Different Meanings Of Law
Positive Law
The law in force in a particular country is called positive law. Positive law is the applied law. It is the law that is valid in a country. It does not matter whether it is written or unwritten.
Legislative Law
The written rules of law established by the competent public authorities, especially the legislative body, are called statutory law. Legislative law consists of the constitution, international treaties, laws, decrees having the force of law, presidential decrees, by-laws, regulations and other written legal rules. All of these are collectively called legislation. The term “legislation” does not cover the written rules of law that have ceased to be in force, nor does it cover customary law, which is a part of positive law but is not written. The difference from positive law is that it is written. Unwritten law in force is not considered as subject law. For example; Turkish Code of Obligations, Criminal Procedure Law.
Natural (Natural) Law
Guiding the law in force, expressing how it should be
law. In other words, it refers not to the law that is applied in a certain place and time, but to the universal law that is assumed to be the most appropriate for social needs, human creation, the nature of things, justice and equity. According to the Roman philosopher Cicero, natural law cannot be abolished. Neither the legislature nor society can abolish natural law. There is no need to be a legal scholar to understand it. Natural law is the same everywhere. Today, the function of natural law is to guide the authorities that make legal rules.
The difference between positive law and natural law is as follows: Positive law refers to the law that is (the law in force), natural law refers to the law that should be.
Objective Law-Subjective Law
In Western languages, the word law is used in the sense of both law and entitlement, which can be defined as any interest that is protected by law and entitles its owner to benefit from it. Therefore, in these countries, in order to distinguish between the concepts of law and right, different adjectives are used at the beginning of these words; subjective law is used to express the concept of right, and the word law is used to express the concept of law. Since the words “law” and “right” are used with different meanings in Turkish, there is no need to add the adjectives “objective” and “subjective”.
Equity Law
It is the law that stretches the formal aspects of positive law and aims to correct the results that arise as a result of the application of the rules of law and are contrary to justice. It has an exceptional character and has an important place especially in the discretionary power granted to the judge.
Substantive Law – Procedural Law
The rules of law that regulate the basis of social relations, recognise the rights of individuals and determine their obligations are called material law. In this sense, Turkish Commercial Code, Turkish Criminal Code, Labour Law, Turkish Civil Code, Turkish Code of Obligations are examples of substantive law. The ways and means by which rights are to be obtained and how obligations are to be fulfilled constitute procedural law. To concretise, the rules indicating which lawsuit will be filed in which type of court and in which court are included in procedural law. Again, the period of time within which a lawsuit should be filed, the rights and obligations of the plaintiff and the defendant are also included in the procedural law. Code of Administrative Procedure, Code of Criminal Procedure, Code of Civil Procedure are examples of procedural law.
Science of Law
It is the discipline in which the rules of positive law are determined and analysed by scientific methods and explained in a systematic manner. Classical legal science tries to reveal the content of all rules in the custom and legislation in force at a certain time and place by classifying and systematising them in accordance with logic. The following disciplines are analysed within the science of law: legal dogmatics, legal history, legal politics, legal philosophy, legal sociology, forensic medicine, forensic psychology.
Legal Dogmatics (Dogmatic Law):
The branch of science that systematically analyses the rules of law in force in a certain place and at a certain time is called positive legal science or legal dogmatics. When dealing with legal dogmatics, it follows from the historical meaning of dogma that existing legal rules should be explained according to the words in the text, but not criticised. This is an understanding that was especially valid in Europe during the period when religious law was valid. Because religious law was the product of divine will, it was accepted that it could not be criticised.
History of Law
The branch of science that analyses the rules of law from a historical perspective and explains the stages they have gone through in the process is called the history of law. This discipline gives the opportunity to compare the historical foundations of legal rules and institutions and their stages at different times. In addition, it also gives the opportunity to examine the institutions of other countries on the same subject in terms of location.
Politics of Law:
The subject and function of legal politics is to analyse the positive legal rules in terms of social needs and legal systematics in order to fill the gaps and to make new proposals to eliminate the defects.
Forensic Medicine:
It is a branch of science that deals with the application of the knowledge of medical science to the problems that fall within the field of criminal law.
Forensic Psychology:
It is a discipline that enables the use of psychological information in the field of law and justice profession.
Philosophy of Law:
It is a discipline that examines issues such as the source of law, the concept of law, how the law should be in accordance with justice and deals with law in a holistic perspective. Philosophy of law tries to reach a universal idea of law and justice. This discipline also examines the reason for the imperative of the rules of law.
Sociology of Law:
Abstract law deals with the social events that give rise to its rules. Because the rules of law are in a very close relationship with the structure of society. Sociology of law tries to establish a causal link between legal rules and social events. In this context, sociology of law investigates social-legal events such as marriage, divorce, bride price, suicide by taking into account the cause-effect relationship.
You can access our other article examples and petition examples by clicking here.