If you are having troubles with the law, it is likely because you are ignorant of what "The Law" actually is.

Before you begin reading, ask yourself what you were taught about law in the schools you attended as a child. How much, exactly, did you learn about the law in school? Cut out anything you think you know which you have heard in newspapers, on television, or otherwise. What do you _know_ about the law really?

If you are in the same social status as me, you likely learned almost nothing about the law. Sure, it was mentioned in passing now and again, but no time at all was spent on covering the various types of law, the possible statuses you might have, or what the law is today.

While the information in this hub speaks to law in the area commonly called the united states of america, it is fully applicable in most "English" speaking countries.

The fact is, you probably know little to nothing about the law. In fact, you probably knew more about the law when you were five than you do today because the truth is stranger than fiction.

Here a few legal definitions taken from Bouvier's Law Dictionary, 6th editon 1856. I use this law dictionary as it is older ( and so less convoluted by attorneys ) and reflects what was known a few generations back when people were much more free:

Law

• 1. In its most general and comprehensive sense, law signifies a rule of action;
• 2. Law is generally divided into four principle classes, namely; Natural law, the law of nations, public law, and private or civil law. When considered in relation to its origin, it is statute law or common law. When examined as to its different systems it is divided into civil law, common law, canon law. When applied to objects, it is civil, criminal, or penal. It is also divided into natural law and positive law. Into written law, lex scripta; and unwritten law, lex non scripta. Into law merchant, martial law, municipal law, and foreign law. When considered as to their duration, laws are immutable and arbitrary or positive; when as their effect, they are prospective and retrospective. These will be separately considered.

Read that closely and carefully.

4 classes: Natural, Public, Private/Civil, and Law of Nations
This will make more sense as you read the definitions for these types of law. For now, just keep in mind that there are four types of law.

By origin: Statute or Common
This is also important and will make more sense as you read the definitions for these types of law.

By System: Civil, Common, and Canon
Canon law is from the church, Common law is from the people, Civil law is from the state. You will see this as we continue. Reread that common law and civil law bit.

When applied to OBJECTS: Civil, Criminal, or Penal
Are you charged with violating Civil, Criminal, or Penal Law? Are you an OBJECT? Really? Object is not defined in the legal dictionary...meaning that it has its normal definition. In school, you may have been told that a noun is an object and that a noun is a "person, place, or thing". Keep that in mind for when we look at the definition of 'person' later.

Law, Arbitrary

• 1. An arbitrary law is one made by the legislator simply because he wills it, and is not founded in the nature of things; such law, for example, as the tariff law, which may be high or low. This term is used in opposition to immutable.

It is worth asking yourself, 'Are free people subject to the will of others simply because they will it?'.

Law, Civil

• 1. The term civil law is generally applied by way of eminence to the civil or municipal law of the Roman empire.
• 3. By the term civil law is also understood the particular law of each people, opposed to natural law, or the law of nations, which are common to all.

The particular law of each people...what is a 'people'? According to the law dictionary, it is "a state, as, the people of the state of ...". Keep in mind that OF denotes ownership. That is a book of mine. Those are toys of mine. More on this when we get to talking about persons. For now, just realize that Civil law is a law of OBJECTS, it was used in Rome, and it is now used to denote the law of a state. The term society plays into this as well. More on that later.

Law, Common

• 1. The common law is that which derives its force and authority from the universal consent and immemorial practice of the people. It has never received the sanction of the legislature, by an express act, wbich is the criterion by which it is distinguished from the statute law. It has never been reduced to writing; by this expression, however, it is not meant that all those laws are at present merely oral, or communicated from former ages to the present solely by word of mouth, but that the evidence of our common law is contained in our books of Reports, and depends on the general practice and judicial adjudications of our courts.
• 2. The common law is derived from two sources, the common law of England, and the practice and decision of our own courts.
• 3. The phrase "common law" occurs in the seventh article of the amendments of the constitution of the United States. "In suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall not exceed twenty dollar says that article, "the right of trial by jury shall be preserved. The "common law" here mentioned is the common law of England, and not of any particular state. 1 Gallis. 20; 1 Bald. 558; 3 Wheat. 223; 3 Pet. R. 446; 1 Bald. R. 554. The term is used in contradistinction to equity, admiralty, and maritime law. 3 Pet. 446; 1 Bald. 554.

Read that again!
The common law mentioned in the constitution of the united states is referring to the common law of england, not the law of any particular state.

This is important.
The common law is contained in our Reports. Reports are "Law books, containing a statement of the facts and law of each case which has been decided by the courts; they are generally the most certain proof of the judicial decisions of the courts, and contain the most satisfactory evidence, and the most authoritative and precise application of the rules of the common law.". So if you want to know what the law _actually_ is, then you look in the reports. I prefer to use the annotated statutes or annotated codes as they will boil down the essence of the rulings of the supreme courts into what are called "holdings". Common law is not in any statute or code. It is what the courts say it is.

Law, Criminal

• By criminal law is understood that system of laws which provides for the mode of trial of persons charged with criminal offences, defines crimes, and provides for their punishments.

