Where do the laws of physics come from? Theists often argue that a law implies a law giver. However, the laws of physics are not really restrictions on the way the universe may act. The "laws" of physics are restrictions on the way we may describe how the universe acts.
Physicist Victor Stenger explains that if we are to describe objective reality, our equations cannot depend on any particular point of view ("Point of View Invariance"). Objects that do not change under any possible point of view are said to possess "Symmetry".
Imagine, if you will, a complete void. Think of nothingness. A state of nothingness, or a void, would be perfectly symmetrical because it would not change under any point of view. Nothingness would possess symmetry.
According to Noether's Theorem, Physical Symmetry equals Conservation Laws. General Relativity follows from the assumption that all "points of view" are equal. So does Galilean and Special Relativity. Thus, the laws of physics can originate from Nothing! Physicist Victor Stenger has made a list of some of the most important laws of physics, and which symmetry they originate from. The Laws (and/or Physical Constants) which do not follow directly from Noether's Theorem may have been caused by Spontaneous Symmetry Breaking. To see what I mean, read my article on the "Fine Tuning" of the Cosmos.
For more information, please view the slideshow from Victor Stenger's webpage.
Addendum: I often get asked where space and time came from. First of all, I do not think time is an actual "thing" it is simply the order in which things occur, or our attempt to describe how things change in relation to one another. Secondly, there are two plausible answers to the origin of space: 1) Matter or Energy causes it to come into existence. 2) This comes from Physicist John Gowan:
"Space is a connecting dimensional and entropic medium which functions as a metric conservation domain for light's free energy. Space does not preexist light, but is actually produced by the intrinsic motion of light itself. The function of space is simply to regulate and ensure the conservation of light's energy, including all other attributes of free energy which require conservation, such as light's entropy and symmetry. Light is the only energy form which can produce its own conservation domain from its own nature (intrinsic motion) - hence its primacy. Time is an asymmetric form of space, (actually produced from space by gravity or the quantum mechanical collapse of an electromagnetic wave), which (via the creation of the historic conservation domain) plays the same dimensional conservation role for matter that ordinary space plays for light. (See: "The Conversion of Space to Time".) "
