Introduction
English law has been
recognized as the legal system or the English Legal System of both England and
Wales. It is the base for common law for legal systems as methodized in the
Republic of Ireland, various Commonwealth countries and above all the United
States. English legal system gets noted within the predetermined jurisdiction
of the regions of England and Wales (Lee, 1986). Wales now follows the
declarations led by Government of Wales Act of the year 2006, the UK’s Parliament’s
other legislation or through the Orders noted in Council under the
authorization Act of 2006 Act. Moreover, legislation within England and Wales
gets interpreted through the proceedings of undivided judiciary led by England
and Wales.
In this paper a quick
overview has been noted to get the basic idea of English Legal System.
English
Legal System
English common law constitutes
judges who are subject to sit in courts; imply legal precedent to facts as
noted before them (Bailey, et. al., 2007). Decision offered by the Supreme
Court, the UK is the highest appeal court within the demographic existence
of England and Wales and the same binds over every other court. As for instance, murder remains as common law crime, in spite of the one as led under the provision of Parliamentary Act. There is the room to amend common law or the same can be repealed by Parliament. As for instance, murder avails mandatory life sentence instead of death penalty. In accordance to the courts of English and Welsh, primacy related to statute law within common law is overlapping (Ward and Akhtar, 2011)
of England and Wales and the same binds over every other court. As for instance, murder remains as common law crime, in spite of the one as led under the provision of Parliamentary Act. There is the room to amend common law or the same can be repealed by Parliament. As for instance, murder avails mandatory life sentence instead of death penalty. In accordance to the courts of English and Welsh, primacy related to statute law within common law is overlapping (Ward and Akhtar, 2011)
As per the classical mode
of comprehending unwritten constitutional format of Britain, there are three notable
pillars and these are –
Ø parliamentary
sovereignty;
Ø separation
of powers; and
Ø rule
of law.
In order to place English
legal system within apt context, it remains important to understand these above
noted concepts. On a brief note, Parliamentary
Sovereignty is about legislative supremacy led by the Parliament of the UK.
This refers to the context without any limitation to the capacity of House of
Commons, House of Lords and Crown towards the enactment of the UK laws.
Separation
of Powers is about some instances of independence in the
different functionalities of the government, which are Members of Parliament with
House of Lords, being the legislature; the Cabinet, being the executive and the
Judges, being the judiciary. The core
notion is to attain beneficial perspectives towards healthy operation over
democratic government offering systematic checks and balances preventing
excessive state power. The new Supreme Court[1]
strengthens constitutional separation among legislature and judiciary, by
taking judges out of the House of Lords.
The rule of law is about the personal sense
or inquisitiveness towards the proceedings to follow law by an individual
inside a society (Steyn, 2006).
Sources
of English Legal System
Many law making
institutions can be noted as the sources of English Legal System (Twining and
Miers, 1999). These are -
Ø Institutions
within the European Union (EU);
Ø The
UK Parliament and government;
Ø The
courts;
Ø Regulatory
bodies; and
Ø International
institutions
Types
of English Legal System
English legal system
has direct effect, that is to say the law has the capability to become integral
part of each domestic law of Member State, automatically. Moreover, either
vertical direct effect or horizontal direct effect, where vertical direct
effect permits people to attain legal provision in order to challenge State,
government or public body legally. For the horizontal direct effect there is
the scope to legally challenge private individuals or some other bodies
(Treitel, 2007).
Treaties are
vertical and sometimes horizontal direct effect. These are the basic sources of
English legal system without any demand for UK Parliament’s legal effect. Treaties can create individual rights.
Regulations are
vertical and sometimes are horizontal direct effect. It is under the Article
249, Treaty of Rome considers the effect of Regulations on legal binding in
every mode to the Member State without the implementation of the law. Citizens can depend over against state and
private individuals/ organizations.
Directives
are vertical direct effect, yet not horizontal direct effect. These are binding
over Member States left to implement all the relevant scopes into domestic law.
The UK in particular does this either by Parliamentary Act/secondary
legislation with flexibility over implementation. As the provisions get part of
domestic law, they attain horizontal effect.
Decisions
are rulings over diversified issues and are subject to get addressed towards
Member States, organizations or individuals and are binding over them.
Recommendations and
Opinions have no direct effect and are not for
the creation of any enforceable rights, yet can remain influential over the
implementations as led by Member State or determined interpretation initiated
by Member State’s court.
Sources
Bailey,
S., Ching, J., and Taylor, N. Smith, Bailey and Gunn: The Modern English Legal
System, 5th edn, Sweet & Maxwell (2007)
Lee,
S. Law and Morals, Oxford University Press (1986)
Steyn,
Lord ‘Democracy, the Rule of Law and the Role of Judges’ (2006) EHRLR 244
Treitel,
G. The Law of Contract, 12th edn, Sweet & Maxwell (2007)
Twining,
W. and Miers, D. How to Do Things with Rules, 4th edn, Butterworths (1999)
Ward,
R. and Akhtar, A. Walker and Walker’s English Legal System, 11th edn, Oxford University
Press (2011)
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