Law
hideLaw is a system of rules, usually enforced through a set of institutions. It shapes politics, economics and society in numerous ways and serves as a primary social mediator in relations between people. Contract law regulates everything from buying a bus ticket to trading on derivatives markets. Property law defines rights and obligations related to the transfer and title of personal and real property. Trust law applies to assets held for investment and financial security, while tort law allows claims for compensation if a person's rights or property are harmed. If the harm is criminalised in penal code, criminal law offers means by which the state can prosecute the perpetrator. Constitutional law provides a framework for the creation of law, the protection of human rights and the election of political representatives. Administrative law is used to review the decisions of government agencies, while international law governs affairs between sovereign nation states in activities ranging from trade to environmental regulation or military action. Writing in 350 BC, the Greek philosopher Aristotle declared, "The rule of law is better than the rule of any individual."
Legal systems elaborate rights and responsibilities in a variety of ways. A general distinction can be made between civil law jurisdictions, which codify their laws, and common law systems, where judge made law is not consolidated. In some countries, religion still informs the law. Law provides a rich source of scholarly inquiry, such as legal history and philosophy, or social scientific perspectives such as economic analysis of law or the sociology of law. The study of law raises important and complex issues concerning equality, fairness, liberty and justice. "In its majestic equality", said the author Anatole France in 1894, "the law forbids rich and poor alike to sleep under bridges, beg in the streets and steal loaves of bread." In a typical democracy, the central institutions for interpreting and creating law are the three main branches of government, namely an impartial judiciary, a democratic legislature, and an accountable executive. To implement and enforce the law and provide services to the public, a government's bureaucracy, the military and police are vital. While all these organs of the state are creatures created and bound by law, an independent legal profession and a vibrant civil society inform and support their progress.
For more information about Law, read the full article at
Wikipedia.
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News tagged with law
Google says Murdoch stories can be taken off
13 hours ago |
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Google said on Tuesday, in response to threats by Rupert Murdoch to ban the search engine from listing content from his news empire, that any company could ask to have stories taken off. ...
Framed for child porn -- by a PC virus
Nov 08, 2009 |
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(AP) -- Of all the sinister things that Internet viruses do, this might be the worst: They can make you an unsuspecting collector of child pornography.
New Digital 'Electronics' Concept May Continue Moore's Law
Nov 05, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Computers of the future could be operating not on electrons, but on tiny waves traveling through an electron "fluid," if a new proposal is successful. The new circuit design, recently introduced ...
Second Law of Thermodynamics May Explain Economic Evolution
Nov 02, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Terms such as the "invisible hand," laissez-faire policy, and free-market principles suggest that economic growth and decline in capitalist societies seem to be somehow self-regulated. Now, ...
Web marketer ordered to pay Facebook $711M damages
Oct 30, 2009 |
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(AP) -- Facebook said Thursday a California court has awarded the social networking Web site $711 million in damages in an anti-spam case against Internet marketer Sanford Wallace.
Scientists explain mystery of observed turbulent density fluctuations in interplanetary space
Oct 28, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists at The University of Alabama in Huntsville have developed a three-dimensional simulation model to understand behavior of interplanetary charged particles in space.
Legal counsel affects death penalty cases
Other Sciences / Social Sciences
Oct 27, 2009 |
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Legal counsel is a matter of life and death in Houston, but it is not necessarily tied to a defendant's socioeconomic status, according to new research by Scott Phillips, associate professor of sociology and criminology at ...
Halloween sex offender policies questioned
Oct 22, 2009 |
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The rates of non-familial sex crimes against children under the age of 12 are no higher during the Halloween season than at any other times of the year, according to a study published in the September issue of Sexual Abuse: A ...
New research analyzes the marriage of science and law
Other Sciences / Social Sciences
Oct 21, 2009 |
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Distinguished Professor on the Humanities, Cooper Senior Scholar in Arts and Sciences, Professor of Philosophy, Professor of Law Susan Haack has recently published a research paper entitled, "Irreconcilable Differences? The ...
Will Judicial Judgment Change Cyberspace?
Oct 20, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- The struggle of American courts to control the explosion of intellectual property rights violations on some of the most traveled highways of cyberspace poses a legal challenge to the judicial system with ...
Book scanning prompts review of EU copyright laws
Oct 19, 2009 |
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(AP) -- The European Commission said Monday it may revise copyright law to make it easier for companies like Google Inc. to scan printed books and distribute digital copies over the Internet.
Scientists protest plan to loosen patent protection on genetic research
Oct 11, 2009 |
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University of Wisconsin-Madison officials are lashing out at new recommendations from an influential federal panel that could dramatically weaken patent protection for the university's genetic research.
Life mag goes online through Google scan project
Sep 23, 2009 |
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(AP) -- Decades of Life magazine have been scanned and posted online, giving the public the first comprehensive electronic access to the iconic publication's archives.
New deal sought in dispute over Google book plan (Update)
Sep 22, 2009 |
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(AP) -- A $125 million settlement of a lawsuit that would give Google Inc. the digital rights to millions of out-of-print books will be renegotiated in light of the U.S. Department of Justice's contention ...
Feds balk at Google book deal, hopes for changes
Sep 19, 2009 |
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(AP) -- The U.S. Justice Department advised a federal judge Friday that a proposed legal settlement giving Google Inc. the digital rights to millions of out-of-print books threatens to thwart competition ...
