The exact method differs in each country. Generally however, laws today are put into effect by extremely old mechanisms:
(Very Old)
- A government is introduced, generally through a written constitution that sets out its powers to make laws
- Either the new written constitution or the government sets up a legal system.
- The Parliament uses its power to create a police service by writing a law forming it.
(Modern)
The government can make two types of laws, which are put into effect in two different ways:
Criminal
- The government passes a law that says 'it is an offence to wear a blue hat'
- The power to enforce this law is given to the police under another law already passed
- The police detect that a person has broken the law, and arrest them
- The court system determines whether they are guilty of the offence and punishes them accordinly.
Civil (Non-Criminal)
- The government passes a law that says 'a contract made on Monday must be written in blue pen'
- There is no body that enforces these laws, citizens are expected to respect the law.
- If a person who is directly influenced by somebody breaking that law (e.g. the parties who entered into the contract on Monday), then they make take it to the courts
- The court determines whether it is satisfied that the person has broken that law and punishes accordingly.
