Throughout history, law has shaped society and politics. It is a set of rules that are enforced by governmental institutions. In general, legal issues involve disputes between people or planned events that have legal implications.
Common legal issues include: immigration, consumer rights, housing, debt, and money. They may be triggered by a sudden illness, a problem at work, or a planned event. These issues usually require the help of a lawyer.
Laws are made by governmental institutions, such as governments, parliaments, and courts. Laws can be divided into two main categories: common law and civil law. Typically, common law legal systems are more rigid and less detailed than civil law legal systems. Common law systems are also more explicit about acknowledging judicial decisions as law.
Common law systems include doctrines such as precedent and analogy. They are sometimes used to describe the relationship between a court’s decisions and the law it determines.
A common law system also typically features legal syllogism, which is a set of rules governing the interpretation of law. These rules include directives for linguistic interpretation, systemic interpretation, and the golden rule.
Civil law legal systems are typically shorter and require less detailed judicial decisions. Civil law systems are divided into three main areas: judicial decisions, legislative statutes, and case law.
In addition, a civil law legal system may also include the doctrine of precedent, which states that decisions by higher courts bind lower courts. In other words, the court that decides a case has the power to determine the law that will govern future cases.
