All Laws Are Not Created Equal...

Different categories of laws have underlying them different spectrums of intent.

Some laws exist simply because by the time humanity has stooped to this level, it is mandatory that law-induced punishment be the ramification.

Murder is a prime example of this sort of law.  This category seems to be fairly straight-forward.

Contrary to this first category of laws is a sort of law that aims to shape someone into acting rightly before they actually act out of line.

Prohibition would have been an example.  Trick of these sorts of laws is that rules and laws tend to have little influence on the way individuals chose to live.

There is a third category as well that we might call regulatory laws.  These are laws that put a cap on certain things.  In many ways, though, at the core these laws are intended to be pushed to their limits.  There are consequences if the line is crossed, and yet often the point is to figure out how to best toe the line.

These laws are prevalent in realms like sports and business.  Anti-trust laws would be one good example of many.

One of the important aspects with these categories of laws is to be able to decipher which is which, or which is needed in a certain sort of situation and to not be tempted to mix in ways that they don't match.