Law is a system of behavioral norms formulated or endorsed by the state and guaranteed to be implemented by state coercion, reflecting the will of the ruling class as determined by the material living conditions of a particular society, with rights and obligations as its content, and with the purpose of confirming, protecting and developing the social relations and social order that are beneficial to the ruling class.

Jurists have approached the study of law from many different perspectives, including from the history and philosophyof the legal system, or from the social sciences, such as economics and sociology. The study of law comes from the interrogation of what constitutes equality, fairness and justice, which is not always simple. The French writer Anatole France said in 1894, “Underneath its sublime equality, the law forbids at the same time the rich and the poor to sleep under bridges, to beg in the streets and to steal a piece of bread.”