Answer to Question #174479 in Sociology for Kwame Hayford

Question

Question 1

 a) Prerogative writs are public law remedies and not private law remedies and so lie only against public companies and will not lie against private ones. Discuss to some details three of such writs within the Ghanaian context of law.

EV(10 Marks)

b) Law plays important roles in every society around the world. Clearly examine any three significant roles of law in society.

AN(10 Marks)

c) According to Emile Durkheim, Law is a measure of the type of solidarity in society. With illustrations, distinguish between the types of law he stipulated in his attempt to justify his statement.

CR(5 

Answer 1

A prerogative writ is an official order directing other government arms, such as an agency, official, or another court. Writs are an effective method of enforcing the people's rights and compelling the authorities to fulfill the duties that they are bound to perform under the law. There are several writs in the Ghanaian government, majorly five of them: Habeas Corpus, Mandamus, Certiorari, Quo Warranto, and Prohibition. A writ of prohibition is the one directing a subordinate to stop doing something the law prohibits. A superior court often issues it to the lower court directing it not to proceed with a case that does not fall under its jurisdiction. Quo warranto writ is a unique form of legal action used to resolve a dispute over whether a specific person has the legal right to hold the public office that he or she occupies. Quo warranto is used to test a person's legal right to hold any office, not to evaluate its performance in the office. Habeas corpus is used to bring a prisoner or other detainee (e.g., standardized mental patient) before the court determines if the person's imprisonment or detention is lawful.

The law is essential for a society, for it first serves as a norm of conduct. Secondly, it provides for proper guidelines and order upon all citizens' behavior and to sustain the equity on the three branches of the government. Lastly, it allows for easy adoption of changes that occur in society.

Durkheim identifies two types of law that correspond to different types of social solidarity: repressive law, which consists essentially in suffering, or at least a loss, inflicted on the agent', and restitutive law, which consists only of the return of things as they were. Repressive law reflects solidarity that implies that individuals resemble each other, while restitutive law reflects solidarity that implies differences amongst individuals. Restitutive law is civil law, while repressive law is criminal, embodied in the state.