Читать книгу Intellectual Property Law for Engineers, Scientists, and Entrepreneurs - Howard B. Rockman - Страница 30

The laws of nature, or the natural laws such as the law of gravity, are universal laws, and cannot be changed by human‐made laws. Such laws would exist even if legislative acts were passed against them. A state legislature once tried to set the value of Pi as 3.000 to make calculations involving the diameter and circumference of a circle more convenient. Obviously, this did not work.

The study of law concerns human‐made laws governing relationships between people. The law refers to a set of rules and principles set up by society to restrict the conduct, and protect the rights, of its members. Each individual must control his or her behavior in such a manner that the rights of others are protected. As the urban societies of the globe grow, people interact with and depend on others to a higher degree, which requires more laws and restrictions of greater complexity to govern our behavior in a civil manner.

Laws began centuries ago as social customs and norms where it was proper for each member of the society to behave in a certain manner under particular circumstances. Tribal chiefs and, later, priests developed and enforced the laws, the latter based on laws of Divine origin.