The word law, attested in Old English as lagu, comes from the Old Icelandic word lǫg. The singular form lag meant … See more

The philosophy of law is commonly known as jurisprudence. Normative jurisprudence asks "what should law be?", while analytic jurisprudence asks "what is law?"
There have been several attempts to produce "a … See more

The history of law links closely to the development of civilization. Ancient Egyptian law, dating as far back as 3000 BC, was based on the concept of Ma'at and characterised by tradition, rhetorical speech, social equa… See more

In general, legal systems can be split between civil law and common law systems. Modern scholars argue that the significance of this distinction has progressively declined. The numerous legal transplants, … See more

There are distinguished methods of legal reasoning (applying the law) and methods of interpreting (construing) the law. The former are legal syllogism, which holds sway in civil law legal systems, analogy, which is pr… See more

The main institutions of law in industrialised countries are independent courts, representative parliaments, an accountable executive, the military and police, bureaucratic organisation, the legal profession… See more