Introduction In our earlier outings in this treatise, we discussed the meaning of law, impunity, separation of power and separation of powers, checks and balances in Nigeria. Today, we shall x-ray How Law helps to maintain sanity and prevent impunity in a democratic setting. Please, read on.
The force of law is a major requirement, for maintaining social order and preventing chaos in societies. It is difficult to imagine the existence of a community, without law. Lawmakers, courts and other officials of the law, help to preserve a harmonious society.
As Freeman wrote: “Fiction provides us with numerous examples of utopian societies where congruence of norm and ideal is such that there is perfect social harmony and no need for law or lawyers to emerge. History teaches us the unhappy truth that no such society has ever existed. In all societies, socialisation is an unequal process; there is always deviance and conflict, and law can be seen to emerge as a norm-asserting authority with the coercive power to sanction those guilty of violating the norm.
It is difficult to escape the fact that law is necessary. If a society should ever come about where it is not, it may be predicted with certainty that it will be a society different from anything we have known”. Law functions as an integral part of the society and so, occupies a important position.
It generally performs four functions. First, it plays the role of protecting us from evil that is, those people who wish to do us ba.