There is that persons reference again. If persons and people were the same thing, then they would be the same word. That which is similiar is not the same.

Law, Foreign

• By foreign laws are understood the laws of a foreign country. The states of the American Union are for some purposes foreign to each other, and the laws of each are foreign in the others. See Foreign laws.

The laws of each state are foreign to each other. They are foreign to the federal government as well, but of course that is not mentioned here.

Law, International

• The law of nature applied to the affairs of nations, commonly called the law of nations, jus gentium; is also called by some modern authors international law.

What is a nation? From the law dictionary:
Nations:

• Nations or states are independent bodies politic; societies of men united together for the purpose of promoting their mutual safety and advantage by the joint efforts of their combined strength.
• 2. But every combination of men who govern themselves, independently of all others, will not be considered a nation; a body of pirates, for example, who govern themselves, are not a nation. To constitute a nation another ingredient is required. The body thus formed must respect other nations in general, and each of their members in particular. Such a society has her affairs and her interests; she deliberates and takes resolutions in common; thus becoming a moral person who possesses an understanding and will peculiar to herself, and is susceptible of obligations and rights. Vattel, Prelim. §1, 2; 5 Pet. S. C. R. 52.
• 3. It belongs to the government to declare whether they will consider a colony which has thrown off the yoke of the mother country as an independent state; and until the government have decided on the question, courts of justice are bound to consider the ancient state of things as remaining unchanged."

So, a nation is a society of men united together which respects other societies of men and each of those societies members. A society is a moral "person" possessing a will peculiar to herself and being susceptible of obligations and rights.

Could it be that free people are free to choose their society? Or to choose none?

Law, Merchant

• A system of customs acknowledged and taken notice of by all commercial nations; and those customs constitute a part of the general law of the land; and being a part of that law their existence cannot be proved by witnesses, but the judges are bound to take notice of them ex officio.

Kind of vague seeming...perhaps this is important and something we are supposed to just pass over...

Law, Municipal

• Municipal law is defined by Mr. Justice Blackstone to be "a rule of civil conduct prescribed by the supreme power in a state, commanding what is right and prohibiting what is wrong." This definition has been criticised, and has been perhaps, justly considered imperfect. The latter part has been thought superabundant to the first; see Mr. Christian's note; and the first too general and indefinite, and too limited in its signification to convey a just idea of the subject. See Law, civil. Mr. Chitty defines municipal law to be "a rule of civil conduct, prescribed by the supreme power in a state, commanding what shall be done or what shall not be done." 1 Bl. Com. 44, note 6, Chitty's edit.
• 2. Municipal law, among the Romans, was a law made to govern a particular city or province; this term is derived from the Latin municipium, which among them signified a city which was governed by its own laws, and which had its own magistrates.

Supreme power of the state...is supreme the same as sovereign? We will talk more on this when we get to "persons". If a nation is a state and a nation is a group of people who have grouped together of their own free will and whom respect other groups of people, then how can a law govern (control) a particular city or province if all of the people in the society ar equal? It cannot. This evidences that there are different statuses quite clearly. Which do you belong to? Well, without knowing what they are, you have no way to know or to change your status.

Law of Nations

• 1. The science which teaches the rights subsisting between nations or states, and the obligations correspondent to those rights.
• 4. The law of nations has been divided by writers into necessary and voluntary; or into absolute and arbitrary; by others into primary and secondary, which latter has been divided into customary and conventional. Another division, which is the one more usually employed, is that of the natural and positive law of nation's. The natural law of nations consists of those rules, which, being universal, apply to all men and to all nations, and which may be deduced by the assistance of revelation or reason, as being of utility to nations, and inseparable from their existence. The positive law of nations consists of rules and obligations, which owe their origin, not to the divine or natural law, but to human compacts or agreements, either express or unplied; that is, they are dependent on custom or convention.
• 5. Among the Romans, there were two sorts of laws of nations, namely, the primitive, called primarium, and the other known by the name of secundarium. The primarium, that is to say, primitive or more ancient, is properly the only law of nations which human reason suggests to men; as the worship of God, the respect and submission which children have for their parents, the attachment which citizens have for their country, the good faith which ought to be the soul of every agreement, and the like. The law of nations called secundarium, are certain usages which have been established among men, from time to time, as they have been felt to be necessary. Ayl. Pand. B. 1, t. 2, p. 6.

More romans...um, are we in rome? Are we under the vatican? Are we actually under canon law? What is all this about the romans?

Science is the practice of observation and modelling, not the craft of creating and controlling...so the law of nations is perhaps the discovery of natural rights of people relating to each other...since nations are just groups of people voluntarily working together.

Necessary (absolute) or Voluntary (arbitrary). Arbitrary law...the will of another...interesting.

Natural (applies to all men and nations deduced by reason) vs Positive (rules originating from compacts or agreements). Hrmm...if we have different statuses then perhaps that is because we entered into compacts and agreements without knowing it.

