laws, modes, backup modes/laws
OG has the best description of the "laws" I have seen in many moons.
The discussion here amongst the heavy pilots emphasizes a point I have made ( fire a way Doze) , and several others, that you must have a simple degredation sequence when so many aspects of flying the jet are not pure hydraulics with minimal inputs like dampers and such.
I would think that the primary "law" would be related to AoA. You know, the basic parameter that keeps us using all those lifties. Overspeed comments here puzzle me, as most bent wing jets airfoils can safely get to higher mach than is normal for cruise. Even near "critical mach", there should be some aero feedback to the pilot that controls are reversing, an unusual buffet, and so forth. I only flew one jet that had a nasty tendency if close to the critical mach, and the sucker would "tuck" and unless you could pull back power and extend speed brakes then you were toast. It was a straight wing attack jet. 20 or 30 knots below the bad zone you would start having aileron problems, so I never flew the thing that fast again on bombing runs.
My main point is that the 'bus has so many "protections" and so many conditions when one "protection" is active and another is not. Sheesh.
IMHO, pilots need to have control logic that they can hang their hat on. I don't think I could pass a test on all the reversion modes of the 'bus and the sub-modes. Of course, none of this applies to those jets that are not fully FBW and have a plethora of Otto inputs to the same.