General principle of law in Nigeria

Chapter one：the nature of law 1：                         what is law？                                in a wide sense ＂law＂ may be defined as a rule of action. in this context one may talk of laws of science，such as the law of gravity，the law of electricity，etc. our study of law will not look at law from that perspective，rather we shall deal with law in the strict sense，i.e law in relation to human conduct in such a sense， law is a complex phenomenon. similarly，a good definition of Law must be complex.                 Although, there is no universally accepted definition of ＂law＂ it is clear that law consist of a body of rules of human actions. Every community is governed by a body of Rules of human actions, which prescribes actual standard of behaviour adopted in the life of that particular community. thus，rules only become law when they involve the idea of obligation but when Rules Merely represent the notions of good and bad behaviour there are rules of morality and law becomes effective when it conforms to the moral feeling of the members of the community.               The rules of ethics are rules that are are made at establishing ideas. Ethics is a study of the supreme good or the absolute ideal. it is an attempt to discover and lay down those rules which should be followed because they are for all-time good in themselves. Examples of ethical rules to bury the dead；to respect the Elder. Ethical duties in the foregoing context are never enforced, but a breach of them normally provokes condemnation.                                                   Law tends to prescribe what is necessary for a particular time and place. It has behind it，the organised predetermined and coercive sanction of the State.                                                       Rules of morality, as stated earlier，talk about the particular behaviour of a particular community. Morality has behind it the unorganised，though effective，sanction public opinion. A close relationship exists between rules of law and rules of morality. Rules of morality determine the upper and lower limit of effective operation of law. If it lags behind popular standards，common they are great difficulties of enforcement. despite all that is known about Law， it is still devoid of a universally accepted delimitation of the Essential characteristics of the Essense of law. In trying to identify what law actually is，the following three school of thought emerged；