• Law is the characteristic of a situation where an object or individual behaves uniformly under specific conditions, indicating regularities of behavior.
• Law is responsible for all orderliness in the universe and society.
• There are two types of law: Descriptive (Scientific) Law and Prescriptive (Stipulative) Law.
• Descriptive (Scientific) Law exists and operates in the universe independently of human will; it can only be discovered, not altered or escaped.
• No external agency is required to enforce descriptive law.
• The test for descriptive law is true or false, and terms like right or wrong apply in a factual sense, not moral.
• Examples of descriptive law: law of gravitation (in physics) and law of diminishing returns (in economics).
• Descriptive law can be applied for practical purposes, like making mechanical devices or improving industrial production.
• A descriptive law can only be challenged or redefined by a new scientific discovery and experimental proof.
• Prescriptive law determines what an individual should or should not do under specified conditions.
• Organizations make rules for their members, which are binding and enforced by sanctions.
• Any deviation from prescriptive law results in punishment, denial of benefit, or privilege.
• The existence of an organization depends on the observance of its prescriptive law.
• The set of rules applicable to a larger society is considered prescriptive law.
• Prescriptive law is man-made law, adopted by human society to regulate behavior, often based on customs, conscience, social consciousness, or public opinion.
• Prescriptive law can be changed according to human needs and modes of thinking.
• Example of prescriptive law: penal code, which prescribes punishment for offenses.
• The test for prescriptive law is right or wrong in a moral sense, but it is valid or invalid when applied by lawyers and courts.
• The letter of law may be supplemented by the spirit of law in interpretation and adjudication.
• In political science, social sciences, and jurisprudence, law typically refers to prescriptive law, unless otherwise specified by the context.

NATURE OF LAW

• The nature of law has been described differently by various schools of thought, depending on the different applications of the term.
• The principal schools of thought in the Western tradition are:
  • Natural Law School
  • Analytical Jurisprudence
  • Historical Jurisprudence
  • Sociological Jurisprudence.