Law is an important tool in society. It serves many purposes: maintaining the status quo, protecting individuals against majorities, and promoting social justice and orderly change. Some legal systems are better suited for these purposes than others. Authoritarian regimes often rely on law to suppress political opponents and minorities. In addition, empires built by Britain, France, Holland, and Spain often enforced peace by passing laws.
Law can affect virtually every aspect of our lives. In modern society, law is categorized into three major categories: criminal law, civil procedure, and evidence law. Criminal law is a subset of civil law, which focuses on the rules of the court system. Evidence law, on the other hand, focuses on the admissibility of evidence in courts.
A well-ordered society will have disagreements, but the law provides a method for those conflicts to be settled in a peaceful manner. For example, courts will determine the real owner of a property and the extent to which the property owner’s rights are protected. Lastly, laws are vital to society because they help keep us safe. Canada’s legal system is based on the principles of respecting individuals’ rights and ensuring that justice is done fairly and equally for all.
There are many subfields of law. One field that is relatively new is space law. This relates to aspects of international law concerning human activities in space. The first focus was on the international relations of countries in space, but it has expanded to include commercialisation, property, and liability issues. Similarly, tax law deals with the regulation of income tax, value added tax, and corporate tax. In addition, banking law regulates minimum capital requirements for banks, and financial regulation deals with best practices for investment.