Normative law is the oldest code of law known to civilization.
roots of law based upon the same basic truths that govern all people everywhere. The .
basic rules that govern the conduct of all human beings such as; killing a human being is .
wrong as well as taking a person's property or stealing is considered wrong anywhere .
you go in the world. Lying is also looked down upon in most cultures. Normative law can .
almost offer a certain amount of honor and security to those who follow it since it is held .
in such high moral regard. It has shown to be effective in older simpler times but has also .
shown to produce quite harsh enforcement policies and restrictions upon other human .
activities that we take for granted but under normative law are forbidden.
A more modern school of law known as positive law is much more versatile and .
shifting than normative law. Under the positivist view, law is merely there for our own .
discretion. From society to society and culture to culture, normative law changes to .
regulate its society and to protect and help achieve whatever its goals are under whatever .
circumstances are present. The rules may always be changed to best the current situation.
Public law, often referred to as criminal law, and private law, also referred to as .
civil law is in certain aspects mirror images of one another. Public law is explained as .
the relationship between individuals and the state and private law is the relationship .
between individuals. Public law is concerned with things such as the protection of life, .
property and the general rules of conduct that relate to society. Private law deals with .
problems that relate to such things as the loaning of money, divorce, a contract, or an .
accidental harming of another individual. Public law is punitive which means essentially .
that the state punishes anyone breaking public law with criminal law however private law .
is nonpunitive and is compensatory so it seeks more to restore what was lost or taken.