Theoreticians have been able to categorize law into several key theories; there is positive law, natural law, legal realism, and critical legal studies, among others. These theories allow modern approaches to understanding the purposes and functions of law. The legal process is examined through theory on morality, economic issues and political objectives. These issues become key elements to the various perspectives of theories that operate law in Canada. "Law in any society is the society"s attempt to resolve the most basic human tensions, that between the needs of the person as an individual, and her needs as a member of a community. The law is the knife edge on which the delicate balance is maintained between the individual on the one hand, and the society on the other."# Therefore law can be defines as a set of rules or regulations recognized by courts and enforced by the state. This essay attempts to develop a clear and concise understanding about theory of law and how it is applied. Its aim is to provide the strengths and weaknesses of each theory using abortion to emphasize the main points of each standpoint. .
Positivism is defined as "the theory that laws are to be understood as social rules, valid because they are enacted by the sovereign or derives logically from existing decisions, and that ideal or moral considerations should not limit the scope or operation of law." That being stated positive law can be understood as a legal process opposed to politics. In this perception, the practice of law becomes distinctly separate from practice of politics. Positive law is known as social rules where by any written law takes an absolute real meaning. Law is legitimate because it is made by sovereign and comes from existing decisions. Any law that opposes individual morality does not limit effective operation of law in the eyes of a positivist. Subsequently positivism is a systematization of the law, where by the value behind it covers the legal process.