The breadth and depth of all information in the modern world is now so vast that is basically impossible to an expert on all of a subfield, let alone on a field. The information revolution which exploded the amount of knowledge freely available to everyone has meant that there is also now so much information available that it can be a daunting task to identify the relevant and important information about a particular topic. There are professionals who are paid to give opinions on a subject matter which they have studied and gained experience in relation to and even they can only help so much until the application of information to your personal circumstances becomes so complex that only you can really make a final decision about a matter having collected all of the relevant available and authoritative information. Despite the enormous difficulties with obtaining information when there is so much available, there is also a strong self help ethic in the modern world and in relation to legal questions, many people rely on their own research and information which they gather in relation to a particular matter. This can save you money in the short term but it can also be dangerous.

Some of the important things to know about legal information are order of pieces of information which are authoritative. The highest level of law is the national constitution of a country which defines how the law in that country is made and how the system of government operates. The level of law below this is the operation of statute and regulations (which are a form of sub-laws). Beneath this level of authority is case law which is used to interpret legislation and made rulings about points of law which have not been determined using statute or the constitution. At the highest level, the courts have the responsibility of interpreting and applying the law, not making new law. The role of the legislature (or parliament) is to write laws in the form of legislation. This is a very brief overview of how the authority of law operates at the very highest. sub mechanisms within the law such as administrative review, judicial review and other review and appeal processes also represent other systems of authority in relation to the law.

If you have any questions about how the law operates and you need to speak to a lawyer about your legal problem or question, please do not hesitate to contact us using any of the contact methods available on this site. We would be more than happy to help you with any legal inquiry which you may have.