The creation of law and the delivery of sanctions for rule breaking are contested processes.
How law is made, how it is enforced, and how it is interpreted are always in dispute, constantly changing, and responsive to the power relations that surround it.
Still, we can identify its purposes: law both sets behavioral standards and sets up a system for compliance with them.
Within the reach of a legal system, we are on notice that we must meet its standards or risk penalty.
Chances are we were not directly involved in the making of the rules—we may even disagree strongly with them—but we understand that the legal system shadows us anyway.
It may be the closest we can get to a shared reality.