Law

There can be no peace without Law - Dwight D. Eisenhower

Law is a product of politics.

Law is a product of politics and law shapes politics. Whether by-law, contract, or black letter law, laws must define a governing institution’s membership, its legitimate authority, how it sets goals, how it operates, and makes decisions. While cultural norms and sacred truths embody a community’s expectations, law embodies the written deliniation of right and wrong. Law prescribes and proscribes behavior. That does not mean that law stands apart from politics. Law is the product of politics and law shapes politics.

Law is necessary in society to maintain order and stability, resolve conflicts, facilitate economic transactions and coordinate social change while protecting individual rights the populace expect. Governing institutions promote behavior toward these shared goals. Think about the myriad laws regarding movement of persons, goods, and services. Laws order where vehicles may operate and who can drive them, how companies report earnings, and how stocks are traded. Laws are essential to a functioning society.

Balancing is a favorite metaphor in the law. The objective is for no one value to be supreme, to eat up all the others. Politics works to achieve the proper proportion of each value. As homeostatic mechanisms balance a healthy body, positive politics works to balance the law. To maintain balance in the law, institutions need a fundamental law, such as a constitution, charter, or mission statement. Such fundamental law is meant to be an enduring guide, as a north star. Politics will violate fundamental law only at significant risk. The risk is destruction of the governing institution, and, perhaps, its original organization. Overthrowing fundamental law is revolution, an extremely expensive political act.

Changing circumstances require that laws change and adapt to the needs and values of society. Even fundamental law, like the constitution, needs to be interpreted if it is to endure. In the United States, in addition to being the final adjudicator, the Supreme Court has arrogated to itself the function of interpreting the constitution,  a function many countries assign to a separate constitutional court. The role of politics has become more obvious in recent re-interpretations of the constitution and in recent changes to state law.