Law is a system of principles and rules of human conduct
prescribed or recognized by society and enforced by public authority.
It can also be defined as accepted ethics or codes of conduct
with accompanying sanctions which guide societies and organisations.
Dan Jerker Svantesson in the book, Ratio Juris, defines it as
“a jurisprudential concept- A collection of legal rules (created by legislative
enactments and court judgments) and the context of those legal rules.
Types of laws
There are several different types of laws. Article 11 in
Ghana’s 1992 constitution addresses the sources of laws in Ghana. The types of
law include:
·
Written
and unwritten laws
·
Rigid
and flexible laws
·
Main
and subsidiary laws
This paper will focus on unwritten laws.
Unwritten laws
In Ghana and beyond, unwritten laws are mainly derived from
customs and conventions. When people refer to unwritten laws, they are
ultimately referring to uncodified laws. In the UK for instance, the laws are
written but in different documents. They are not contained in a single
document, therefore they are not codified. There are binding unwritten/uncodified
laws. Examples are the UN law that prevents soldiers from exchanging food for
sex in conflict- ridden countries and another UN law that prevents countries
from obtaining diamond from war-torn countries. Much of international laws are
unwritten/ uncodified.
IMPORTANCE OF UNWRITTEN
LAWS
1. Unwritten laws become conventions
which are as enforceable as written laws. A person can be tried and punished
for breaking an unwritten law just as is done with written laws. Unwritten laws
have the force and power of written laws. They carry the same weight as written
laws in so far as they are not in contradiction to any provision of the
constitution.
2. Unwritten laws are flexible. They can
be modified or revised as old identities and situations become less relevant
over time and new ones emerge. They are responsive to the changing rules of
society.
3. Because there is no special procedure
for changing unwritten laws, they are less expensive to operate; generally they
need fewer resources to be amended.
4. Unwritten laws are commonly found in
primitive societies where illiteracy dominates. Because many residents in those
societies cannot read and write, there is no point in writing the laws, anyway.
We are aware that “ignorance of the law is no excuse”.- that it is not an
excuse for those who cannot read or write to break the law.
5. Many unwritten laws are exclusive to communities;
therefore they are able to cater for the needs of those communities, where
written laws do not make provisions. Example: in fishing communities in Ghana,
there is no fishing on Tuesdays. Though this has a superstitious explanation to
it, the real reason is that the sea tide rises to a level that makes it unsafe
for small fishing boats.
6. Unwritten laws are generally the
basis for written laws. Therefore we can say that unwritten laws are
fundamental laws. “no legal theory exists in perfect isolation from the
reasoning of those theories expressed before it.”- Dan Jerker in Ratio Juris.
IMPORTANCE OF UNWRITTEN
LAWS TO AN ORGANISATION
1. Fundamental to the growth of both
organisation and the individual in the organisation.
2. They are symbols of orderliness
3. Improving the efficiency of the team
4. It allows for swift day to day
administration of the organisation, since unlike written laws, time would not
need to be taken to refer to it where needed.
5. They can be easily amended to suit
the changing dynamics of the organisation as it grows. Examples: new
management, new property, extension of size and staff number
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