Law: Definition and Need thereof

Law is the manifestation of will to regulate the human behaviour in the society to maintain a
just social order in the society. It is quite important to understand that the necessity of law
arose to keep the human conduct regulated as it is the tendency of the humans to get attracted
to the aberrant behaviour. Defining Law so as to have a universal acceptance is the most
cumbersome task that any jurist can face. The only consensus that can be arrived at defining
law is in the fact that it in some way or the other regulates human behaviour. This
heterogeneity in the definitions of law arises due to the development of various socio-political
systems in different time and space. Owing to these factors there have been a number of
schools defining law preferring the characteristic which according to them is the most
important purpose of law. The evolution of society being dynamic in nature, it is very difficult
for one definition of law to get a universal acceptance.

Law once confounded with the divine thoughtfulness was first analytically defined by the
positive law school as the command of the sovereign. The naturalist school of law
emphasized on law as a dictate of right reason, which basically was an abstract conception of
law. The historical school found law in the past of a nation i.e. the common consciousness
and the popular spirit of the nation. To Emanuel Kant law was ‘the axiom of the behaviour of
an individual that should become the axiom of general behaviour.’ Law according to the
sociological standpoint has been defined as instrument of achieving social solidarity, social
control and social engineering. With changing times the purpose of law has acquired the
central position in jurisprudence and that appears to the most pragmatic and realistic approach
aimed at the development of the society through State which is the physical incarnation of
law, which is an abstract concept.