The Three Letter Word L-A-W: What is Law?

THE THREE LETTER WORD L-A-W: What is Law?

Till date, no one has been able to give a universally convincing definition of LAW. For some, law is what the legislators have laid down, for others it is based on the principles of natural rights, for yet somebody else, it is what has developed over time (pretty much like language).

All different schools of law have succeeded in giving us their well- reasoned definitions of law, but none has succeeded in giving an irrefutable, undisputed THE definition of law.

So, in the absence of any such definition, I chose to write what I understood of the term, Law.

Law seems to me to be something that is intangible. It is more than a “set of principles or rules to govern the behaviour of the members of the society”. (Law, as we understood in the First standard) We lawyers are so used to seeing everything in black and white. The fact is that LAW in books is not LAW in practice. Actually, there can never be statutes to guide the lawyers. It is rather the lawyers and judges who interpret the law and based on their interpretation, the meaning of the legal jargon changes. In other words, the colour of Law keeps changing.

At this point of time, I would also like to say that Law is pretty much like Life;

 It is complicated and ambiguous. It is tough. It keeps changing. It has different shades to it, for some it is fair and for others it is equally unfair. It is what we make it out to be- just like Law is shaped the way we interpret it, Life is shaped in the manner we live it.

The question is unanswered and it will remain unanswered till one reaches the final year of law school.  That is the very reason why the LL.B. (Hons.) course is a 5 year course, not a 5 day one.

I hope that I leave the portals of NALSAR with an answer to the question with which I entered. What is Law? I know that I will find it sooner or later. (but definitely not at page One Thousand something of Black’s Law Dictionary). So, with this belief I continue discharging in all sincerity and hope, my duty as a law student. Amen.