Canon law (from the Greek canon, a „right, rulering standard”) is a set of ordinances and ordinances issued by ecclesiastical authorities (church leadership) for the direction of a Christian organization or church and its members. It is the internal ecclesiastical law that governs the Catholic Church (both the Latin Church and the Eastern Catholic Church), the Eastern Orthodox and Eastern Orthodox Churches, and the various national Churches within the Anglican Communion. [107] The manner in which this canon law is legislated, interpreted and sometimes decided varies considerably between these three ecclesiastical bodies. In all three traditions, a canon was originally[108] a rule adopted by an ecclesiastical council; These canons formed the basis of canon law. Although the role of the executive branch varies from country to country, it usually proposes the majority of laws and proposes the government`s agenda. In presidential systems, the executive branch often has the right to veto laws. Most cadres of both systems are responsible for foreign relations, the military and police, and the bureaucracy. Ministers or other officials head a country`s civil service, such as a foreign ministry or a defence ministry. The election of another executive is therefore capable of revolutionizing the approach of governing an entire country. Hegel believed that civil society and the state were poles apart in the schema of his dialectical theory of history. The modern civil society of the dipole state has been reproduced in the theories of Alexis de Tocqueville and Karl Marx.
[165] [166] In postmodern theory, civil society is necessarily a source of law by being the basis from which people form opinions and lobby for what they believe to be right. As Australian lawyer and author Geoffrey Robertson QC wrote about international law: „One of its most important modern sources is found in the reactions of ordinary men and women and non-governmental organizations who support many of them to the human rights violations they see on the television screen in their living rooms.” [167] There have been several attempts to develop „a generally acceptable definition of law.” In 1972, Baron Hampstead proposed that such a definition could not be made. [30] McCoubrey and White said that the question „What is the law?” has no simple answer. [31] Glanville Williams stated that the meaning of the word „law” depends on the context in which it is used. He said, for example, that „primitive customary law” and „common law” are contexts in which the word „law” has two different and irreconcilable meanings. [32] Thurman Arnold said that it is obvious that it is impossible to define the word „law” and that it is equally obvious that the struggle for the definition of this word should never be abandoned. [33] Presumably, it is not necessary to define the word „law” (e.g., „let`s forget the general and get on with business”). [34] Contract law concerns enforceable commitments and can be summed up in the Latin phrase pacta sunt servanda (agreements must be respected).
[199] In common law systems, three key elements are required for the formation of a contract: offer and acceptance, consideration and intention to establish legal relationships. In Carlill v. Carbolic Smoke Ball Company, a medical company announced that its new miracle drug, Smokeball, would cure people`s flu, and if not, buyers would receive £100. Many people have sued for their £100 when the drug didn`t work. Fearing bankruptcy, Carbolic argued that the announcement should not be understood as a serious, legally binding offer. It was an invitation to treat, a simple puff, a gadget. But the Court of Appeal concluded that Carbolic had made a serious offer to a reasonable man, which was underlined by his reassuring statement: „£1,000 is deposited”. Similarly, people had considered the offer well by addressing the „obvious disadvantages” of using a defective product. „Read the ad the way you want and run it the way you want,” Lord Justice Lindley said, „here is a clear promise expressed in language that is completely unambiguous.” [200] Civil courts treat contracts differently in many respects, with the state playing a more interventionist role in drafting and enforcing contracts. [202] Compared to common law jurisdictions, civil law systems contain more binding clauses in contracts, give courts greater flexibility in interpreting and revising contract terms, and impose stricter good faith obligations, but are also better able to apply punitive clauses and specific performance of contracts. [202] Nor do they require that the binding nature of a contract be taken into consideration.
[203] In France, an ordinary contract is said to be concluded simply on the basis of a „meeting of spirits” or a „concurrence of wills.” Germany has a particular approach to contracts that is related to property law. Their „principle of abstraction” means that the personal contractual obligation is constituted separately from the title deed. If contracts become invalid for any reason (for example, if a car buyer is so drunk as to be incompetent),[204] the contractual payment obligation may be declared invalid separately from vehicle ownership. The Enrichment Without Cause Act, not contract law, is then used to return ownership to the rightful owner. [205] Sociology of law is a diverse field of study that studies the interaction of law and society, straddling jurisprudence, philosophy of law, social theory, and more specialized topics such as criminology. [235] The institutions of social construction, social norms, dispute resolution, and legal culture are key areas of study in this field of knowledge. The sociology of law is sometimes considered a sub-discipline of sociology, but its links to the academic discipline of law are equally strong, and it is best seen as a transdisciplinary and multidisciplinary study focused on the theorization and empirical study of legal practices and experiences as social phenomena. In the United States, the field is generally referred to as Law and Society Studies; in Europe, we speak more often of studies in social law.
At first, lawyers and legal philosophers were suspicious of the sociology of law.