Law is the set of rules that a government or society develops in order to deal with issues such as crime, business agreements and social relationships. The term is also used to refer to the people who work in this area, usually lawyers and judges.

The law may be written or unwritten, enforceable by formal or informal procedures. It may cover a range of topics, from the legal aspects of marriage and divorce to the rights of disabled people. The law can cover the relations between the state and its citizens, between individuals, or between nations.

It may be seen as a tool for maintaining the status quo, or it can be used to promote social justice and change. Some legal systems serve one or more of these purposes better than others; for example, an authoritarian regime may keep the peace and maintain the status quo, but it may oppress minorities or political opponents (as in Burma or Zimbabwe).

A good system of law must be accessible, understandable, stable, and impartial. It must also ensure that there are mechanisms to check the power of the state and allow transitions of power in a democratic way. In addition, core human, procedural and property rights must be enshrined in the law. A country’s constitution, whether written or tacit, provides the framework for a nation’s laws.

The practice of law is a complex subject. It involves a range of specialist subjects, from criminal law to contract law. Each field has a different focus, but the common elements are that it requires research, analysis and judgment. Lawyers must be competent in the relevant law and able to communicate it clearly to their clients. Lawyers must also be able to collaborate with other professionals, including those from other disciplines, to help their clients solve problems and achieve their goals.

This article is a list of articles and resources on the topic of Law. It is not intended to be a comprehensive list of all the articles on this topic, but an initial selection of some of the most useful. The articles are listed alphabetically, followed by a list of related articles. The articles are designed to be helpful for students and other interested readers.

A law is a set of rules that is created by a government and enforced by its courts. It can encompass many areas of life, from traffic laws to tax laws and employment regulations. There are a variety of branches of the law, such as labor law, which covers the tripartite industrial relationship between employer, worker and trade unions, and family law, which deals with issues such as divorce and child custody. There are also general principles of legal procedure and criminal law, such as the rule of precedent, which dictates that decisions made by higher courts will be followed by lower ones. The legal profession has a number of titles, such as Esquire and Doctor of Law. Some have nicknames, such as Big Law, to indicate a large amount of legal knowledge and skill.