Law serves as a norm of conduct for citizens. It provides order and equity between the three branches of government. Without law there would be chaos and it would be survival of the fittest and every man for himself. The law is important because it acts as a guideline as to what is accepted in society. Without it there would be conflicts between social groups and communities. The law also allows for a way to adapt to changes that occur in society.
Society is a ‘web-relationship’ and social change obviously means a change in the system of social relationship, where a social relationship is understood in terms of social processes and social interactions and social organisations. Thus, the term, ‘social change’ is used to indicate variations in social institutions, social processes and social organisations. It includes alterations in the structure and functions of society. Closer analysis of the role of law vis-à-vis social change leads us to distinguish between the direct and the indirect aspects of the role of law.
Law plays an agent of modernisation and social change. It is also an indicator of the nature of societal complexity and its attendant problems of integration. The abolition of practices like untouchability, child marriage, sati, dowry, etc, are typical illustrations of social change being brought about in a society through laws.
Law certainly has acted as a catalyst in the process of social transformation with the dilution of caste inequalities, protective measures for the weak and vulnerable sections, providing for the dignified existence of those living under difficult conditions, etc. Social change involves an alteration of society’s economic structure, values and beliefs, and its economic, political and social dimensions. While much of social change is brought about by material changes such as technology, new patterns of production, etc, other conditions are also necessary. For example, legal prohibition of untouchability in India has still not succeeded because of inadequate social support.
Theorists have traditionally maintained that there are certain broad views on the substantive criminal law. One set of such constraints concerns the sorts of behaviour that may legitimately be prohibited. Is it proper, for example, to criminalise a certain kind of action on the grounds that most people in one’s society regard it as immoral? The other set of constraints is needed in order to establish criminal responsibility, that is, liability, independently of the content of the particular statute whose violation is in question.
The legal system reflects all the energy of life within any society. Law has the complex vitality of a living organism. We can say that law is a social science characterised by movement and adaptation. Rules are neither created nor applied in a vacuum; they are created and used time and again for a purpose. Rules are intended to move us in a certain direction that we assume is good, or prohibit movement in direction that we believe is bad.

—The writer is a bachelor’s student of Law at KU. [email protected]

Haroon Rashid Wani