Introduction
Laws may be defined as the rules that govern the behaviour of human beings within a civilized society. Unlike scientific laws, which are discerned from observation of the material universe and are immutable (though our knowledge of them may change), legal laws are decided and declared by human beings, and may be changed by further human intervention. This is true whether the justification of the law is religious, philosophical or political.
Sources of law may be described as primary or secondary.
Primary source of law are
- Legislation (Acts of Parliament or statutes, statutory instruments, Orders in Council etc)
- Case law (decisions of the higher courts, or “courts of record”, which are binding on and must be followed and applied by less senior courts).
Secondary sources of law are
- textbooks and commentaries by legal writers,
- the opinions of legal experts, and
- decisions of the courts (of whatever seniority) of other (foreign) jurisdictions,
all of which are treated as “persuasive” and may be taken into account by a court when making a decision, though the court is not bound to do so.