The law shapes politics, economics, history and society in various ways and serves as a mediator of relations between people. Law encompasses a wide variety of topics including civil and criminal justice, administrative and labour laws, social security and property rights. Different countries have differing law systems, such as civil law jurisdictions, which rely on codified statutes and case law, or common law jurisdictions, which tend to use judge-made precedent. Religious law also plays a significant role in some communities, with Islamic Sharia being the world’s most widely used religion-based legal system.
Many legal scholars have debated the meaning and nature of law, but most agree that it is a systematic set of rules developed by a political community to regulate behavior. Some scholars argue that law is a product of the silent growth of custom or the outcome of unformulated public or professional opinion, while others claim that law has a normative character and prescribes how people ought to behave.
There are many ways that individuals or organizations may break the law, such as stealing property, illegally using another person’s trademark or committing a murder. Businesses may also violate the law if they fail to pay workers’ compensation or produce products that violate patents. Other examples include bribery and tax evasion. For most people, a violation of the law does not lead to serious consequences. But, some violations can have major financial ramifications, as in the case of corporations that violate intellectual property rights, which are protected under federal and state laws.