Courts and the Law

• A Democratic society has to have laws to protect the rights of its people.
• The older someone becomes the more laws he or she has to understand and abide by.
• Without laws there would be no order; people would do whatever they pleased; nobody's right would be protected.
• We need laws to establish ways of behaving and to prevent conflict.
• Non-legal rules are made by private individuals or groups eg. Parents, schools, company
• Laws can be enforced by police, courts and prisons
• Legal rules are created by government through parliamentary legislation
• Crime is an act that breaks the law and is punishable by the state
• Deviance is behaviour that goes against social norms
• Social control refers to how we keep ourselves within acceptable limits of behaviour