General Characteristics of Law

 

 

 

Law has so many attributes or characteristics. The attributes of law include the following:

1.      Law is fundamental and pervasive. There is law with reference to nearly all things. Law covers and regulates practically all aspects of life and activity.

2.   Law is a collection of rules, remedies and sanctions as the case may be. Law is a collection of do’s and don’ts or norms. It prescribes what a person should do or not to do.

3.      In the olden days many laws evolved from customs. Nowadays, law is usually made by the legislature, that is the parliament or by a delegated legislature or other law makers in accordance with the systems operating in a given country. For instance, in Nigeria the National Assembly is constitutionally assigned with the responsibility of legislating for the federation while the State Houses of Assembly are saddled with the responsibility of legislating for their respective States.

4.      Nowadays, law is mostly codified, that is, written at the instance of the law maker especially where it is it made by parliament. On the other hand, laws which emerge from customs are mostly unwritten and today they exist either as partly written or wholly unwritten. It also takes the form of judicial precedent and so forth. However, law may be written that is codified as a Statute law or partly uncodified in form of common law and customary law.

5.      Law aims at achieving justice – justice is fairness, equity and the right application of the law. Justice is what the law aims to do between two adverse parties. Justice is also what the law is supposed to produce. Although law is synonymous with justice, yet the law is not always just, this happens when a rigid application results in injustice. The law sometimes unfortunately falls short of justice. However, before God and man the in changing and only duty of a judge is to do justice. Thus, our laws should be enacted to enable judges do justice and make the courts a place where everyone can get justice.  

6.      Law is man-made: laws are rules adopted by the society to govern itself. Thus, law within the context of our definition cannot be regarded as God-given as contained in the holy books. Since law is man-made, man has the responsibility to determine to a large extent the content of the law of his society. It suffices to observe that while many factors including religion, morality, customs and stage of socio-political development of a society usually have some bearing on the selection of the laws by which a society is governed, it must be realized that such values or rules are not laws unless they are traceable to the institutional sources such as to the constitution, Statute, case law and delegated legislation etc.

7.      Law is territorial and has territorial limits: laws are usually made to guide the conduct of the people in a particular society or territory and binding on the people within that society or territory. A classical example is found in the principles of International that “no country ever takes notice revenue laws of another country.”

In Holman v Johnson, the plaintiff had sold tea to the defendant in Dunkirk with knowledge that the tea was to be smuggled into England. In a suit for recovery of the price, it was objected that the contract was void for illegality. The court rejected this contention based on the above principle. It was held that the seller had no concern in the smuggling scheme and did not violate any English law. To uphold the claims of the defendant would be tantamount to giving the English law external territorial effect.

Thus, law only operates or takes effect in the geographical territory in which the law applies such as corporations, institutions, local government areas, States, country or international community as the case may be.

8.      Law is dynamic in nature: since law is meant to regulate the behaviour of man in the society, the content of the law of each society usually changes as the social, political and economic world in which he lives change. Thus, law is not static but dynamic and may be amended and reformed to meet the needs of the people as changes occur and as the society grows.

9.      Law may be logical, but it it not necessarily based on logic nor coterminous with logic. Therefore, rules of law and judicial decisions may not necessarily be logical.

10. Law is a reflection of societal attitude. A good example is the law of societal security and welfare State, which is a clear reflection of the need to care for the weak and needy.

11. Law may be rooted and spring from the nature, culture and history or religion of the people as well as the socio-economic and political life of the people. Furthermore, law may simply be a command, positive declaration, legal order, decree or do’s and don’ts issued by a law maker.

12. Law is a reflection of the moral state or condition of the society. Law reflects morality even though law is not necessarily moral or coterminous with morality. In other words, law may be moral but law and morality is not one and the same thing.