What is Law?

Law is a system of rules a society sets to maintain order and protect harm to persons and property. Law is ancient, dating back at least to the Code of Hammurabi, written by an ancient Babylonian king around 1760 BC. Today, most countries have tens or hundreds of thousands of pages of law. Laws are enforced by the police, supported by the court and prison systems. Laws are written by legislators, such as senators or congressmen. In India and many other countries, laws must uphold and not contradict the Constitution, a document outlining the most basic rules of the country. Aside from law being a set of rules, the word also refers to the law as practiced by lawyers, who either prosecute or defend a client from an accusation of violating the law. Becoming a lawyer requires attending law school and passing a bar exam. This entitles the lawyer to a law license. Only lawyers with a law license are allowed to practice law. There are many categories of law. These include contract law, property law, trust law, tort law, criminal law, constitutional law, administrative, and international law. Each of these sets the rules for a distinct area of human activity. Without laws, there is lawlessness, which historically has led to a general breakdown in society, sometimes to the point of a near-standstill in the economy. Those that advocate the abolition of all laws are called anarchists. Depending on one's political orientation, they will generally favor more or less law. At one end of the spectrum are libertarians, who advocate minimal law or government intervention into the affairs of the public. At the other end are fascists, who seek to create laws regulating practically everything, generally under the assumption that a disciplined nation will be a powerful nation. Historically, most fascist governments have collapsed.

Legal Awareness
Legal awareness provides people with an understanding of the relevant legal duties, rights and processes that should be applied to day to day life when they get into legal situations to defend themselves. It basically tells the people of their rights and the limited boundaries prior to others safety and security. Legal aid is the provision of assistance to people otherwise unable to afford legal representation and access to the court system. Legal aid is regarded as central in providing access to justice by ensuring equality before the law, the right to counsel and the right to a fair trial.

Ignorance of Law
Legal literacy is seen as a tool to bring about qualitative change at the grass-root level. It has been witnessed that better awareness of laws helps people work more effectively in diverse spheres. The failure of execution of many laws has been attributed to the beneficiaries' lack of awareness. Therefore an emergent need was felt for generating awareness of rights as knowledge is the central focus and is a source of power. Legislations, Court orders, International covenants etc do not make sense and prove colossal failure unless the people for whom such rules and laws are made, are kept ignorant of them. It is the duty of the local administration and civil society groups including non-governmental organizations, voluntary agencies and community based organizations to see such rules and laws are made known to people. This is more pertinent with respect to people of rural areas since the urban population have various means to come to know about them formally or otherwise. Its intriguing that the key reason for the unbearable increase in the number of criminal and civil cases around 3.5 crore now is legal knowledge and liberal interpretation of laws. Knowledge of rights is imperative in a vibrant democracy, but this can t be seen as a disqualification for expeditious disposal of cases. There were amendments in the codes of civil and criminal procedure to simplify trials. Yet, an ordinary criminal trial takes 15 years and civil matters pass from generation to generation. Its argued even at the highest level that legislatures must appreciate expected legal costs involved in new laws. But it should also be examined whether the existing laws can be amended, so that time-consuming components in a loosely worded legal document are wished away. After all, right to life under article 21 includes speedy trial and justice. A task force set up to assess the cost impact of laws feels providing an estimate of the likely burden on courts by every bill passed by parliament or state legislatures should be made mandatory. New laws must have the provision of making money to meet this legal challenge.

Need and the benefits of Legal Awareness

Sustainability has emerged as a new challenge before the entire humanity. The challenge before us is to reduce disparity through capacity building and providing the poor and dispossessed access to the knowledge and resources needed for meaningful life. Sustainability, in a general sense is the capacity to maintain a certain state or process continuous or indefinite. In the context of development, sustainability means progress without compromising with the ability of future generations to meet their needs. Sustainable development is a long-term process, a continuous process and it cannot be achieved in the short turn. For India, the

