The first basketball games used half-bushel peach baskets as targets, so a stepladder was needed to get the ball out. In 1891 a teacher named James Naismith invented basketball and wrote its first rules. He invented it as an indoor game to replace boring or dangerous exercises at his school. Naismith's original rules banned walking or running with the ball and limited physical contact. They are still the basis of basketball. His first class had 18 players, so the first games had 9 on each side. The number was later cut to 5.

Preschool children learn to take turns. When two children share a toy, each gets an equal turn, like five minutes each. Children can ask politely for a turn, like "May I please have it first?" Even three-year-olds can work out a toy dispute by taking turns or trading. Playing with other children helps a child learn about sharing and friendship. Health groups say rules work best when they are clear and stay the same. A good rule is clear and open, so everybody can know what it is.

A traffic signal is a device used to control traffic. Signals mainly sit at city intersections, where they give each stream of traffic its turn to go. Safety rules say to stay out of traffic and to cross streets at crosswalks or intersections. The CDC also says to tell a child why a safety rule matters, such as staying out of traffic. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says that keeping walkers safe is a shared job: pedestrians, drivers and everyone who uses the road have a responsibility.

In a crash, an unbelted person keeps moving at the same travel speed until crashing into what is in front of them. A seat belt spreads crash forces across the stronger bones of the body: the shoulder, rib cage and pelvis. Wearing a lap and shoulder belt reduces the risk of fatal injury by 45 percent in a car and by 60 percent in an SUV, van or pickup. You may have heard that rules are only there to punish people. In fact, many rules are there to keep people safe. As of November 2026, nearly half of the people who die in car crashes are not wearing a belt.

One definition says that law is the set of customs, practices and rules of conduct of a community that the community recognizes as binding. It is enforced by a controlling authority. "A rule of law" is one particular legal rule, such as the rule that we must file our taxes by a certain date. "The rule of law" is a different idea. It means that no one, even the most highly placed official, is above the law, and that government is bound by existing laws as much as its citizens are.

Hammurabi was a king of Babylon who ruled from 1792 to 1750 BCE. His code has 282 case laws. They cover prices and trade, marriage and divorce, theft and assault, and debt. His legal decisions were collected and carved into a stone pillar, so people could see them. It was found at Susa in 1901 and is now in the Louvre in Paris.

The Mayflower Compact, signed in 1620, was the first framework of government written and enacted in what is now the United States. The United States Constitution begins with the words "We the People of the United States." The Preamble lists goals for the Constitution, including to form a more perfect Union and establish justice. All four pages of the Constitution are on permanent display at the National Archives.

A law starts as an idea. A representative sponsors a bill and a committee studies it. If the committee releases it, the bill is put on a calendar to be voted on, debated or amended. In the House a simple majority is 218 of 435 votes, and in the Senate it is 51 of 100. The bill must pass both. After a bill passes both chambers, the President has 10 days to sign or veto it.

King John of England granted Magna Carta, a charter of liberties, to his barons in 1215. You may have read that it gave every person rights. In fact, when it was written, Magna Carta secured only the rights of a privileged class of the king's subjects. Over centuries it became an enduring symbol of liberty and the rule of law, the idea that even a king is under the law.

Words to know

• stepladder: small ladder
• binding: must be followed
• majority: more than half
• privileged: favored class