Legal Dictionary of Pakistan

source of law

Something (such as a constitution, treaty, statute, or custom) that provides authority for legislation and for judicial decisions; a point of origin for law or legal analysis. - Also termed fons juris. "The term 'sources of law' is ordinarily used in a much narrower sense than will be attributed to it here. In the literature of jurisprudence the problem of 'sources' relates to the question: Where does the judge obtain the rules by which to decide cases? In this sense, among the sources of law will be commonly listed: statutes, judicial precedents, custom, the opinion of experts, morality, and equity. In the usual discussions these various sources of law are analyzed and some attempt is made to state the conditions under which each can appropriately be drawn upon in the decision of legal controversies. Curiously, when a legislature is enacting law we do not talk about the 'sources' from which it derives its decision as to what the law shall be, though an analysis in these terms might be more enlightening than one directed toward the more restricted function performed by judges. Our concern here will be with 'sources' in a much broader sense than is usual in the literature of jurisprudence. Our interest is not so much in sources of laws, as in sources of law. From whence does the law generally draw not only its content but its force in men's lives?" Lon L. Fuller, Anatomy of the Law 69 (1968). "In the context of legal research, the term 'sources of law' can refer to three different concepts which should be distinguished. One, sources of law can refer to the origins of legal concepts and ideas .... Two, sources of law can refer to governmental institutions that formulate legal rules .... Three, sources of law can refer to the published manifestations of the law. The books, computer databases, microforms, optical disks, and other media that contain legal information are all sources of law." J. Myron Jacobstein & Roy M. Meraky, Fundamentals of Legal Research 1-2 (5th ed. 1990).