[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"doc-detail-638710-en":3,"doc-seo-638710-105":31,"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":98},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"success",{"doc_id":7,"user_id":8,"nickname":9,"user_avatar":10,"doc_module":4,"category_id":11,"category_name":12,"doc_title":13,"doc_description":14,"doc_content":15,"file_id":16,"file_url":17,"file_type":18,"file_size":19,"view_count":20,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":21,"is_downloadable":21,"audit_status":21,"page_count":22,"language":23,"language_code":24,"site_id":25,"html_lang":24,"table_of_contents":26,"faqs":27,"seo_title":28,"seo_description":14,"update_tm":29,"read_time":30},638710,8796095462418,"Noah","https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/avatar/80000253c1241d02b47?x-image-process=image/resize,m_fixed,w_180,h_180&k=1778826106357471780",8,"Research & Report","Foundations of Law - Topic 1 - Nature and Sources of Law","Topic 1 “Foundations of Law” explains what law is and how it functions as a system of rules created and recognised by legal institutions to order society, resolve disputes, and manage conflicting values. It covers how law differs from politics and morality, how legal problems can fail to receive legal responses, and how law is classified into branches such as civil, criminal, public, and private. It further addresses autonomy and legitimacy through positivism, natural law, and legal formalism, then contrasts substantive and procedural law, outlines public interest litigation and standing, and summarises the rule of law and legal language conventions.","Topic 1: Foundations of Law  \nNature and Sources of Law What is law?  \n􀁯 Law is a set of rules created and recognised by legal institutions. It is a means of ordering society and resolving disputes, combining order with freedom. It helps negotiate conflicting values and social change. The law is separate from politics yet based off political judgements, not morality yet reflects social values and concerns, expands yet limits power and concerned with fairness yet not always just and accessible.  \n􀁯 Law can be taken many ways; narrative or story (personal, society and values), political issue or legal dispute (role of institutions in administering and creating the law) .  \nThe role of classification  \n􀁯 Legal and non-legal, depending on what response the parties want to pursue. Many don’t see their problems as needing a legal response or can’t access the law, so don’t invoke their legal rights, instead rely on unauthorised information and advice.  \n􀁯 Branch of law. Civil law regulates relationships between individuals, creating rights and liabilities and imposing consequences of breeches. Criminal law on the other hand regulates acts that are harmful to society by prohibiting acts and punishing failures to act. This distinction emphasises how it is not behaviour that defines status, but the legal processes invoked in response. Public law regulates the functioning of the state and its relationship with individuals. Private law on the other hand regulates relationships between individuals.  \n􀁯 Dominant subject matter (area of law) which can include constitutional, intellectual property, discrimination, employment, environmental and consumer law.  \n􀁯 Institutional source required. Parliaments enact statue law and delegate power to non-parliamentary bodies while courts enact common law which tries to distinguish the different institutional sources of law.  \n􀁯 Influenced by international law (authority through constitution) . International treaties must be signed, ratified and implemented to have legal effect. Used by the courts to develop and interpret the law.  \n􀁯 An important distinction must be made on the meanings of common law. It is a type of legal system (civil law, common law – reflects special role of judges as law makers), a source of law (statute, common law – develop and interpret legislation) and law developed by courts (common law – principles and rules, equity) .  \nAutonomy and legitimacy  \n􀁯 Autonomy is the idea of law as being a separate body of values, rules, institutions and processes. Although there is not always a consensus about policy matters or what morality entails. The law however tries to provide a means of deciding between competing claims.  \n􀁯 Positivism is the idea of the law as rules created by institutions with the authority to command. It requires the law to meet a criteria for creation regardless of its moral content as there is a difference between morality (what ought to be) and the law (what is) . Natural law though abolished this idea. It developed out of the secularisation of society, was consolidated by the ordered system of laws separated by individual legal categories and concepts and was legitimised through the laws authoritative processes.  \n􀁯 Legal formalism is the idea oflaw as a self-contained body of rules, objectively and logically applied by those with specialist knowledge, assuming law has an objective existence; discovered through an apolitical and value free process.  \n􀁯 The idea of law as a separate body of rules gives our legal system legitimacy.  \nThe focus on procedure  \n􀁯 Substantive law emphasises rules which make up the substance of a branch oflaw and the way disputes will be determined by courts. It is known as the legal doctrine or the doctrinal aspects of law. Legal rules are ambiguous (interpreted and applied in more than one way); which requires statute and case law to identify how these rules are to be interpreted and applied.  \n􀁯 Procedural law emphasises an appropri","cbCaimDoczhXkruj","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaimDoczhXkruj","pdf",174738,4,1,5,"English","en",105,"# Foundations of Law\n## Nature and Sources of Law\n## The role of classification\n## Autonomy and legitimacy\n## The focus on procedure\n## The rule of law\n## Legal language and conventions","[{\"question\":\"What is law, and what purposes does it serve in society?