Yehuda may have answered some of this, however, in a sense, it is the same. the best comparison, and it is not really a good one is to say that "law" covers federal, state, local provisions as well as the courts interpretations of those laws. Torah and Talmud work together that way. Talmud is word covering two primary works, Mishna and Gemara. Mishna itself is the written down oral laws handed down by the generations covering the time periods approx 200 BCE to 200 CE and compiled by Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi. They were never codified in a formal way until his time and were finally written down due to the uncertain political environment and the possibility that the yeshivas where the laws were learned and the students themselves may be threatened. the Gemara covered the next 300 years or so. the difference? by way of an example, you know things better than your children about your family history. your parents know more than you. the generation closest to the Mishna wrote down the laws with their greater knowledge using terms and examples which were common in their own times but 500 years later were not quite as common if known well at all. (try understanding tax policy without knowing what "income tax" means). the Gemara records how these later generations dealt with the issues facing them using the knowledge they had based upon the Mishna, the Oral Law from Sinai and Moses. This is really what this entire thread is about in a way. those who think modern people know better or are foolish to keep something "someone else with too much time on their hands" lunge into a risky area. for instance, I may believe I know better than you. Neither of us have any truth necessarily since our opinions are more based upon personal interests than seeking the truth. the power of Torah is that G-d set in motion the creation and the way to live in it. The laws at Sinai havent changed but the way we live has. the use of technology and modern conveniences do not make the Torah or Talmud less important but to the contrary more important. The technology revolves are Torah not the other way around.
good post thanks!