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Introduction to law (ILW1501) – Summary Notes
STUDY UNIT 1 – What is “law”?
COMMON QUESTIONS:
1. What is the “law”?
The law:
→ is a set of rules / norms that governs human behavior / conduct.
→ should be obeyed by all society & is binding
→ is enforced by the state / state organs &
→ when you do something wrong, you may be prosecuted & punished or be ordered
to
compensate the other party you have injured.
2. Identify events that have legal relevance, in other words, that has something
to do with the law?
Examples from the story→ examine legal norms to find out whether:
Employment → retrenchment→ lawful / not lawful
Payment of school fees → obligation
3. Understand the part played by law in daily life?
The law plays a very important role in daily life.
→ parenting → legal norms relevant to parenting→ schooling / medical care
→ age of children → infant → steals → not liable for crime
4. Divide the events that have legal relevance in divisions?
There are 2 methods used to divide South African law:
(1) 2 main divisions → Public law & Private law
(2) 2main divisions → Formal (procedural) law & Substantive (material) law
Public law & Private law → deals with:
→ Public Law → relationship → state & individual
→ Private Law → relationship → individual & individual
1
, Formal / procedural law & Substantive / material law→ deals with:
→Formal law → procedures that must be followed in legal proceedings
→ Substantive law → determines the content & meaning of different legal rules
5. Explain the difference between legal norms and other norms?
Some law→ norms (rules) → determine how one should interact and behave with
another.
This is what separate laws from those that are not norms.
Therefore: A legal norm (law) binds all people.
Other norms / other laws → law of chess→ bind only those who are playing
6. Explain the difference between formal justice and substantive justice?
Formal Justice:
Formal law → deals with the procedures that must be followed in legal proceedings.
→ certain basic requirements must be met,
→ when these basic requirements are met, always applied, in exactly the
same way → Formal Justice→ achieved
→ basic requirements:
Explicit rules→ how people must be treated in specific cases
Rules applied generally→ all people→ same circumstances
Rules must be applied impartially→ judge may not apply rules
unequally / no bias decisions
Substantive Justice:
When there is formal justice that’s not really “real justice”, substantive justice is
raised.
→ Concerned with → content of rule → not how rule applied
Substantive law → determines content & meaning of different legal rules
→ to determine if substantive justice done:
→ content of these rules itself must be looked at.
Often substantive law complies with the rules of formal law→ but may still be unjust
Therefore, formal justice and not substantive justice are achieved.
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