Law

Private law involves the various relationships that people have with one another and the rules that determine their legal rights and duties among themselves. The area is concerned with rules and principles pertaining to private ownership and use of property, contracts between individuals, family relationships, and redress by way of compensation for harm inflicted on one person by another. Historically, government involvement was usually minimal. Private law has also operated to provide general guidelines and security in private arrangements and interactions in ways that are complementary to morality and custom but that are not necessarily enforceable in a court of law, such as noncontractual promises and agreements within an association of private individuals.

The relative significance of purely private law has decreased in modern times. Public law dominates in government-controlled societies; democratic societies increasingly have a mix of public and private law. The private sphere includes individuals and a vast array of groups, associations, organizations, and special legal entities such as corporations and limited companies. They compete with one another and with government for control of resources, wealth, power, and the communication of ideas and values. Special fields of law, such as labour law, facilitate and control this competition. Much of such law is in the commercial and corporate areas. The formerly purely private law of property and contracts, for example, is now overlaid with legislation, regulations, and judicial decisions reflecting the competition. The public law of taxation has significant impact on the whole private sphere. Courts have increasingly regarded resolution of seemingly private disputes as vehicles for response to changing social conditions and values—especially in the United States. Thus, manufacturers have experienced an expansion of liability for physical injuries caused by defects in their products. The mechanism of insurance allows manufacturers to spread such costs across the general consuming public.

The legal process that concerns relations among nations is called international law. Belief and experience in some form of international law dates from at least the days of the Roman Empire. Such law differs greatly from national legal systems. No court has the authority or power to give judgments backed by coercive sanctions. Even in its most modern developments, international law is almost wholly based on custom. The precedents on which it rests are the acts of independent governments in their relations with one another, including treaties and conventions. Behind many of its rules is only a moral sanction: the public opinion of the civilized world. When treaties or conventions are involved, however, machinery to enforce them exists—either an arbitration or conciliation procedure or the submission of the dispute to a regional or international court.

A discernible body of rules and principles is observed or at least acknowledged in international relations. These rules concern such matters as territorial titles and boundaries, use of the high seas, limits on war, telecommunication, diplomatic and consular exchange, and use of air space. The major sources of international law on these matters are multilateral treaties, international custom, and such general principles as are recognized by civilized nations.

The United Nations is one of the primary mechanisms that articulate and create international law. The General Assembly and other agencies of the UN bring a combination of diplomacy, negotiation, and propaganda to bear on world affairs in ways that produce effective international treaties and affect world opinion. Certain courts also have indirect impact, including the International Court of Justice and the International War Crimes Tribunal. Domestic courts in various nations at times also engage in the articulation of international law.

See also International Law, Private; League of Nations; Administrative Law; Constitution.