Law is a system of rules that forms a framework to ensure a peaceful society. It includes a range of activities such as enforcing standards, maintaining order, resolving disputes and protecting liberties and rights. It also includes a variety of disciplinary and regulatory processes that punish those who break these rules.
The main categories of law include statutes, duly enacted laws that are passed by the legislature and incorporated into the United States Code; regulations, which are promulgated by the executive branch agencies, and that have the force of law under Chevron deference; and court decisions, or case law, which is a judge’s ruling in one case that can have broader legal implications (this is known as stare decisis).
These different areas of law can overlap. For example, intellectual property law includes a number of fields such as patents, trademarks, copyrights and trade secrets that regulate the ownership of things like ideas, songs, words and inventions. Labour law concerns a tripartite industrial relationship between worker, employer and trade unions, including employment rights like job security and health and safety. Criminal law includes the punishment of those who commit crimes and civil rights protections, such as the right to a fair trial and hearing.
Some people believe that the most important function of law is to provide a means of power control. Tyrant rulers, for example, use their powers to make and enforce arbitrary laws even though those laws may be bad.