Sources and Varieties of English Law

The United Kingdom

The United Kingdom is a unitary state, but it does not have a single body of law England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have their own legal systems and courts

English law

English law refers to the legal systems of England and Wales

Classification

Law can be classified by source (where it comes from) and by type (varieties or categories of law)

Classification by source

English Law

1. EU Law – law that emanates from the Institutions of the EU. This can overrule national law.

2. Statute law – law made by Parliament (Acts of Parliament)

3. Common Law (customary law, judge-made law) – made by the decisions of the judges

4. Equity – created by the Chancery court under the Lord Chancellor to ‘fill in the gaps’ in the common law

Written and unwritten law

Two main categories of law:

1. Written (formally enacted)

2. Unwritten (unenacted) – rules of equity and common law

Rules of equity

Rules of equity grew up through the practice of medieval Lord Chancellors

“keepers of the king’s conscience” Alternative legal remedies – more flexible Equity gradually became more rigid and was

fused with common law by the Judicature Act of 1873

Common Law

Unwritten law is predominant More precedents than legislative enactment Common law (the general law contained in

decided cases; unwritten or judge-made law) means ancient customs, precedents and books of authority (writings of jurists)

Principal sources of English Law

Statute Law: Legislation (enacted law; statutes or Acts passed by Parliament); the doctrine of parliamentary sovereignty

Common Law: Precedent (courts are interpreters of law); previous decisions by superior courts on similar facts

The doctrine of precedent (stare decisis, binding case – hierarchy of courts, ratio decidendi – similarity of facts)

Subsidiary sources of English Law

Common law means judicial precedents, but also ancient customs and writing of jurists - books of authority

The subsidiary sources are customs and books of authority

Customs

Customs are social habits or patterns of behaviour

“Conventional”rules Many of early rules of the common law were

general customs which the courts adopted The customs must be reasonable, certain and

“ancient” – must go back to 1189

Books of authority

The writings of legal authors Cited in courts Some books by prominent authors are as

authoritative as precedents e.g. Blackstone’s Commentaries (1765)

Why it is called ‘common’

The first legal system that became common to the whole country (England and Wales) in 1066 – after the Norman Conquest

Common law v. Roman law

Common law is a native product of Britain It absorbed only a few rules of Roman law A unique legal system

Common law remedies

Legal remedies (damages) Equitable remedies (e.g. injunctions)

Classification by type

Law can be classified by the type of law (the matters that the law is regulating)

Classification by types of law includes distinctions between international or national and public or private

National and international law

National (domestic, internal) law – the law of a state regulating its domestic affairs

International law – A body of rules that regulates relations between states and rights and duties of individuals in their relations to foreign states and with each other

Public and private law

National law can be divided into public law and private law

Public law involves the State in some way; it is the area of law in which the state has a direct interest (administrative law, constitutional law, revenue law, criminal law)

Private law controls the relationships between individuals

Public law

Administrative law – the body of law which deals with the powers of the executive organs of the state

Constitutional law – the area of law that deals with the interpretation and construction of constitutions

Revenue law – the area of law concerned with income and taxes

Criminal and civil law

Criminal law – a branch of law concerned with behaviour that is considered to be harmful to society as a whole: the state (prosecutor) takes legal action against the wrong-doer in the name of society

Civil law – a branch of law that deals with disputes between individuals

The injured party (plaintiff or claimant) takes legal action

Subcategories of civil law

Law of contract Law of torts Family law Patents and copyrights

Vocabulary list

Unitary state – jedinstvena država Principal sources – glavni izvori Subsidiary sources – sporedni izvori Common law – opće pravo Statute law – kodificirano (pisano) pravo Equity – pravičnost Injunction – sudski nalog, sudska zabrana

Vocabulary II

Rules of equity – pravila pravičnosti Administrative law – upravno pravo Constitutional law – ustavno pravo Criminal law – kazneno pravo Revenue law – financijsko pravo Prosecutor – tužitelj Claimant (plaintiff) – tužitelj u građanskoj parnici

Video exercise

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KeKcTe4HRPs

Answer the following questions: What was equity based on? What is an injunction? What is the ultimate domestic source of law?

Thank you for your attention!