What is this symbol (§) and what is it used for?

[Lino Kaito]

My sister was on Facebook and on one of her friends posts it had this symbol. A quick Google search literally brought up nothing. My English professor also had seen this symbol, but had no idea what it was. My mother said it is used as the paragraph symbol in law documents. Hope you guys and gals can help.

[MUERTE]

It's a money sign in video games like the Sims.

[Respectededucation931]

It is a "section" symbol. Not so much a paragraph as a true legal 'section' of code, which can comprise many paragraphs.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Section_sign