law

1. General: Recognized cause-effect (causal) link or principle whose violation must or should result in a penalty as failure, injury, loss, or pain.

2. Legal: Regimen of binding rules of conduct (whether written or not) meant to enforce justice and prescribe duty or obligation, and derived largely from custom or formal enactment by a ruler or legislature. These rules (laws) carry with them the power and authority of the enactor, and associated penalties for failure or refusal to obey. The law, however, is not just a list of 'do's and don'ts,' but a system of primary and secondary rules which derive their legitimacy ultimately from universally accepted principles such as the essential justness of the rules, or the sovereign power of a parliament to enact them.

3. Scientific: Description of a direct link between cause and effect of a phenomenon deduced from experiments and/or observations.

Every business is affected by a wide variety of rules. Some of these rules are difficult to change and costly to break, such as laws enacted by government. Other rules are more easily changed or broken, such as those created by convention, inertia, or a herd mentality. Contracts and agreements lie somewhere between these two extremes.

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