There is no society in the world that can operate without laws. Laws are defined as set rules of conduct, which are mainly enacted in as statutes, and they are primarily used to regulate relationships among people as well as between parties. Maintenance of public order is one of the fundamental objectives of law since they elaborately enforce credible moral beliefs, regulate interaction among people, and enhance predictability. Other objectives of laws include defining the society’s economic environment, provisions of individual rights, promotion of orderly social change, identification of wrongdoers as well as redressing wrongs and mandate retribution and punishment. However, it is paramount to note that mainly people who are in the realm of power make laws and power brokers influence them and this is the major reason why majority of the laws tend to support and reflect the humongous interests of the most powerful members of the society (Schmalleger, 2013).
The rule of law is often referred to as the supremacy of law and it encompasses the fundamental principle, which states that a society should be governed effectively through the establishment of known codes and principles, which are evidently applied fairly and uniformly to all the members of the society. There are various types of laws and they include procedural law, case law, administrative law, civil law and criminal law (Schmalleger, 2013).
Criminal Law
Criminal law is defined as the body of various rules and regulations, which specify and define the punishments for offenses that are of a public nature. It also defines and species punishments for wrongs that are committed against the society or state. Criminal law violations can take different forms and they vary in severity. There are five categories of criminal law violations and they are misdemeanors, felonies, treason and espionage, offenses and inchoate offenses. Criminal law is also referred to as the penal law. Those people who are found guilty of having violated the criminal law are adequately punished and this punishment is justified philosophically since it is evident that the criminal had the intention to harm and he/she is therefore responsible. Punishment is mainly imposed in a criminal case in order to show hold the offender accountable for the crime committed as well as to express fundamental displeasure from the society concerning the offensive behavior (Schmalleger, 2013).
Substantive criminal law
There are two types of written law and they are substantive and procedural laws. Substantive law effectively describes what constitutes certain crimes such as assault, robbery, rape, murder and it elaborately specifies the proper punishment for every particular offense. Thus, substantive criminal law mainly deals more directly with the specification of the nature of crime and the appropriate punishment for a particular offense. Substantive law is evidently a statutory law, which deals with the relationship between people or the state and the people, and it ensures that any of this relationship is legal (Schmalleger, 2013).
Procedural Laws
On the other hand, procedural laws main specify the various methods that are acceptable for dealing with substantive laws violations and particularly within a judicial setting context. Thus, procedural law is the section of the law, which extensively specifies the various methods that should be used in enforcing substantive law. It is also worth noting that, procedural law comprises of set of rules, which govern the court’s proceedings in civil as well as criminal cases and administrative proceedings. The court is required to conform fully to the standards that are setup by the procedural law during the proceedings. Procedural law sets rules that ensure consistency and fair practice in the due process (Schmalleger, 2013).
Administrative Law
This is the body of noble regulations, which the governments create in order to control the activities of individuals, businesses and industries. Examples of administrative laws include the building codes, vehicle registration laws, restrictions on waste disposal and pollution, health codes and tax laws. There are also other administrative laws that cover various practices in various areas such as product safety, agriculture, majority of the manufacturing areas, immigration and areas of customs mainly in exports and imports. I disagree with the author on this paramount point since a violation of the administrative law is not a crime whereas there are people can take advantage of the law to do criminal activity since they are aware that it is not a crime to do them (Schmalleger, 2013).
Civil Law
This fundamental law governs the relationships among and between people, agencies of the government, other organizations and businesses. Thus, this law effectively governs relationships between various parties. This law contains rules for property transfers, divorce, contracts, child support and custody, unfair practices in hiring, libel, negligence, creation of wills and many other social and contractual obligations. Civil law is a section of the modern law, which mainly governs the relationships between parties (Schmalleger, 2013).
Reference
Schmalleger, F. (2013). Criminal justice today: An introductory text for the 21st century. Upper Saddle River, N.J: Pearson Education.
