MAC 411- Media Law and Ethics

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3.1 Definition and Explanation of Law Law is the overall guiding principle of human conduct. Law is basically a body of principles or rules which are the basis of society. Members of a society are meant to abide by the law established by it. It is very hard to have a society without a set of laws guiding it. Human life needs a proper rule of conduct or principle at every step. It is also important for a successful society.

Law according to Oyakhilomen (2009), controls, regulates, enforces and punishes. It is very uncommon to have a society absolutely free of law, i.e. a state of anarchy. Whether consciously or unconsciously; written or unwritten; observed or violated; elements of law exist in every society. Oyakhilomen (2006) writes: Society cannot exist without rules of social order. Hence every civilised society has its publicly recognised authority for declaring, administering and enforcing its laws. Can you for a moment visualise a state without law and any enforcement system (if such state ever existed). Suppose the Nigeria Police Force were to observe one day public holiday? What would you find? The state of normlessness or lawlessness is shade or two worse than the perpetual state of warfare and reign of terror and fear. This is a mirror of the state of nature where as Thomas Hobbes stated in The Leviathan: “each man was his own master; personal force alone determined each man’s position. Life in these conditions was “solitary, nasty, brutish and short”. This leads one to appreciate the fact that society cannot exist without rules of social order – law. The picture of a State without law helps to bring to the fore, what the functions of law would be in society. There are various definitions of law by various law professionals and authors. Some of them are as follows: 1. A rule of conduct or procedure established by custom, agreement, or authority.

2. A code of principles based on morality, conscience, or nature.

3. Law is a rule of conduct of any organised society, however simple or small, that are enforced by threat of punishment if MAC 411 MODULE 1 3 are violated. Modern law has a wide sweep and regulates many branches of conduct.

4. A body of rules of conduct of legal force and effect, prescribed, recognised, and enforced by controlling authority