Roles and Functions Paper

Roles and Functions of Law

JoAnn Cruz

LAW/421

February 18, 2013

Michael Carrozzo

Roles and Functions of Law

Law plays an important role to ensuring business and society run efficiently. Laws regulate social behavior, and they provide ethical standards and expectations for individuals and businesses. There are also laws that protect individuals and consumers. There are several types of law that serve different purposes.

Law helps to protect people from each other. They provide rules of conduct to regulate social behavior, in addition to specified consequences for those who violate them. For example, murder is a criminal offense. If a person commits and convicted of murder, which is a felony, he or she will have to pay the consequences of committing the crime. The punishment varies depending on the circumstances and the severity of the crime. For example, capitol murder is punishable by live in prison; whereas a person who kills someone and convicted of manslaughter may only receive parole and no jail time.

Another example is if a person steals something that belongs to another person, he or she has committed a crime that carries legal consequences. Again the consequences will depend on a number of things, including the amount stolen and if another crime was committed at the same time.

The law also protects a person’s private rights. Civil law encompasses disputes in areas such as contracts, property, and family law. For example, if a person breaks a legal contract, that person could be sued in civil court in an attempt by the other party to try to recoup their losses. Emotional pain also has a price in civil court. For example, when Nicole Simpson was murdered, her family successfully sued O.J. Simpson for pain and suffering in the murder of their daughter. The same happened when John F. Kennedy Jr. and his wife died in a plane...