This is how it's always been. The law just produces another axis of strength that is easier to gatekeep.
To a first order, laws basically just codify how the government (the overwhelmingly dominant applicator of violence in any given society these days) will apply violence so that the peasants can reason about it in advance and avoid it.
You don't need any of that for the basic "if I do violence upon others without a damn good reason violence will be done upon me" workflow though.