Law is the system of rules and restrictions a society or government devises to deal with crime, business agreements, relationships and social injustices. It’s also the discipline and profession concerned with this body of rules, whose precise definition is a matter of longstanding debate.

There are many different types of law, including criminal, contract and constitutional. Some of these laws, such as property and trust law, are largely universal, while others may be more specific to particular areas of human activity. Laws can be classified as either natural or man-made, and they can be absolute or flexible. For example, scientific laws, like the force of gravity between two objects, are absolute because they’re based on empirical evidence. In contrast, a scientific fact is a simple one-off observation that’s been proven to be true.

The concept of law has been around for centuries, with philosophers debating its nature and the proper role it plays in a democratic society. In modern times, legal historians have analyzed the evolution of law from several different perspectives. The most important of these is the idea of the rule of law. The rule of law implies that all citizens have the right to equality before the law and that the governing body cannot act arbitrarily. This is an idea that has been around since at least the 4th century BCE, when Aristotle described it as a form of “natural law.”

The idea of the rule of law is a crucial aspect of democracy, though it’s not necessarily applicable in nondemocratic societies or in countries that have had dictatorial history. The rule of law entails basic requirements for the adoption, administration, adjudication and enforcement of laws, as well as for the law itself. This includes ensuring that laws are clear, publicized and stable, and that they comprise determinate requirements that people can easily consult before acting. It also requires that the process of enforcing the law is accessible, fair and efficient, and that it reflects the makeup of the communities served.

The rule of law can be applied to the laws of a given country, or it can be used as a broad principle for evaluating the performance of all democratic governments. The latter is often a more effective approach to evaluating democratic government, as it can identify and remedy weaknesses in the system without overly restricting democracy’s freedoms. In addition, the rule of law can be a tool for assessing a nation’s progress toward the goal of global peace and stability.