Laws are a part of every community and government. This thought-provoking volume provides an accessible guide to these rules for readers who haven’t been involved in civic engagement or aren’t aware of how the law functions. Readers will learn about both the history of laws and legislatures as well as modern civil and criminal laws. Interest-provoking sidebars enhance the text, adding to essential vocabulary as well as posing questions that promote critical thinking about the rules and laws of society. Meanwhile, carefully selected photographs serve to support reading comprehension and add to the appeal of the book design.

The origins of civil society and the function of law -- Justice, ownership, and law -- Natural justice and conventional justice -- Justice and the trading order -- Adjudication and interpretation -- Morality, law, and legislation -- Natural law -- Rights -- The force of law -- The authority and legitimacy of law.

Marginalized Communities and Access to Justice is a comparative study, by leading researchers in the field of law and justice, of the imperatives and constraints of access to justice among a number of marginalized communities. A central feature of the rule of law is the equality of all before the law. As part of this equality, all persons have the right to the protection of their rights by the state, particularly the judiciary. Therefore equal access to the courts and other organs of the state concerned with the enforcement of the law is central. These studies – undertaken by internationally renowned scholars and practitioners – examine the role of courts and similar bodies in administering the laws that pertain to the entitlements of marginalized communities, and address individuals' and organisations' access to institutions of justice: primarily, but not exclusively, courts. They raise broad questions about the commitment of the state to law and human rights as the principal framework for policy and executive authority, as well as the impetus to law reform through litigation. Offering insights into the difficulties of enforcing, and indeed of the will to enforce, the law, this book thus engages fundamental questions about value of engagement with the formal legal system for marginalized communities.

Justice is a basic human right in all democratic doctrines, but in Britain, where welfare has faced recent market-based reforms, it’s increasingly a right available only to those who can afford it. Professionals and volunteers are struggling to provide services such as legal counselling and representation to disadvantaged communities. This book explores how strategies to safeguard these vital services can strengthen, rather than undermine, the basic ethics and principles of public service provision. The authors show how such safeguarding might improve the positions of those who administer—as well as those who need—publicly provided legal services. Though focused on Britain, their findings reverberate to the United States and all democracies undergoing similar challenges in the public sphere.