It is a matter of some embarrassment for lawyers that the main reason people seek legal advice is because they don't trust their business partners not to try and swindle them. Or, they 'trust' each other 100%, but they want a legal contract 'just in case'. The law provides a remedy that you can pursue if the person you 'trust' betrays you. This function of law turns out to be surprisingly important in economic growth and progress, by providing a remedy for breach of contract and vindication of property rights. In fact this legal function is so important that no serious economic growth can occur in countries where basic contractual and property rights are not consistently and reliably upheld by a robust legal system. 

Now that we have big governments and high taxes, we don't need private charity. Long ago, if your conscience dictated that you should help the poor you would have to take some personal responsibility for your own moral code. Whether you helped or not would depend on your own personal character and integrity. This was very inconvenient, because you'd have to make the effort of finding avenues to do your bit in contributing to society. Worse still, you'd have to be a Good Samaritan, and you'd have to notice people suffering around you and personally stop to help them. How embarrassing. Surely it's better to just raise the tax rate, because that way you can leave the matter to your accountants and never have to help anyone yourself. That's why helping the poor is now done through taxes. If you're a billionaire and you want to help more, all you need to do is campaign for the government to raise taxes.