法律知识导读（英文）第一单元 Definition, Classification and Sources of Law.pptVIP

Unit 1 Definition, Classification and Sources of Law 法律的定义、分类和渊源 Lead-in 法律是一种社会规范，以各种方式影响着我们的日常生活与整个社会。不同的国家对于法律的分类和命名各不相同，最一般的区分为规范国家与人民之间关系的“公法”（包括宪法、行政法和刑法）和规范私人间权利义务关系的“私法”（包括合同法、侵权法和财产法）。 法律渊源是法的外在表现形式，通常把它分为正式意义上的和非正式意义上的两种。正式意义上的法律渊源，主要指以规范性法文件形式表现出来的成文法，如立法机关或立法主体制定的宪法、法律、法规等。非正式意义上的法律渊源，主要指具有法的意义的观念和其它有关准则，如权威性的法学著作、道德准则、习惯等。 Definition According to its purposes: To maintain social order and resolve social disputes ( as a set of rules of conduct, but also the means to impose responsibility and to enforce social justice. To bring about changes in our society and society brings about changes in the law ( as a method of social control) Classification Public laws: constitutional law, administrative law and criminal law.(applying to the public of a state or nation.) Private laws contracts, torts and property, each of which can be subdivided into several subjects.(dealing with the relationships between individuals) Substantive laws Procedural laws ------ Substantive law defines rights, and procedural law establishes the procedures by which rights are protected and enforced. Sources Precedents Customs Legislation Statutory interpretation Preparatory works Precedents The judgments passed by some of the learned jurists became another significant source of law. (When there is no legislature on particular point, the judges depend on their own sense of right and wrong and decide the disputes. Such decisions become authority or guide for subsequent cases of a similar nature) Advantages: More flexible than legislation and custom. It is always ready to be used. Customs A custom is a rule which in a particular family or in a particular district or in a particular section, classes or tribes, has from long usage obtained the force of law. Advantages: It got recognition since the emergence of sovereignty on the horizon of jurisprudence; an exemption to the ordinary law of the land, and every custom is lim