A statute is a law, passed by the legislature. A regulation is an interpretation of that law, written by a govt agency. Case law is a ruling by a court on a particualar law. An example is a tax bill.
Naturally, the law itself, literally speaking, cannot protect people, but, laws are made up as we go along (evolve socially) in order to set guidelines or "rules" for each of us to live by; thereby in a sense of the word, protecting us all from each other. Laws are carefully thought out and engineered as need arises to provide, basically, safety and financial security. Once in place, they are enforced by various levels of government. This system works only if everyone adheres to the rules, and, for the most part, we do; however there are those who either forget or intentionally ignore the law for their own selfish gains. A simple example is the person who is speeding in their car. If, for any given situation, there is a "law" or "rule", stop and fully consider how NOT obeying the rule might negatively impact or hurt another person. Then reverse the situation and consider that YOU might be that person.
Laws protect not only peoples safety, but their right as well. If laws were to not exist the world would be in total meltdown (just like the purge all the time).
