ith the interpretations and expositions of the Centre of the
Covenant and the Guardian of the Cause, constitute the binding terms of
reference of the Universal House of Justice and are its bedrock
foundation.

As to the laws themselves, a careful scrutiny discloses that they govern
three areas: the individual's relationship to God, physical and spiritual
matters which benefit the individual directly, and relations among
individuals and between the individual and society. They can be grouped
under the following headings: prayer and fasting; laws of personal status
governing marriage, divorce and inheritance; a range of other laws,
ordinances and prohibitions, as well as exhortations; and the abrogation
of specific laws and ordinances of previous Dispensations. A salient
characteristic is their brevity. They constitute the kernel of a vast
range of law that will arise in centuries to come. This elaboration of the
law will be enacted by the Universal House of Justice under the authority
conferred upon it by Baha'u'llah Himself. In one of His Tablets
'Abdu'l-Baha elucidates this principle:

Those matters of major importance which constitute the foundation
of the Law of God are explicitly recorded in the Text, but
subsidiary laws are left to the House of Justice. The wisdom of
this is that the times never remain the same, for change is a
necessary quality and an essential attribute of this world, and of
time and place. Therefore the House of Justice will take action
accordingly...

Briefly, this is the wisdom of referring the laws of society to
the House of Justice. In the religion of Islam, similarly, not
every ordinance was explicitly revealed; nay not a tenth part of a
tenth part was included in the Text; although all matters of major
importance were specifically referred to, there were undoubtedly
thousands of laws which were unspecified. These were devised by
the divines of a later age according to the laws of Islamic
jurisprudence, and individual divines made conflicting deductions
from the original revealed ordinances. All these were enforced.
Today this process of deduction is the right of the body of the
House of Justice, and the deductions and conclusions of individual
learned men have no authority, unless they are endorsed by the
House of Justice. The difference is precisely this, that from the
conclusions and endorsements of