The four main sources of law are constitutional law, statutory law, regulatory law and customary law. The four main sources of law are established and maintained by the three branches of government: legislative, judicial and executive. For decades and centuries, legal principles have been derived from customs. The divine right of kings, natural and legal rights, human rights, civil rights, and common law are the earliest unwritten sources of law. Canon law and other forms of religious law form the basis of law derived from religious practices and teachings or sacred texts; This source of law is important if there is a state religion. Historical or judicial precedents and jurisprudence may modify, or even create, a source of law. Laws, rules and regulations are the tangible source of codified and enforceable laws. [2] University of Idaho School of Law, “Sources of Law,” www.uidaho.edu/~/media/UIdaho-Responsive/Files/law/library/legal-research/guides/sources-law.ashx. States also have individual state constitutions to protect citizens.
In the U.S. legal system, states and the federal government are responsible for creating, enacting, enacting, and regulating the law for equal protection for all U.S. citizens. A constitution is a corpus of governmental rules maintained by a state, country, or governing body as a set of rules and decrees. The Constitution of the United States is the fundamental document that sets out the principles on which the United States was founded. The Constitution of the United States was signed by 39 of the 55 delegates present on September 17, 1787 at Independence Hall in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The U.S. Constitution is very important to the U.S. legal system because it grants U.S. citizens specific constitutional rights that are upheld by the U.S.
judicial system. These constitutional rights are set out in the Bill of Rights and are protected rights of U.S. citizens. Scotland, Louisiana, Mauritius and Quebec are examples of private law based on older civil and customary rules (not codified in Scotland) that persist in a common law environment. Israel has its own system, in which the former Ottoman and British mandates are now supplanted by a modern system. It does not have a single constitutional document, but much of modern law combines the great legislative simplicity of the main civil codes with the careful transparency of the common law judgment. Common law systems, such as ours, are largely adversarial in which two parties investigate the truth and argue their case before an impartial person or group of people, usually a jury or judge, who are trying to determine whether or not they agree with what each party has presented as evidence in the case. Legislation is the most important source of law. and consists of the declaration of legislation by a competent authority. Legislation can have many purposes: to regulate, approve, allow, prohibit, provide funds, sanction, grant, declare or restrict.
A parliamentary legislature formulates new laws, such as Acts of Parliament, and amends or repeals old laws. The legislator may delegate legislative powers to subordinate bodies. In the United Kingdom, these delegated acts include statutory instruments, orders in council and regulations. Delegated legislation may be challenged for procedural irregularities; And legislators generally have the right to withdraw delegated powers when they deem it appropriate. Judicial law, known as jurisprudence, is sometimes referred to as the common law. Legislators can draft far-reaching laws and allow judges to interpret the meaning of laws by applying them to cases involving real people and companies. Alternatively, topics may arise that are not regulated by law. In such cases, courts may apply definitions and rules based on the traditional manner in which these issues have been handled. For example, State law rarely defines the elements of tort liability or the constituent elements of contracts. These are matters defined on the basis of centuries-old tradition, often under English law. The first group includes countries whose “mixed” system is influenced by both civil and common law.
The old uncodified civil law of Holland is the basis of the Roman-Dutch law of South Africa, Zambia, Namibia, Lesotho, Swaziland, Botswana and Sri Lanka; it is characterized by a rich legal literature dating back to Hugo Grotius (de Groot) in the 17th century. But their long contacts with Britain mean that their public law and legal proceedings owe much to the common law. Most systems accept that criminal responsibility is not attributable to specific groups of people: very young children or people with serious mental illness. The systems also recognize a number of mitigating circumstances such as self-defence or provocation. Everywhere you look, there are people or systems that prevent us from harming ourselves or others that serve as remedies if we are hurt. Your mother or father could have been the source of justice in every way if you had behaved badly. When you play a sport, you know that the game is subject to certain rules and that officials are on hand to make sure they are respected. The same goes for almost every action we take in our daily lives.