Outline of law

The following outline is provided as an overview of and introduction to law:

Law is the set of rules and principles (laws) by which a society is governed, through enforcement by governmental authorities. Law is also the field that concerns the creation and administration of laws, and includes any and all legal systems.

Nature of law

Law can be described as all of the following:

• Academic discipline – the body of knowledge given to - or received by - a disciple (student); a branch or sphere of knowledge, or field of study, that an individual has chosen to specialise in.
  • one of the humanities – an academic discipline that studies the human condition, using methods that are primarily analytical, critical, or speculative, as distinguished from the mainly empirical approaches of the natural sciences.
• System – set of elements (often called 'components' instead) and relationships which are different from relationships of the set or its elements to other elements or sets.
  • part of the legal system – legal scholarship and practice shapes how the law is interpreted and applied in societies

Legal systems

• Common law
• Civil law (legal system)
• Religious law
  • Bahá'í laws
  • Biblical law
  • Canon law
  • Halakha
  • Hindu law
  • Jain law
  • Pāṭimokkha
  • Sharia
• Traditional Chinese law

Law by source

Branches of law

• Substantive law

Laws by jurisdictional scope

• International law
• Supranational law
  • Law of the European Union
    • Treaties of the European Union
    • Regulation (European Union)
    • Directive (European Union)
    • European Union decision
    • European Union legislative procedure
• Municipal law
  • Federal law (National law)
  • State law
  • Local ordinance

History

• Cuneiform law
• Babylonian law
• Ancient Greek law
• Roman law
  • Byzantine law
• Early Germanic law
• Legal history of the Catholic Church
  • Jus antiquum

Basic legal concepts

• Ignorantia juris non excusat
• Presumption of innocence
  • Presumption (canon law)
• Treason
• Rights (Outline)
• Rule of law

Lists

External links

• WorldLII – World Legal Information Institute
• CommonLII – Commonwealth Legal Information Institute
• AsianLII – Asian Legal Information Institute
• AustLII – Australasian Legal Information Institute
• BAILII – British and Irish Legal Information Institute
• CanLII – Canadian Legal Information Institute
• NZLII – New Zealand Legal Information Institute
• PacLII – Pacific Islands Legal Information Institute

Notes

This article includes a law-related list of lists.
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