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Are the sources of English legal law
Sources of English law
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The Sources of English Law In UK there are three main sources of English law, Legislation (Statue Law), Common Law (Judge-made Law) and the European Communities law. English Law was historically based on customs and social traditions. Today Custom Law is a part of Common Law, notably being in cases where there was no judicial precedent but which were known to exist since time memorial (i.e. since 1189). Many of these laws such as the Fisherman's Case (1894) 2 East PC 661( http://wilmington.butterworths.co.uk/citator-0/Citator.ASP?WCI=tmpSearch&WCE=Form&WCU=) in criminal law and Beckett Ltd v. Lyons [1967] 1 All ER 833 the law of user in Land Law are still good law. Custom law can still be used to argue a case provided the conditions set out by law are met. It is important to remember though that 'law never goes out of date, and it does not become obsolete because of passage of time' (Pg 41, Longshaw, A & Hughes, M W200: Understanding Law - Manual 1 (6th Edition), (2002), Oxford University Press, Oxford). Legislation however, is probably the most important source of law in the UK. It is made by 'the Queen in Parliament', i.e. the House of Commons, the House of Lords and the Monarch. Proposals for legislation ('Bills') are presented to debate by and voted upon by the House of Common and the House of Lords, finally receiving the assent of the Monarch and thus becoming Acts (Statutes) of Parliament. Public Bills are intended to alter the general law and be generally applicable. Bills can be introduced by the government as a part of its legislative programme or by a Member of the Parliament as a Private Member's Bill, for example t... ... middle of paper ... ... Communities Act 1972 had been enacted all EC Law became part of our national law. This means that if a national law conflicts with the EC law, the UK courts are required to apply the EC law in preference to the national law. Although nothing abridges the ultimate power of Parliament to set, for example, stricter standards than EC Law demands. BIBLIOGRAPHY 1. Slapper G. and Kelly D. The English Legal System (5th Edition), (2001) Cavendish Publishing Ltd, London. 2. Longshaw, A & Hughes, M W200: Understanding Law - Manual 1 (6th Edition), (2002), Oxford University Press, Oxford). 3. Penner J. E. Law Dictionary (12th Eidtion), (2001) Butterworths, London). 4. http://www.lawcampus.butterworths.com/log_in.htm 5. http://athens.butterworths.co.uk/athenslogin/FormsLogin.asp?/athenslogin/buttlogin.htm
The system of crime and law enforcement had hardly changed in Britain since the medieval times. Justices of the Peace or JPs were appointed by the Crown since 1361. Before the night watchmen and parish constables were introduced a primitive police force was introduced and the JPs were assisted by constables who only worked part time and were very unreliable as the pay was really bad. The early stages of the force consisted of a night watchmen and parish constables, who were prior to the creation of the main police force. Watchmen were groups of men, usually authorised by a state, government, or society, to deter criminal activity and provide law enforcement. Constables were required to apprehend anyone accused of a felony and bring criminals to a justice of the peace. They also had a general responsibility to keep the peace. There was no expectation that they would investigate and prosecute crimes because of limited responsibility and training. Night watchmen patrolled the streets between 9 or 10pm until sunrise and were expected to examine all suspicious characters. In the City of London, the City Marshall and the Beadles (Parish wardens) conducted daytime patrols. Similar to the night watchmen, primary responsibilities were to patrol and deter, drunkenness, beggars, vagrants and prostitutes and to act as a deterrent against more serious offences. Over the course of this period, the arrangements by which men served as constables and watchmen changed significantly, to incorporate how felons were detected and apprehended.
Civil law administers associations among individuals and a party who is wounded economically or physically by another individual or group can claim a charge in opposition to that unit. Conversely, criminal laws function below the conjecture that the society rather than a person, has been wronged by the defendant’s proce...
laws is to keep the bad things out from the old society out such as
Parliamentary sovereignty, a core principle of the UK's constitution, essentially states that the Parliament is the ultimate legal authority, which possesses the power to create, modify or end any law. The judiciary cannot question its legislative competence, and a Parliament is not bound by former legislative provisions of earlier Parliaments. The ‘rule of law’ on the other hand, is a constitutional doctrine which primarily governs the operation of the legal system and the manner in which the powers of the state are exercised. However, since the Parliament is capable of making any law whatsoever, the concept of the rule of law poses a contradiction to the principle of parliamentary supremacy, entailing that Parliament is not bound by the Rule of Law, and it can exercise power arbitrarily.
On Bloodsworth’s appeal he argued several points. First he argued that there was not sufficient evidence to tie Bloodsworth to the crime. The courts ruled that the ruling stand on the grounds that the witness evidence was enough for reasonable doubt that the c...
J. M. Kelly, ‘The Malicious Injuries Code and the Constitution’. The Irish Jurist, vol. 4, New Series (NS) 221.
Exploration of English Law In English law, there is no formal separation of public and private
Cownie, F and Bradney, A. (2002) English Legal System in Context, London, Butterworths, pp. 293-4.
The Common Law, also known as Anglo-American Law, surfaced in England during the Middle Ages in the 14th century and was spread all over the world with the British colonies. Although England had numerous connections to the rest of Europe in those times, one thing that was not similar was the use of judicial decisions as the foundation of common law.
The English legal system is ostensibly embedded on a foundation of a ‘high degree of certainty with adaptability’ based on a steady ‘mode’ of legal reasoning. This rests on four propositions
To start with, we may not live in England, but the language we speak is supposed to be English. So, one would think that a person would have no problem speaking this language at the workplace unless the job calls for a different language, This is not so. Countless people have challenged this policy of several different companies and this is what I will be discussing, in English. First, most of the workers speak English, maybe not as a primary language, but speak it to the best of their ability. This policy, to speak only English at the workplace, was completely and totally law-abiding since all the employees spoke English. Now, the employer did not say they could not speak Spanish during their break times. Only that while they were working, they were to speak English. This problem happens a lot in the Army because Hispanics' make up a considerable part of our Army. This problem should not come up though, because it is the United States Army. The US speaks English as its primary language. In the Army however, we can make a correction because if it is not directly related to the job, it should not be happening. It still does however, because it has become commonplace. Second, many employees speak Spanish and English, so these employees are bilingual.
Where does law come from? Law has been defined in many ways by various leaders and thinkers but there is no universal definition. There are numerous sources and the English legal system adopts the rules derived from these various sources to form the English law. Sources of law include common law and equity, legislation, and international conventions such as the European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR). It must be noted that customs or constitutional conventions are not law. It is a common misconception that customs or conventions are law. The judiciary have repeatedly held that conventions are not law and thus are not binding. The case of Attorney General v Jonathan Cape Ltd aptly demonstrated this point as the court held that the convention of Parliamentary confidentiality is only a convention and does not carry any legal weight. Nevertheless, it is essential to understand what, and how, are sources of law created and what possible dangers may arise from these sources.
Land is probably one of the biggest advantages that God has bestowed upon us human beings. However, there are other times that this benefit can cause problems for us which then involve the help of our legal system e.g. interference in the enjoyment of land, civil disputes on land, domestic disputes on land etc.
Keating Daniel. The University Of Chicago Law Review. 1986, Vol 53, Issue 1, p 258.
One definition of jurisprudence is ‘’the philosophy of law, or the science which treats of the principles of positive law and legal relations’’.