It is the discipline and profession concerned with the customs, practices, and rules of conduct of a community that are recognized as binding by the community. Enforcement of the body of rules is through a controlling authority. Articles that delineate the relationship of law to political structures are constitution; ideology; political party; and political system. Law can be divided into two main domains. Public law concerns government and society, including constitutional law, administrative law, and criminal law. Private law deals with legal disputes between individuals and/or organisations in areas such as contracts, property, torts/delicts and commercial law.

LEGAL METHODS

There are distinguished methods of legal reasoning and methods of interpreting the law.

JUDICIARY

A judiciary is a number of judges mediating disputes to determine outcome. Most countries have systems of appeal courts, with an apex court as the ultimate judicial authority. Some countries allow their highest judicial authority to overrule legislation they determine to be unconstitutional.

LEGAL PROFESSION

Legal profession, vocation that is based on expertise in the law and in its applications.

CHARACTERISTICS OF LEGAL PROFESSION

• Social role
• Private practice
• Public-directed practice

CONTEMPORARY TRENDS

The prevalence of mergers between law firms of different countries is indicative of the profound changes in the legal profession brought about by globalization—the increasing exchange across international boundaries of capital, goods, technology, services, personnel, and ideas. Law firms have also taken advantage of technological advances in computers and the Internet to avail themselves of electronic databases for legal research, to provide legal advice to clients far from their home offices, and even to develop software that can be used to reduce the human element in the preparation of contracts, licensing agreements, wills, and other documentation. Supporters of these changes suggest that they will better equip law firms to compete with large accounting firms and other organizations that offer legal services, while opponents worry that they are helping to erode the distinction between law and business.

AREAS OF LAW

• International law
• Constitutional law
• Administrative law
• Criminal law
• Contract law
• Tort law
• Property law
• Equity and trusts
• Labour law
• Evidence law
• Family law
• Transactional law
• Intellectual property law
• Commercial law
• Admiralty law
• Space law
• Immigration law
• Tax law
• Banking law
• Consumer law
• Environmental law
• Air law
• Competition law

LEGAL ETHICS

Principles of conduct that members of the legal profession are expected to observe in their practice. In India, under the Advocates Act of 1961, the Bar Council of India is responsible for creating rules for registering advocates, regulation of legal ethics, and for administering disciplinary action.

Principles of legal ethics, whether written or unwritten, not only regulate the conduct of legal practice but also reflect the basic assumptions, premises, and methods of the legal system within which the lawyer operates. They reflect as well the profession’s conception of its own role in the administration of justice.

A system in which a lawyer presents a client’s case in the most favourable light permitted by law and in which the court must decide the merits of the case may well produce different answers than those produced in a system that assigns a higher priority to the lawyer’s duty to the state to assure proper administration of justice.

AREAS OF APPLICATION

• Conflict of interest
• Confidential communications
• Advertising and solicitation
• Fees
• Criminal cases
• globalization