Finally, another characteristic of the laws is their generality, this implies that they are applicable to all those individuals who present the conditions determined in them.

In addition, two aspects must be taken into account when talking about laws:

• Formal appearance. which refers to that norm that has been formulated by the legislative power itself .
• Material aspect which implies the obligatory, abstract and general norm that has as its objective the regulation of man’s behaviors.

Laws are then a way to control the behavior of human beings in order to limit free will and allow a better coexistence between the members of a given society.

In case of breaking the laws, people are sanctioned, so many times they must submit to them even though they do not match their own convictions.

3. Natural laws

On the other hand, and more generally, the concept of law refers to those invariable and constant factors of things that arise from a first cause. This is why we do not necessarily talk about law when the rules are established by some authority but can also be natural.

These are the ones that govern all spaces of creation and are irrevocable , eternal and invariable since they have not been created by man , but emanate from nature and do not respond to the will of the people. A very clear example of natural laws is the Law of Gravity.