The law is political law which is made and administered by governmental or societal institutions to regulate behaviour, with its exact definition having been subject to ongoing discussion since its inception. Initially it was variously defined as the art and science of law. It is now considered by many, to be an academic field having to do with social, economic and legal issues. Law in India has been undergoing rapid growth and expansion in recent times, owing to the changing dynamism of the socio-political arena.
The evolution of law can be traced through a number of legal texts from the Rig Veda, down to the Indian Constitution. Some of the earliest texts dealing with laws were the Vedas, and were largely focused upon social issues such as ritual pollution and adultery. In the Rig Veda, laws were established to make people penitent for their mistakes. The Puranas were primarily concerned with ethical behaviour, including moral, social and dietary rules. Some of the earliest laws in India that are related to the regulation of behavior within a society or state are the Charuvsamis, the Mahasutra and the Kathakali.
Laws are generally established by a supreme court or the apex body of a country, such as the constitution of India. However, different parts of India also have varying conceptions of justice and some of these may overlap significantly, while others are unique to that region. Within any culture, law is considered essential and often revered. The concept of law has to do with what is just and right, something that is based entirely on personal and private judgment. It is a code of conduct governed by individual members of society. The concept of law can also include rules of conduct, property law, moral code, norms of acceptable behavior, civil law, family law and criminal law.
The courts of common law jurisdictions tend to give more weight to certain issues than the courts of statutory law. For example, in civil law, a suit cannot be instituted against a non-resident for an accident that happened on his property. This would be considered an impermissible encroachment onto his property. This rule has sometimes been referred to as common law Jurisprudence. On the other hand, the courts of statutory law, which are primarily responsible for implementing the common law, usually favor the plaintiff.
While the statutes and laws on criminal law differ considerably from those on civil law, most of the differences pertain to substantive offenses, which are those involving punished parties, such as murder, manslaughter, sexual abuse or the commission of an unlawful act. There are also significant differences between crimes and misdemeanors. For instance, most states have a burglary law, but not a trespass law, while most states have a privacy law. In contrast, most jurisdictions have a law related to damages that only covers damages to a person’s person or property and does not cover an action for damages that occurs because of an event that is not a direct part of the victim’s loss or damage, such as emotional distress caused by a traumatic event.
Statutes of limitations vary greatly between jurisdictions. Most criminal defense lawyers do not even bother to inform their clients about statutes of limitations, as they know that most defense cases end within six months of the arrest, and most defendants do not even know about the existence of these statutes. The defendant may be able to defeat a prosecution’s obstruction of justice motion by showing that there were reasonable indications that the accused could not have avoided the act or in fact prevented the commission.