legal principles
Rules governing conduct
Legal principles are the foundational rules and doctrines that guide how law is interpreted and applied.
These include broad concepts like due process, equal protection, and presumption of innocence, as well as specific maxims like innocent until proven guilty.
Legal principles provide the framework within which statutes are written and cases decided, offering consistency across the legal system: The ruling was based on well-established legal principles.
- rule of lawSupremacy of established laws
- due processGuaranteed judicial fairness
- natural justiceFair procedure in decisions
- equityImpartial treatment or ownership value
- equal protectionUniform legal treatment
property rights · equality before the law · fairness · textualism · originalism · judicial review · proportionality · presumption of innocence · reasonable doubt · legislative intent · justice · access to justice · jurisprudence · human dignity · common law · tort · burden of proof · clear and convincing
- Islamic Lawsharia, Sharia, Shariah, Islamic law, fatwa
- legal systemsconstitutional law, judiciary, criminal code, court system, penal code
- legal historymedieval law, Roman law, Roman jurisprudence, common law, civil law
- jurisprudencenatural law, Hart, Austin, Thomas Aquinas, rule of law
- legal doctrineprecedents, duty of care, causation
- legal sourceslaws, law journals, constitutions, statutory law, treatises
legal principlesstatutes
Formally enacted laws
social customs · legislation · statutory law · executive orders · unwritten rules
legal principlesmoral principles
Standards distinguishing right wrong
ethical principles · religious law · divine commandments · social norms · cultural taboos
legal principlesregulations
Enforced rules and standards
letter of the law · procedural requirements · ordinances · fine print