School of Law

Semester: I

Program: B.A., LL.B. (Hons.) 8101 & B.B.A., LL.B. (Hons.) 8102

Module: Legal Methods

Credit: 4
 Unit 2
Law - Meaning, Nature and Functions

Topic Details: Importance of law in society and the role society

plays in the legal fraternity
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Law

Law is very important for a society for it serves as a norm of conduct for citizens. It was also
made to provide for proper guidelines and order upon the behavior for all citizens and to
sustain the equity on the three branches of the government.

It keeps society running. Without law there would be chaos and it would be survival of the
fittest and everyman for himself. Not an ideal lifestyle for most part.

Society is a ‘web-relationship’ and social change obviously means a change in the system of
social relationship where a social relationship is understood in terms of social processes and
social interactions and social organizations.

So, the term, ‘social change’ is used to indicate desirable variations in social institution, social
processes and social organization. It includes alterations in the structure and functions of the
society. Closer analysis of the role of law vis-à-vis social change leads us to distinguish
between the direct and the indirect aspects of the role of law.
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Law

The law is important because it acts as a guideline as to what is accepted in society. Without
it, there would be conflicts between social groups and communities.

It is pivotal that we follow them. The law allows for easy adoption to changes that occur in
society.

The law is relevant for the general public for it fills in as a standard of lead for residents. It was
likewise made to accommodate legitimate rules and requests upon the conduct for all
residents and to support the value of the three parts of the legislature. It keeps the general
public running.

Without law, there would be a disorder, and it would be survival of the fittest and every man
for himself, not a perfect way of life for generally.

There is importance of law in society because it goes about as a rule concerning what is
acknowledged in the public arena. Without it, there would be clashes between social
gatherings and networks. We must end them. The law takes into consideration simple
reception to changes that happen in the general public.
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Historically, the concept of law changed consistently. For instance, in

the ancient time of the early Christianity, the law was a set of rules
established by God and revealed in the Old Testament.

Therefore, the law was associated with divine rules and norms. Later
law became closer to humans and the emphasis shift from the God to
lawmakers, who created rules and norms according to which the
society lived.

Today, the law is the system of rules which a particular country or

community recognizes as regulating the actions of its members and
which it may enforce by the imposition of penalties.
SVKM’s NMIMS Deemed to be UNIVERSITY School of
Law

The law performs the function of the regulation of social relations and
setting common rules which are acceptable for the community or
society at large.
Therefore, people accept the law to maintain the social order and to
live according to the rules set by the law. On the other hand, often the
law fails to perform its functions properly and dysfunctions of law
occur. When rules set by the law are not observed, the dysfunction
occurs.

For instance, if an individual is sentenced to death, he/she is supposed

to be executed according to the law. However, the execution of the
individual may be postponed because of the ongoing debate
concerning the ban of the capital punishment. As a result, the law
dysfunction occurs.
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The law plays an important part as the tool of the social

control because the violation of the law implies the
punishment for offenders.

At the same time, the law changes respectively to social

changes to meet needs of the society. However, the law fails
to prevent social inequality. Instead, the law just sets the
rules and people should obey them, regardless of their social
status.
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Law

The Binding Force of Law

Law is binding because most people in society consider it to be. Some consider the
content of the law to command obedience, which, in turn, is seen as a compelling
obligation.

The law achieves its claim to obedience, and at least part of its morally obligatory
force, from a recognition that it receives from those, or from most of those, to
whom it is supposed to apply. Even when laws are against accepted morality, they
are often obeyed.

Under certain conditions many people will violate their own moral norms and inflict
pain on other human beings, and that succinctly underlines the notion that most
people willingly submit to authority and, by extension.
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Law plays an agent of modernization and social change. It is also an indicator of the nature of
societal complexity and its attendant problems of integration.

Further, the reinforcement of our belief in the age-old panchayat system, the abolition of the
practices of untouchability, child marriage, sati, dowry etc. are typical illustrations of social
change being brought about in the country trough laws.

Law is an effective medium or agency, instrumental in bringing about social change in the
country or in any region in particular. Therefore, we rejuvenate our belief that law has been
pivotal in introducing changes in the societal structure and relationships and continues to be
so.
SVKM’s NMIMS Deemed to be UNIVERSITY School of
Law

Law certainly has acted as a catalyst in the process of social transformation of people wherein
the dilution of caste inequalities, protective measures for the weak and vulnerable sections,
providing for the dignified existence of those living under unwholesome conditions etc. are
the illustrious examples in this regard.

Social change involves an alteration of society; its economic structure, values and beliefs, and
its economic, political and social dimensions also undergo modification. However, social
change does not affect all aspects of society in the same manner.

While much of social change is brought about by material changes such as technology, new
patterns of production, etc., other conditions are also necessary. For example, as we have
discussed it before, legal prohibition of untouchability in free India has not succeeded because
of inadequate social support.
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The Relationship between Law and Society

Theorists have traditionally maintained that there are certain broad views on the substantive
criminal law. One set of such constraints concerns the sorts of behaviour that may legitimately
be prohibited. Is it proper, for example, to criminalize a certain kind of action on the grounds
that most people in one’s society regard it as immoral?

