Add to ORKGWhat is law? is a simple question with a variety of a very complex answers. The question usually leads to a variety of other questions, such as: Where did it come from? How did it originate? On what is it based? Whom does it serve--everyone, or just those with money and influence to get laws enacted and enforced? The next two chapters attempt to answer these questions from a number of different perspectives. Before we attempt this, let us first define law: Law is a written body of general rules of conduct applicable to all members of a defined community, society, or culture, which emanate from a governing authority, and is enforced by its agents by the imposition of penalties for its violation. This definition is only one of many th...