Law is the totality of valid rules whose application can be effectively enforced by all parties involved. Only regulations that are respected as independent possess legal character – a fundamental difference from absolute power. Without enforceable regulations, there is a lack of law (anomie). If regulations are propagated and applied as law without general enforceability, injustice prevails.

While unequal law, such as estate-based law, has historically been understood and described as (divinely ordained) law, it loses its legal character when disadvantaged individuals cannot effectively assert their (lesser) rights—a significant risk under prevailing power structures. However, equal law, which can be manipulated, for example, through lobbying exploiting fine print, also effectively loses its legal character. Law is only truly secure when equal rights are effectively protected. Ultimately, a substantive and/or empathetic application of law transcends mere formalistic application.

This results in the following gradation of legality:

1. Injustice and lack of rights
2. Unequal rights
3. Manipulable equal rights
4. Effectively protected equal rights
5. Objective and empathetic application of the law

Law exists in different forms (such as public law with criminal law and human rights, private law, and sectoral legal forms). All these legal forms can be comparatively classified and analyzed within the spectrum of different levels of civility.

Law is of fundamental importance in all societies with elements of civility. It can fulfill various functions, including coordination, peace and security, the preservation and development of values, freedom, legitimacy, and the control of power. The extent to which and in what forms law comes into being depends not only on an autopoietic legal discourse but also on other variables of varying degrees of civility. In war, even minimal legal provisions are at risk of being lost. When power is largely absolute, law loses enormous significance, and in a situation dominated by individual self-interest, law easily becomes a pawn of the rich and powerful. Conversely, excessive legal-bureaucratic formalism can also harm the common good.

Unilateral, one-dimensional thinking struggles with the two-dimensional concept of law. Independent law has no place in the logic of friend or foe. From a power-based perspective, law can only be conceived as dominant law, in accordance with the statement attributed to Karl Marx: "The dominant law is the law of the rulers." And in self-serving thinking (such as that of Donald Trump), law is also considered an absurdity. Accordingly, unilateralists attempt to relativize, undermine, and eliminate independent law.

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