Law is a system of rules and guidelines which are enforced
through social institutions to govern behavior. Laws are made by
governments, specifically by their legislatures. The formation
of laws themselves may be influenced by a constitution (written
or unwritten) and the rights encoded therein. The law shapes
politics, economics and society in countless ways and serves as
a social mediator of relations between people. Legislation is
law which has been promulgated by a legislature or other
governing body, or the process of making it. (Another source of
law is judge-made law or case law.) Before an item of
legislation becomes law it may be known as a bill, and may be
broadly referred to as "legislation" while it remains under
consideration to distinguish it from other business. Legislation
can have many purposes: to regulate, to authorize, to proscribe,
to provide (funds), to sanction, to grant, to declare or to
restrict.