Law is a system of rules created and enforced through social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior. Law can be made by a legislature, resulting in statutes; by the executive, resulting in decrees and regulations; or through case law, resulting in precedent (normally in common law jurisdictions). A state with legal authority may also be considered to have a constitution, written or unwritten.

Law extends beyond the three core subjects – criminal, civil and administrative law – into virtually every area of life. For example, labour law covers the tripartite industrial relationship of employee, employer and trade unions and includes issues such as a worker’s right to a minimum wage; immigration and citizenship law concern the rights to live in a nation-state that is not your own; evidence law deals with which materials can be used in a court trial and appeal.

The study of law is complex from a methodological viewpoint. Unlike empirical science (such as physics), where there are means to check the accuracy of statements, there is no equivalent way to test the validity or correctness of legal statements (be they in judicial decisions or scholarly literature).

As such, law cannot be viewed as an objective system. Instead, it must be understood as an individual’s rational prediction of how his or her own narrative will intersect with an external reality shaped by other people’s narratives. For this reason, law is a subject of great scholarly inquiry, including history, philosophy and economic analysis.