Law of Nature

• 1. The law of nature is that which God, the sovereign of the universe, has prescribed to all men, not by any formal promulgation, but by the internal dictate of reason alone. It is discovered by a just consideration of the agreeableness or disagreeableness of human actions to the nature of man; and it comprehends all the duties which we owe either to the Supreme Being, to ourselves, or to our neighbors; as reverence to God, self-defence, temperance, honor to our parents, benevolence to all, a strict adherence to our engagements, gratitude, and the like. Erskines Pr. of L. of Scot. B. 1, t. 1, s. 1. See Ayl. Pand. tit. 2, p. 5; Cicer. de Leg. lib. 1.
  
• 2. The primitive laws of nature may be reduced to six, namely:
  • 1. Comparative sagacity, or reason.
  • 2. Self-love.
  • 3. The attraction of the sexes to each other.
  • 4. The tendemess of parents towards their children.
  • 5. The religious sentiment.
  • 6. Sociability.

The laws of the universe, discoverable by reason. Reason, Self-love, Sexual attraction, Parent/Child, Religion, Sociability.

There is that society again...and it is seperate from religion. Perhaps religion simply means will/belief? And not some structured rules in a book somewhere?

Law, Penal

• One which inflicts a penalty for a violation of its enactment.

Remember, these apply to objects.

Law, Positive

• Positive law, as used in opposition to natural law, may be considered in a threefold point of view.
• The customary law, or that which, from motives of convenience, has, by tacit, but implied agreement, prevailed, not generally indeed among all nations, nor with so permanent a utility as to become a portion of the universal voluntary law, but enough to have acquired a prescriptive obligation among certain states so situated as to be mutually benefited by it.

The opposite of natural law. Presumed to be law. Tacit/implied agreement.
So, they are presumed and you aquiesce. If law is either positive or natural and natural law is as simple as noted, perhaps there is a reason that ignorance of law is no excuse. If you 'volunteer' to be subject to positive law then you must know what you volunteer for right?

Something is very very fishy...

Law, Private

• An act of the legislature which relates to some private matters, which do not concern the public at large.

Yes, some acts of the legislature, displayed as statutes apply only to specific matters and not to the public at large. Actually, almost every statutory law is private, applying to various forms of persons because they have volunteered (see positive law) for a license of some sort.

Law, Public

• 1. A public law is one in which all persons have an interest.

There is that 'persons' bit again. We really should find out what a person is and how, specifically, it is different from a people.

Law, Statute

• The written will of the legislature, solemnly expressed according to the forms prescribed by the constitution; an act of the legislature. See Statute.

Wait a minute...the 'will' of the legislature. What was arbitrary law again? Oh really? You think that perhaps you have just been hoodwinked and that is why you get no justice in courts?

So, now we have a framework by which we can comprehend the various types of law and try and determine where, specifically, we fit within them.

Our problem with doing so is that we do not yet know who we are. Until we figure that out, we cannot really know where we fit into the law. However, we can certainly look at possible places where we might fit into the law even without knowing who we are.

From the above graphical framework, it should be apparent that all people are subject to the non-arbitrary law which is called "The Natural Law".

However, some people are subject to non-arbitrary law, which is called "Positive Law" and is divided into three segments: The Law of Nations, The Public Law, and Private/Civil Law.

The Law of Nations

This is the law that tells how nations deal with each other.

(yes, I had this mixed with public law previously. Color me confused.)

The Public Law
This is more correctly called the law of society. It is the law applicable particular to a society, which is a group of people who have banded together for their own safety and interests.
Within a society ( whether it call itself a society, a nation, a state, a municipality, a canonical order, or something else ) there exists statute law and common law.

Statute Law is that law willed by those who rule the society, the legislatures. Depending on the makeup of the society, the "legislature" could be a small body of people whether elected (as in the U.S. and other corporatons) or determined by something such as age (the native american elders), a particular family (as in monarch based societies), or everyone within the society.

Common Law is the law that is written down as a result of decisions decided by some judicial body, whether that body be a jury, a minister, or all of the people in society.

Public law can generally be found in either statute or court decisions, but is that body of law that applies to all people in the society no matter what their status is.

The Private/Civil Law
Civil law and private law are the mostly the same, amounting to contract law.
Private law is contract between people in a society, called persons.
Civil law is contract between a particular person and the society in general, typically in the form of civil priviledges of one form or another such as drivers licenses, business licenses, etc.

The private and civil laws are found either explicitly ( in contract ) or by looking at statutes, codes, and supreme court decisions ( acceptance of state priviledges )

We are confused as a people as to what our rights are in good part due to the fact that those who profit greatly from comprehending the law do not want to share the fruit of their knowledge and so established public schools to get people to believe that their children were being educated...even though law is not taught within them.

We are further confused because we do not know who we are. We think that we are automatically persons and that all laws apply to us. Little could be futher from the truth.

Now that you know what kinds of laws there are and how they relate to each other, you need only figure out two other things to know what your rights are:

1. Who are you?
2. How do you fit into the mechanisms of society?

Figure out the answers to those questions and you will have the power to decide exactly how free you wish to be.

We are all free. The problem is that we are hopelessly ignorant of the truth and so we are unable to know how to rule ourselves.