5.2.1  Primary Rules, Legislation and Changes in Behaviour

(This is an archived extract from the book Patterns of Power: Edition 2)

Primary rules, which most people refer to as 'laws', govern people's behaviour by defining what society expects of them and by providing the criteria for what forms of coercion can be used to enforce compliance. 

In the early medieval period, law was assumed to be God-given and the role of the judge was merely to interpret it.[1]  In Britain, for example, this gave rise to a history of judgements on particular cases which were used as precedents in the ‘Common Law’.  From the early part of the 14^th century in Britain,[2] though, it was recognised that Parliament could make new laws.  The two Houses of Parliament constitute a legislature, with similar powers to those of Congress in America and equivalent institutions in other countries.  When a legislature approves changes to the law, the associated publicity makes people aware of the changes and usually causes their behaviour to change, if necessary, to comply.  If they don’t comply, they are told what penalties they might incur. 

Although laws are used to govern people’s behaviour, and State coercion can be applied, it may also be possible for people to have some influence on the law.  Negotiations to change the law involve the Political Dimension, which is the subject of the next chapter (6.1.2); they can be at three levels:

·      If the political system is democratic, the people are negotiating with each other when they elect the politicians who are the lawmakers in the legislature (6.3.2.1).

·      The politicians negotiate with each other in the legislature.

·      People can apply pressure within the political system (6.4.2.1).

This brief summary does not, though, clarify an important distinction between the different roles of politicians: those in the government of the day and those who make up the legislature.  The separation of these powers is discussed later (5.2.8).

© PatternsofPower.org, 2014