\",\"answer\":\"Law is a set of rules created and recognised by legal institutions. It orders society, resolves disputes, and helps negotiate conflicting values and manage social change.\"},{\"question\":\"How is law classified, and what distinguishes major branches?\",\"answer\":\"Law can be legal or non-legal depending on the response parties want. Major branches include civil law, criminal law, public law, and private law, distinguished by what relationships or harmful acts they regulate.\"},{\"question\":\"What is the difference between substantive law and procedural law?\",\"answer\":\"Substantive law focuses on the rules that determine the substance of a branch of law and how courts decide disputes. Procedural law governs the course of action: which court to approach, who may bring cases, timelines, standards of proof, evidence, and available remedies.\"}]","Foundations of Law - Topic 1 - Nature and Sources of Law | PDF",1792696770,13,{"code":4,"msg":32,"data":33},"ok",{"site_id":25,"language":24,"slug":34,"title":13,"keywords":35,"description":14,"schema_data":36,"social_meta":92,"head_meta":94,"extra_data":96,"updated_unix":97},"foundations-of-law-topic-1-nature-and-sources-of-law","",{"@graph":37,"@context":91},[38,54,74],{"@type":39,"itemListElement":40},"BreadcrumbList",[41,45,49,52],{"item":42,"name":43,"@type":44,"position":21},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":46,"name":47,"@type":44,"position":48},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/","Document",2,{"item":50,"name":12,"@type":44,"position":51},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/research-report/",3,{"item":53,"name":13,"@type":44,"position":20},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/foundations-of-law-topic-1-nature-and-sources-of-law/638710/",{"url":53,"name":13,"@type":55,"image":56,"author":61,"headline":13,"publisher":63,"fileFormat":66,"inLanguage":24,"description":14,"dateModified":67,"datePublished":68,"encodingFormat":66,"isAccessibleForFree":69,"interactionStatistic":70},"DigitalDocument",{"url":57,"@type":58,"width":59,"height":60},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/foundations-of-law-topic-1-nature-and-sources-of-law/638710.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":9,"@type":62},"Person",{"url":42,"name":64,"@type":65},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-10-30","2026-10-22",true,{"@type":71,"interactionType":72,"userInteractionCount":20},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":73},"ViewAction",{"@type":75,"mainEntity":76},"FAQPage",[77,83,87],{"name":78,"@type":79,"acceptedAnswer":80},"What is law, and what purposes does it serve in society?","Question",{"text":81,"@type":82},"Law is a set of rules created and recognised by legal institutions. It orders society, resolves disputes, and helps negotiate conflicting values and manage social change.","Answer",{"name":84,"@type":79,"acceptedAnswer":85},"How is law classified, and what distinguishes major branches?",{"text":86,"@type":82},"Law can be legal or non-legal depending on the response parties want. Major branches include civil law, criminal law, public law, and private law, distinguished by what relationships or harmful acts they regulate.",{"name":88,"@type":79,"acceptedAnswer":89},"What is the difference between substantive law and procedural law?",{"text":90,"@type":82},"Substantive law focuses on the rules that determine the substance of a branch of law and how courts decide disputes. Procedural law governs the course of action: which court to approach, who may bring cases, timelines, standards of proof, evidence, and available remedies.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":53,"og:type":93,"og:title":13,"og:site_name":64,"og:description":14},"article",{"robots":95,"canonical":53},"index,follow",{"doc_id":7,"site_id":25},1793096178,{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":99},[100,104,108,112,116,121,126,129,134,137,141],{"id":21,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":47,"category_name":101,"show_sort_weight":102,"slug":103},"Story & Novel",90,"story-novel",{"id":48,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":47,"category_name":105,"show_sort_weight":106,"slug":107},"Literature",80,"literature",{"id":20,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":47,"category_name":109,"show_sort_weight":110,"slug":111},"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":22,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":47,"category_name":113,"show_sort_weight":114,"slug":115},"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":117,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":47,"category_name":118,"show_sort_weight":119,"slug":120},6,"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":122,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":47,"category_name":123,"show_sort_weight":124,"slug":125},7,"Healthcare",40,"healthcare",{"id":11,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":47,"category_name":12,"show_sort_weight":127,"slug":128},30,"research-report",{"id":130,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":47,"category_name":131,"show_sort_weight":132,"slug":133},9,"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":132,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":47,"category_name":135,"show_sort_weight":132,"slug":136},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":138,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":47,"category_name":139,"show_sort_weight":138,"slug":140},10,"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":142,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":47,"category_name":143,"show_sort_weight":22,"slug":144},19,"General","general"]