Law and Society Flashcards
Society Definition
Society is defined as people who interact in such a way as to a share a common culture. e. Countries have formal boundaries and territories that the world recognises as theirs however society’s boundaries do not have to follow these boundaries. People of the same society share aspects of their culture such as language or beliefs. Therefore the law and society must go hand in hand and work together in order to function properly
Paragraph 1 for law and society -Pluralistic Society
Within today’s society, it is pluralist. A pluralist society is a diverse one where people in it believe all kinds of different things and tolerate each other’s beliefs even when they don’t match their own as a result the law has to balance and consider the viewpoints of everyone in society. However, this can be difficult this is because it is hard to ensure that everyone view in society is satisfied. This means that there can be instances of political unrest within society this can be seen with Brixton Riots 1981 this is where riots erupted in response to racial tensions ,high unemployment and aggressive police tactics like sus law which allowed for stop and search and further seen with the Gay Rights protest to lower the age of consent for homosexuals this allowed for the age of consent to be reduced to 16 in 2001 under the sexual offences act. however, the law tries to be flexible in order to allow for these opinions to be take into account.
Paragraph 2 For law and society- lord bingham outline of the rule of the law
Lord Bingham outlined rule of law through principles which society, the state and the judiciary must enforce, there are several things the state and the judiciary must enforce the state must abide by both domestic and international law so no government has the ability to act by whim, Questions on infringement of rights should be subject to the application of law and not the judge’s discretion., The law should be accessible, clear and open to public scrutiny, Courts should be accessible and affordable with cases being able to be heard without excessive delay. One element of this is the law should be clear however various areas of law there are discrepancies in cases that have led to uncertainty and confusion within the law this can be seen in the cases of R v Brown and R V wilson this this is where the cases were similarly in fact but due to the nature of those committing the this is because a group of Sado-masochism homosexuals were whipping each other but the decision was base off the violence created through this situation but consent in the case of r v Brown however in the case of r v Wilson and a husband branded his initial on his wife but his wife consented has led to two very different decisions within regarding of consent and the interference of public policy this demonstrates how societial values influence the decisions made by the courts and the judiciary
Paragraph 3 for law and society - Social Control
Social control refers to the mechanisms and systems that restrict individual behavior in accordance with social norms and orders. There are two types of social control this can be informal or formal. The law acts as a social control mechanism. It is believed that social control is necessary to maintain social order and this will allow society to function correctly .within Rosco Pound’s book ‘Social control through law’ stated that as humans we need to have law to manifest a need for control due to the following: To identify and explain human claims, demands or interests of a given social order, To express what the majority of individuals want in a given society, Guide the courts in applying the law, For society to function appropriately and it is needed for public safety, The law has tried to stop society acting in a certain way and this can be seen through social control example. , this element of his book , This can be seen when looking at self-defence. When taking in account the vulnerability of the defendant is taken into account if the defence of self-defence is allowed to be used this has influenced the law as there was public outroar in regards to the effect of the protection of homeowners as it created a revised statement in housing this is only applies if you were acting in self-defence to protect others this and the force you used was proportionate – disproportionate force to protect property is still unlawful. This ensure that this defence can not be abused This has allowed a clear outline in which the courts can apply but allows the views of society to be reflected in these outlines that can ensure clear precedent.
