Many statutes are classed under one of the divisions above mentioned because they have merely modified or extended portions of it, while others have created altogether new rules. That part of the law which is derived from custom is sometimes called the "custumary law," as to which, see Custom. Sweet.
The earliest notion of law was not on enumeration of a principle, but a judgment in a particular case. When pronounced in the early
by a hing. it was assumed to be the
direct divine inspiration. Afterwards -~:iu- the notion of a custom Illlllflli a judgment «mam-, or punishes its hi-each. In the outset, lI1'lfl'El', the only authoritative statement of ri-in and wrong is a judiciai sentence rendere Elcr the [act has occurred. it does not pressm-isg a I-iw to have been violated, but is en- u-vwi rvr the first time by a higher foim into Ila j«.'u's mind at the I1l0I1'lt‘l_lt of R(ljI|lli(:fl~ t Jiluine, Anc. Law, (D\|7lglit'S Ed.) pp.
12
I O .-.
xv,
Synonyms and distinctions. According to the iiszice in the Unltev] States, the name "cunstitution" is commonly given to the oi;-mic or fundamental law of 11 state and die teim "law" is used in contradistiuction to the former, to denote a statute or enanuient of the legslatlre body.
"Ii.-iw," as distinguished from "equity," denotes the doctrine and procedure of the cminnon law of England and America. from which equity is a departure.
The term is also used in opposition to "fnct." Thus questions of law are to be docided by the court, while it is the province of the jury to solve questions of fact
Classification. With reference to ite subject-niatter, law is either public or pri- vate. Public law is that part of the law which deals with the state, either by itself or in its relations with ind.i_ nails, and is divided into (1) constitutional law; (2) ad- ministrative law; (3) criminal law; (4) criminal procedure; (5) the law of the state considered in its quizsi private personality; (6) the procedure relating to the state as so considered. Holl. Jur. 300.
Law is also divided into substantive and adjective. Substantive law is that part of the law which creates rights and obligations, while adiective law provides a method of en- forcing and protecting them. In other words, adjective law is the law of procedure. Holl. Jur. (51. 238.
The ordinary, but not very useful, division of law into icrltteri and unwritten rests on the same principle. The written law is the ststutc law: the unwritten law is the com- mon law. (q. 1:.) 1 Steph. com. -10, following Blackstone.
Kinds of statutes. Statutes are called "general" or "public" when they affect the community at large; and local or special when their operation is confined to a limited region, or particular class or interest
Statutes are also either prospective or retraapeciirve; the former, when they are in-
701
LAW
tended to operate upon future cases only; the latter, when they may also emiiri--w transactions OCClll‘l‘1]Jg hefoie their pi1u.u.e.
Statutes are called "c'n.il‘.ing" Wli'-‘ll they confer new poweis; "reiucdlnl" vihen their effect is to provide relief ul' reform ahuse.-. "pcna1" when they nnpn.-.«— punishment, pecuniary or corporal, for a uolution of their provisions.
5. In old English jurisprudence. "law" is used to signify an oath, or the privilege of being sworn; as in the phrases "to wager one's law," "to lose ones law."
—Abso1ute law. The true and proper law of nature, imniiitable in the ahstmut or in principle. in theory, but not in applicntio for very often the object, the reason. sil: tion, and other Clrwi . II 1, mo uiry il- exercise and obligation 1 Staph. Comm. 21 at sci] Foreign laws. The laws of a foreign counir_i, or of D sister stair. Pcolll-: v. M:irtin, 38 \Iisc. Rep. 67. 76 N. Y. Su p. 9" ' Rank of (‘iiillicothe v. Dodize, 8 Blfli . i -"‘3. Foreign laws are often the sug_t:r- ting of asions of ch.-ingcs in, or additions to. our own laws, and in that respect are L3llPd "ins ro<.i.zii‘wii: ' Brown.—General law. A;:encr.il law as contradisri _ ished from one that is special or locai is a law that El1llJl‘i\(.ES a class 01 subjects or places and does not omit any subject or place naturaily belonging to such cliis. Von Itiprr v Parsoiis. 40 N. J Law. 1. Flnlhia v. Jones. 84 Ga 804. 11 S. E 1018: Brooks \. Hyde, 37 Cal. 376: Arms v. Aver. 19.! ill. 601. 61 N. E. 851, 58 L. R. A. 277, 83 Am. St. Rel‘. 3572 State v. Davis, 55 Ohio St. 15. 44 i\'. E. all. A law, framed in general terms. restricted to no locality, and opemtini; equally upon all of a group of objects, which, having rcznrd to the purposes of the legisiation, art-. disiin::1iisheri by cliaracteristics snfliciently marked and important to make them a class by themselves. is not a special or local law, but a general law. Van Riper v. Parsons, 40 N. J. Law. 123. mi Am. Rep. 210 A speriai law is one relating to particular persons or things: one made for individual cases or for particular places or districts; one operating upon a selected class, rather than upon the public generally. Ewing v. Hohlitzelle. 85 Mo. 78; Suite v. Irwin. 5 Nev. 120: Sargent v. Union School Dist.. (33 N. H. 528, 2 At]. 641: Earle v. Board of Edcnation, 55 Cal. 4 Co. v. School Dist. (C. C.) 21 Fed. . .—Law agents. Solicitors practicing in th Scotch courts.—IAa.w arbitrary. posed to i'mmut- able. a law not founded in the nature of things, but imposed by the mere will of the ienisiature. —Law burrows. In Scotch law. Scciirity for the peaceable behavior of I1 par-tr: security to keep the peace. Properly, a process for oh- taining such security. 1 Fofli. Inst. pt. 2, p. 9t.—Law charge This phrase is used. under the Louisiana v_il Code. to signify costs incurred in court in the prosecution of a suit, to be pahi by the Barty cast. llousseau v. HIS Creditors. 17 La. 06: Barkley v. His f‘rciiit- ors. 11 Rob. (Lu.) 2S.—La.w court of appeals. In American law. An appelhile tid- huniil, formerly existing in the state of South Carolina, for hearing appcais from the counts of law.—Law ay. . e DAY.—Ln.w French. The Norman French language, infroiluccil into Enizlnnd by William the Conqueror, and Whirli. for several centuries, was. in an emphatic sense, the language of the English l-iiv. being that in which the proceedings of the courts and of parliament were carried on, and in which many of the ancient statutes. reports, uhridgrnents, and treatises were written null printcd It is called by Blackstone a "bar- barous dialect," and the later specimens of it M