concept of environmental conservation and sustainable development is not a new one. India has taken an active part in global efforts to tackle environmental problems. A number of laws have been constituted by the Indian Government to combat with the increasing environmental problems. No doubt Indian Judiciary is playing active role in implementing the doctrine of sustainable development, but only a handful of people are legally aware of the environmental laws and majority of them are ignorant. Thus only formulating laws will not solve the problems unless the people are made aware of their rights to enjoy and live a wholesome environment. There is a need to mobilize various means and resources. In this progressive effort, one should not forget the important roles of mass-media, N.G.Os, other private bodies, local government and never the least the role of educational institutions. It is a fundamental requisite of the rule of law that the law should be made known. The individual must be able to know about his legal rights and obligations. The need to raise awareness about individual rights and the processes that can be used to give effect to them is obviously a vital challenge for the future. The key concept of having a good and effective justice system is "a fair go for all." All people, irrespective of their sexual, religious, ethnic, cultural, social and any other background, are entitled to be treated equally before the law. This is a fundamental principle and a fundamental foundation for fairness. Access to justice means that, in order for people to have "a fair go," the justice system must be accessible to all and it must lead to results that are individually and socially just. Promoting access to justice is fundamental to the rule of law, good governance, democracy and observance of human rights. Educating people about their legal and human rights is also fundamental in promoting access to justice. If people do not know about their rights and cannot exercise them, the fact that the constitution and other laws have enshrined them is of very little practical impact. Rights as enunciated in the law books and in the court cases should be real in the lives of all Bangladeshis. The awareness of the people about their legal rights and obligations or empowering the people through legal awareness is basically a range of activities and initiatives that improve people's lives and empower communities. Better legal knowledge helps to prevent problems, gets people to act early to stop problems escalating and assists people to manage the issues that do come up, including knowing when to get advice. The law affects people of all ages -- whether as employees, consumers and borrowers, tax payers, motorists, parents or children, tenants or simply as citizens. In an increasingly complex and diverse society, the law provides rules based on certain shared values. But few would disagree that the law is very complex -- and is changing all the time. As a result, many people are either unaware of, or struggle to understand, their legal rights and obligations. This is not made any easier by myths and misunderstandings about the law and its processes. These often run deep and are not effectively encountered by those who are -- or should be -- better informed. The government

should take initiative to promote public legal awareness. The media have a particular responsibility to present legal issues accurately; this is especially important in television and radio drama programmes. Public legal awareness is a right. There is an urgent need to actively promote public awareness and knowledge of legal issues, to help the people overcome the difficulties that they may experience dealing with the law in their daily lives. Making aware about the civil law is important to give people the knowledge and skills that they need to manage their affairs, to allow them to avoid legal disputes in their transactions with others -- or to deal with disputes appropriately if they cannot be avoided. Equipping people with information about the criminal and civil law gives them the opportunity of better complying with their obligations as citizens instead of transgressing the law out of ignorance. Put simply, prevention is better than cure. If people cannot avoid legal disputes, they are considerably helped by having a basic understanding of their problem and some knowledge of how courts and tribunals work -- and the alternatives to using them. Helping individuals to be more efficient users of the justice system is clearly in the wider public interest. A very significant reason to promote legal awareness is that unscrupulous court clerks, court officials and lawyers, in some cases, may try to take advantage of the client's lack of legal knowledge. There is also a strong argument that, if community members have an understanding of legal rights and responsibilities, this contributes to active citizenship and social cohesion -- and helps strengthen civil society. Civil renewal and community capacity depend to some extent on having strong community organizations; these organizations, in turn, need to understand their position as employers or charities in their legal dealings with third parties. Moreover, a healthy democracy needs citizens with an understanding of the law -- the citizens who have a practical knowledge about how to defend and uphold rights. Greater legal confidence helps to build a more stable society leading to improved social and economic well-being. Public legal awareness has a pivotal role to play in making this happen. It can also increase public confidence in the rule of law and create safe and cohesive communities. It develops legal capability by improving the skills needed to anticipate and avoid problems. Public legal awareness is more than just imparting knowledge about the law; it is also about improving skills, selfconfidence and determination. Public legal awareness provides people with awareness, knowledge and understanding of rights and legal issues, together with the confidence and skills they need to deal with disputes and gain access to justice. Equally important, public legal awareness helps people recognise when they may need support, what sort of advice is available, and how to go about getting it. Public legal awareness has a further key role in helping citizens to better understand everyday life issues, making better decisions and anticipating and avoiding problems.