Basic legal knowledge is mandatory for all

LAW is the principles and regulations established in a community by some authority and applicable to its people, whether in the form of legislation or of custom and policies recognized and enforced by judicial decision. It may be formed by the parliament and by any other valid source. In Bangladesh, over all, our constitution is the supreme authority than any existing law of the land. In this case, the law is enacted by the members of the parliament maintaining the proper procedures of making the law. In fact, parliament is the absolute law making body. On the other hand, the judiciary is the authority to implement it.The constitutional law is the supreme than any other law and anything that is inconsistent with the constitution will be void. Primary law, secondary law, delegated law, customary law are also law which bind people to comply with. When people are legally informed, in Bangladesh or any other place for that matter, they will be more prepared to build a modern nation.

As a citizen of Bangladesh, everyone should know the basic and/or fundamental laws to run their days. However, in our country, it is observed that there is no scope to learn basic and fundamental aspects from primary to the highest stage without being the student of law. In our academic curriculum, no such initiative has been taken so far. This is the reason public knowledge of existing laws, legal literacy in the country is really poor, which should be improved.

Law is a vital part of modern life. When making laws, the parliament members and politicians must remember the specific purpose of the law that is to serve the people and society. Laws must therefore need to be citizen friendly. Law on paper will not serve the purpose. People should have comprehensive knowledge about the fundamental laws. Everyone should have the awareness of the law. In the current reality, it is observed that gradually the rate of offences committed by the teenagers and /or under age people are increasing day by day. In order to protect the society from juvenile crime, interpretation of law has to be introduced in school, college and tertiary education curriculum.

First and foremost is that the law making bodies maintain the main spirit of law which is to keep it citizen friendly. Awareness of any new law is equally important so that people are informed of the possible legal changes before it is enacted.  As such, white paper is very important since a white paper is published in the form of law before enactment. Sadly, in Bangladesh, publishing the white paper and sharing the draft of the law with the wider public is not practiced.

Since publication of white papers is not common and legal literacy not a policy priority, our country people remain without knowledge of any new acts. Judges of subordinate courts also found to be unaware about new acts passed by the authority. It’s a situation that is not ideal. Basics of a legal system must be introduced in early education. For example, what is law, why an individual should abide by the law, if anyone does not abide by the law what are the possible consequences? Such legal education must start at the family level and continue in all levels of educational institutions. Legal knowledge should not be considered a matter of interest for law students alone. It is therefore important for the government to take the issue of public awareness of law and legal system seriously and priorities improving public awareness of law.

A law should not be implemented only in literal terms. Sometimes literal meanings give us totally the opposite interpretation. In order to avoid such ambiguity and to avoid the threshold of such undesired circumstances there should be an academic curriculum in the secondary level. We know that, there are a total four types of interpretations of law and they are as follows: literal meaning, the golden rule, mischief rule, and persuasive authority. It is found that our judges, including subordinate courts to highest courts most of the time follow the literal meaning and they generally do not wish to go beyond the literal meaning. Considering the complexity of social situations and political reality, judges need to consider the other three approaches, when necessary. Otherwise, some undesired result may derive and give us completely the reverse meaning of a law. In that event, the purpose of the law, which was discussed among the law making body before enactment of a law, will not be served.

It is also observed that in the developed countries people are more informed of the legal system. Legal literacy in developed countries is generally higher than in developing nations. They are also aware of the consequences of disobeying the law. In other words, we may call it awareness about the consequences of breaking any law of their land. A population better informed of the law is more aware of the possible legal consequences and therefore criminal offenses in developed nations are low.

In conclusion, it is submitted that primary legal knowledge is very important for all to build a modern nation state. In what follows, in our academic curriculum from primary to higher level education, inclusion of fundamental and/or basic laws should be incorporated to improve the legal literacy of the country.

The Main Source of this Article: https://www.newagebd.net/article/191960/basic-legal-knowledge-is-mandatory-for-all

Share this