Law is a body of rules that governs the behavior of people in a society. These laws are made by the government, and citizens must follow them or face punishment.
There are many different kinds of laws in a society, such as criminal law, civil law, and evidence law. Each area of law is important and has its own set of rules and procedures for enforcing them.
The term law comes from the Latin word lex, meaning “law” or “rule.” It is a rule that people must obey or face punishment for breaking.
For example, if you break the law by stealing, you might be fined or put in jail.
In some cases, a law is a written document, such as a statute or constitution. In other cases, it is a decision or opinion of a court, which is called common law.
Treatises & Legal Encyclopedias
A treatise provides in-depth discussion of an area of law with references to primary sources, such as statutes or case law. A legal encyclopedia is more of a general overview and typically has footnotes to these sources.
Restatements
One important set of books is restatements, which provide summaries of rules of law on such topics as conflicts of law, contracts, foreign relations, judgments, property, torts, and trusts. They are followed by comments, illustrations, and appendix volumes that discuss case annotations. These digests are organized by subject, and can be accessed through an index or table of contents.