The other set of constraints which concerns what is needed in order to establish criminal
responsibility that is liability, independently of the content of the particular statute whose
violation is in question.

Legal system reflects all the energy of life within in any society. Law has the complex vitality of
a living organism. Law is a social science characterized by movement and adaptation. Rules are
neither created nor applied in a vacuum, on the other hand they created and used time and
again for a purpose.

Rules are intended to move us in a certain direction that assume is good, or prohibit
movement in direction that we believe is bad.
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The social rules are made by the members of the society. Disobedience of the social rules is
followed by punishment of social disapproval. There is no positive penalty associated with the
violation of rules except excommunication or ostracism.

On the other hand, law is enforced by the state. The objective of law is to bring order in the
society so the members of society can progress and develop with some sort of security
regarding the future. The state makes laws.

Disobedience of state laws invites penalty, which is enforced by the government by the power
of the state. What is not enforceable is not Law.
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Law

Law as an Instrument of Social Change Law is the reflection of the will and wish of the society.
It is said that if you want to study any society, you have to study the laws enacted by that
society and you come to know whether the society is developed or wild world. The law,
though it is the product of the society is responsible for the social \transformations. In fact,
there are two modes of this aspect.

First is, “Law changing the society”, which means that the law of the land compels the society
to be changed according to it.

And secondly is. “Society changes the law”, as per its needs. It needs. It means law is made by
the society according to its requirement by its democratic institution i.e. Legislative or by
adopting custom and usage. When law changes the society it is the sign of beginning of the
development of the society. When society changes law it is the sign of maturity of the society
SVKM’s NMIMS Deemed to be UNIVERSITY School of
Law

At the outset, it is necessary to appreciate the role an advocate plays in the society. The
development of lawyers as a class of professionals can be attributed to the need for trained
persons who can form the competent interface to facilitate the interaction between the lay
persons and the judiciary.

This involves providing legal advice in matters of rights, liberties or property of the client
within the framework of legislative and legal rights, and representing the client in the event of
a dispute before an adjudicatory body.

In fact, if law is viewed as a ‘public good’ which is frequently technical and not self-executing,
meaningful access to law requires the assistance of a lawyer. Particularly, in most jurisdictions,
the members of the legal profession are conferred the status of privileged members of the
community, and occupies an exclusive domain with the privilege of pleading and acting on
behalf of suitors being restricted only to enrolled advocates and attorneys.

This monopolistic character of the legal profession entails certain high traditions which its
members are expected to upkeep and uphold. Therefore, the lawyer plays an indispensible
role in the mechanism of administration of justice.
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The lawyer, as a professional, to some extent, acts on behalf of the client, and representing
the client. This is particularly relevant in an adversarial system of adjudication followed by
common law countries which is characterized by a neutral adjudicating authority, which, on
the basis of the arguments and evidence placed before it, arrives at a conclusion. The role of
an advocate in an adversarial system, therefore, is to represent the case of the client before
the adjudicating authority.

As a professional, the functional role of an advocate, in essence, is comparable to that of a

legal technician. An advocate is specially trained in the technical profession of ‘law’, and with
his grasp over the subject matter; professional function consists largely of providing counsel
for clients about how to escape or mitigate the incidence of the law’s obligations, availing of
the loopholes and the ambiguities of law. An advocate is essentially an adviser to his client.
The contractual arrangement creates an obligation on the part of the advocate to offer sound
legal service, and place before the court all that can fairly and reasonably be submitted on
behalf of his client.
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It must be clarified that an advocate is obligated to act so as to protect and uphold the interest
of his client by all fair and honorable means. As has been frequently emphasized, he also acts
in the capacity of an officer of the Court.

The role of advocates as officers of the Court is to assist the Court in the administration of
justice. Lawyers collect materials relating to a case and thereby assist the Court in arriving at a
correct judgment. Furthermore, being a responsible officer of the court and an important
adjunct of the administration of justice, the lawyer also owes a duty to the court as well as the
opposite side.
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Change is the law of nature, what is today shall be different from what it would be tomorrow.
The social structure is subject to incessant change. Society is an everchanging phenomenon
which is constantly growing as well as gradually decaying to renew and accommodate itself to
changing conditions and is suffering vast modification in the course of time. Law and society
both exists in relations to each other.

They both are interlinked and serve according to their needs. They have a co-existential
relation that binds them for the betterment and maintenance of the regulatory orders in the
society. Law brings out the social change to enhance and uplift the society; in turn society as
per its needs and necessity come with new laws.
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Law

Law is a system of rules and guidelines which are enforced through social institutions to
govern behaviour, wherever possible. It shapes politics, economics and society in numerous
ways and serves as a social mediator of relations between people.

If the harm is criminalized in legislation, criminal law offers means by which the state can
prosecute the perpetrator. Constitutional law provides a framework for the creation of law,
the protection of human rights and the election of political representatives.

Administrative law is used to review the decisions of government agencies, while international
law governs affairs between sovereign states in activities ranging from trade to environmental
regulation or military action. The legal response to a given social or technological problem is
therefore in itself a major social action which may aggravate a given problem or alleviate and
help to solve it.
Q & A Session