PAD120
INTRODUCTION TO
POLITICAL SCIENCE
CHAPTER 4
LAW
Prepared by:
Ms. Nurfaizah Abbdullah
Definition
TOPICS
COVERED
Types Sources
DEFINITION
Moten & Islam: General rule of external human action enacted
and enforced by a sovereign legitimate authority
Hoebel: the aspect which employs the force of organised society
to regulate individual and group conduct and to prevent redress or
to punish deviation from prescribed social norms
Holmes: the prophecies of what the courts will do which is not
pretentious
Rodee et. Al: The process, principles, standards and rules which
govern the relationships and which help resolve the conflicting
interests of men and institutions in a cohesive society.
Elements of law:
Normative element sets a standard for conduct
Element of regularity made and apply universally
Element of administering the court
Legitimacy element recognised by legal
authority
Custom
Legislation Religion
Sources
of law
Jurists writing Adjudication
Custom
Activity (conscious effort or gradual formation) that is repeated
will become a habit, then it passed from one generation to the
other custom.
One of the earliest sources of law.
Peoples lives were regulated by social customs & practices.
Custom obtains the status of law when the State recognizes it as
binding.
E.g. men are chief wage earner.
E.g. the common laws in the U.K are mostly from customs &
recognized by the court
Religion
Religion is seen as law as the society will refer what can and
cannot be done according to the religious permission.
Many societies enact laws which are rooted in their respective
religious teachings and texts.
Breaking the law means disobeying God
Its sanction is the fear of God, a kind of supernatural penalty.
E.g. Bible, Protestant ethics, Quran
Adjudication
Also known as judicial decision.
Judge man-made laws.
Later laws were made using commonsense/interpretation =
judicial precedent.
Modern judiciary = judges can make laws for various reasons:
The current law is not practical.
No law to deal with a case.
Two or more laws for a similar case that conflict with each other.
These judicial decisions become precedents future cases.
Jurists writing
Writing of great jurists and scholars.
After collecting, comparing and logically arranging principles of
customs, they lay down the guiding principle for possible cases.
E.g. in Great Britain, the writing of Sir Edward Coke
E.g. Muslim world, works of al-Ghazali & the imams of the 4
mazhabs.
Legislation
The most important source of law.
Laws created by the legislature.
Legislature is the legitimate authority of a state to enact law.
Also make amendments to laws and the constitution.
Customary, religious, judge-made & jurist laws must be endorsed
by the legislature.
E.g. Election Offences Act 1954 (Revised 1969), Universities and
University Colleges Act 1971
TYPES OF LAW
Law
National Law International Law
Constitutional Public Private
Ordinary Law
Law International Law International Law
Public Law
Administrative General Public
Law Law
Civil Law Criminal Law
National Law
Laws passed by a legitimate sovereign
authority and applied within the
jurisdiction of that authority.
Constitutional Law
Consists of Constitutional Law &
Ordinary Law
Constitutional law
The fundamental rules of the State.
Written in the constitution.
Defines the organization of the State, determines its
functions and establishes the relationship between the
government and the people.
Determines the rights and responsibilities of the citizens.
Only the courts can interpret this law.
E.g. Federal Constitution of Malaysia.
Ordinary law
Also known as General law.
Deal with all kind of human behaviours.
Determines the citizen-State, State-State and
citizen-citizen relations.
Government enforces these laws.
Courts apply the law in cases.
Divided into:
a. Administrative law
b. General public law
Public law
Regulates the relations of the individual citizen to the State.
Administrative Law General Public Law
The executive is given the Determines a States relations to
authority to make rules within its citizens.
certain limits. Provides general & permanent
Some laws passed by legislature rules of conduct.
do not go into details. Divided into:
The executive interprets and Civil: legal rights and duties of
elaborates the original law in individual which arise out of their
more detail. interaction as member of state.
E.g. Malaysian Administrative e.g. law of torts, law of contract
Law Criminal Law: concerned with
offences against the state,
person, property etc.
e.g. stealing, killing
International Law
The rules which regulate the conduct of the states in their
dealing with one another.
It is based on agreements, treaties, customs, etc., signed by
nation states.
Kindred: a system of law containing principles, customs,
standards and rules by which relations among states and
other international persons are governed.
Subject to the application of the United Nations Organisation
(UN) and International Court of Justice (CJ).
Its legitimacy is based on the consent of international
community.
Public International Law Private International Law
Regulates relations Deals with disputes or
between sovereign conflicts between
States. international persons or
organizations.
Developed through
international E.g. multi-national
agreements. corporations (MNCs)
E.g. Geneva
Convention
Q&A