SLC22-W1 / Basic Notions of Law.

Greetings and welcome. It’s another exciting time of learning. Thank you for this eye opening teaching on law.

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^{Say in your own words and based on what was explained in class: What is law?}

In my own words and from what was taught in the class, a law is the given set of regulations or rules by which governs a society or country. These rules or norms regulates how we relate with one another in the society.

We see different types of laws which includes objective law, subjective law, substantive law , positive law and adjective law. The objective law is mandatory while the law talks about the rights the citizens enjoy in the society.

^{Look at the explanations given in class, according to the law and the laws of your country. I pointed out two examples of "Objective Law" and two examples of "Subjective Law".}

Two examples of objective laws in my country Nigeria

Crime is prohibited, any citizen caught stealing, committing fraud must be penalized
There is a mandatory minimum wage that is paid for employees from government parastatals and citizens are entitled to receive not less than that it’s set as seventy thousand Naira right now.

Two examples of subjective laws in my country Nigeria are:

In the area of fundamental human rights, all the citizens of the country have equal human rights regardless of the tribe, age and social status.
Politically discriminating against citizens based on their sex, religion, social status and even ethnicity is totally prohibited.

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^{Practical case:A citizen is driving a vehicle on the road and passes without respecting the traffic light, seconds later he is stopped by a traffic policeman and this citizen claims that he did not respect the traffic light because he was in a hurry to pick up his son and take him to the hospital because he is sick.Say, according to what you learned, in which part of the case Objective Law and Subjective Law are present.}

In this practical case the man as we learnt from the class, obeying the traffic law is an objective law as it’s mandatory for all citizens. This is to ensure the safety of the citizens on the road as disobeying it may cause accidents and harms to citizens hence the reason why defaulters are penalized.

The subjective law is that the man’s son as a citizen is entitled to medical health care as a citizen of the state since is part of the right they enjoyed hence requesting the ambulance emergency service would have been a good option in that emergency scenario.

^{Part II:According to what was explained in class, make a comparison and according to the law of your country. Give an example of a law and an example of a norm.}

A law is legalized and it’s bounding on the citizens of the country as long as they are within the county been over seen by the governing body while a norm is not legalized or over seen by the government of the country but by the group of persons who set them up as a means of enhancing social relations.

A law is rigid and not easily changed while a norm is more flexible and can be readily adjusted by the group setting them up.

Defaulting the law is punishable by governing authorities but not for norms defaulters.

Example of a law would be in the case of a muder, when someone murders another member of the society, the culprit is sentenced to life imprisonment or killed through hanging or firing squad.

Example of a norm would be greeting your elders. Here we are taught to greet our elders respectfully as a younger person.

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^{Practical case: Mr. Juan Perez rents an apartment but his financial situation worsens and he has not paid for 3 months. On one occasion, a meeting of apartment owners was held and the owner of the apartment where Mr. Juan Perez lives presents the case to the owners of the other apartments. They take advantage of the opportunity to say that they have received complaints from the neighbors of the building because Mr. Juan Perez has 4 dogs as pets in his apartment, something that is prohibited in the building's rules of coexistence. Analyze and explain in which part of the case Mr. Juan Perez is violating a law and in which part he is violating a norm.}

In this practical case, payments of the rent is a law which Mr Perez is violating by not paying as at when due and this can lead to termination of his stay or quitting him out of the house. The law states to pay our rents to the land Lords when necessary.

Mr Perez is violating a norm by keeping pets in the house which is against the rules of coexistence with others in the building hence leading to the complaints from the neighbors.

^{Part III: Explain in your own words how important Comparative Law is to you according to what you saw in class.}

Comparative laws points to considering the laws of other countries when making the law of a nation and it is important because comparative laws helps us to know how other countries builds their own legal systems, how they deal with issues concerning their constitutions and their human rights.

Comparative laws helps us to understand how people from different backgrounds handle the issues and dilemmas that comes with constitutional laws and makes for adjustments and amendments of constitution.

Thank you for reading through. I ask @lewas write, @pandarasdiary and @wendy50 to join the learning challenge.