Nature, functions and purpose of law

Jurisprudence · Unit II · Topic 7 of 24 · 5 min read

What law is according to the main schools, the characteristics of law, its functions (order, justice, social control, social change, dispute settlement) and its purposes, with the Indian constitutional picture.

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On this page

1. Definitions
2. Characteristics of law
3. Functions of law
4. Purposes of law
5. Law, morality and justice
How this is examined

Cases checked to exist. Read the judgment before quoting a holding.

Every case cited here has been checked to exist — the citation resolves and names the right parties. The propositions attributed to each case have not been verified line by line against the judgment. Case names link through to the full judgment: read it before quoting a holding in an examination answer, and never carry a proposition from notes into court on trust.

The examinable core. “Explain the nature, characteristics and purpose of law” (February 2025) and “Purpose of law” as a short note (June 2025). The answer starts with definitions from different schools, because the nature of law depends on who is defining it, then lists characteristics, then functions and purposes. Salmond’s definition, which ties law to justice, is the bridge to the rest of Unit II.

1. Definitions

The word “law” is used in many senses: the laws of nature, moral law, the law of a State. Jurisprudence is concerned with the last. Each school defines it differently.

Idealistic (natural law). Law is the dictate of right reason (Cicero); an ordinance of reason for the common good, made by him who has care of the community (Aquinas).
Imperative. Law is the command of the sovereign enforced by a sanction (Austin).
Judicial. Salmond: law is “the body of principles recognised and applied by the State in the administration of justice”. Law consists of the rules recognised and acted on by courts. Salmond adds that law is a means and justice is the end; law is the instrument of justice.
Historical. Law is found, not made; it is the product of the Volksgeist (Savigny).
Sociological. Law is the form of the guarantee of the conditions of life of society (Ihering); a social institution to satisfy social wants (Pound).
Realist. Law is what the courts will do in fact (Holmes).
Hart. Law is the union of primary rules of obligation and secondary rules of recognition, change and adjudication.

In India, Article 13(3)(a) of the Constitution gives a working definition for constitutional purposes: “law” includes any Ordinance, order, bye-law, rule, regulation, notification, custom or usage having in the territory of India the force of law.

2. Characteristics of law

It regulates external human conduct. Law is concerned with acts, not with thoughts alone; morality reaches inner motive.
It is made or recognised by the State. Rules of a club or of etiquette are not law in the juristic sense.
It is backed by a sanction. Physical force of the State stands behind it, even if most people obey without that force being used.
It is general. It applies to classes of persons and situations, not to one individual alone.
It is applied by courts. Its content becomes definite through judicial application.
It aims at justice (Salmond) and changes with society.

3. Functions of law

Maintenance of order and security. The first and oldest function: protection of life and property against violence. Without it no other function is possible.
Administration of justice. Law substitutes the settled rule and the impartial court for private vengeance.
Dispute settlement. Llewellyn’s first “law job”: disputes are inevitable, and law provides an authoritative way to end them.
Social control. Law, with religion and morality, keeps conduct within limits society accepts (Pound).
Social change. Law is an instrument of reform. In India it has been used to abolish untouchability (Article 17), to end zamindari, to give daughters coparcenary rights, and to protect workers and consumers.
Protection of rights and liberties. Constitutional law limits the State and gives the individual remedies against it (Articles 32 and 226).
Facilitation. Power-conferring rules let people make contracts, wills, companies and marriages. Hart stressed that this function is as important as the coercive one.
Distribution. Law allocates resources and burdens: taxation, welfare, reservations.

4. Purposes of law

The functions describe what law does; the purposes describe what it is for. Writers have stated the purpose in several ways.

Justice (Salmond, and the natural lawyers). The end of law is justice; a law that does not aim at it fails.
Utility (Bentham). The purpose of law is the greatest happiness of the greatest number. Bentham listed four subordinate ends: subsistence, abundance, equality and security.
Freedom (Kant, Hegel). Law secures the co-existence of the freedom of each with the freedom of all.
Satisfaction of interests (Ihering, Pound). Law reconciles conflicting interests with the least sacrifice.
Social welfare. The modern welfare State treats law as the means of securing a minimum standard of life for all.

In India the purposes are written into the Constitution. The Preamble states the aims of justice, liberty, equality and fraternity; Part IV directs the State to promote the welfare of the people by securing a social order in which justice, social, economic and political, informs all institutions of national life (Article 38).

5. Law, morality and justice

Law and morals overlap: most serious crimes are also moral wrongs. But they differ in that law governs external conduct and is enforced by the State, while morality governs motive and is enforced by conscience and opinion. Morality influences law through legislation, interpretation (equity, good conscience) and the content of fundamental rights. The connection between law and justice is taken up in the next note but one.

Function or purpose? If the question asks for the purpose of law, do not simply list functions. Start with the theories of purpose (justice, utility, freedom, interests, welfare), and use the functions as the means by which each purpose is achieved.

How this is examined

As a 10-mark essay: “Explain the nature, characteristics and purpose of law” (February 2025, Q.2(a)). As a short note: “Purpose of law” (June 2025, Q.2(b)). Give four or five definitions with authors, six characteristics, then functions and purposes in separate lists, ending with the Preamble and Article 38. Salmond’s definition and his statement that law is the instrument of justice should appear in every answer in this unit.

Now try the real questions: Jurisprudence past question papers.