Essay Title: Describe the sources and classifications of law in the UK

Module Code: FC012 Student Number: 201159370

In the United Kingdom, the law is made by parliament. According to Partington (2003: p 37),
all the Acts of Parliament start as bills. The parliament in this country consist of the House of
Lords, the House of Commons and the Monarch. This essay is going to include Primary
Legislation. The topics that will be covered under this are Pre Parliamentary stage, the different
types of Bill, the process of law made in Parliament, the Roles of the two Houses, the Monarch,
the Parliament Acts 1911 and 1949, the pros and cons of the law making process. Following
on, the description of secondary Legislation. Moreover, the case law or known as common law
will be mentioned. Topics to consider are judicial precedent, the hierarchy of the court and how
judges develop law. In order to explain further, the House of Lords Practice Statement 1966
and Young v Bristol Aeroplane Ltd 1944 will be used. Furthermore, European Union Law, The
European Convention on Human Rights and Classification of Law will be considered as well.

According to the UK Parliament, Draft Bills are released for consultation before being
introduced to Parliament in a formal way. Namely, White and Green Papers. Typically, Green
Papers are putting forward the plan of future government system which are open to public
discussion and consultation while White Papers state more specific purposes for the
government system in general.

There are four types of Bill to be considered. They are Public Bills, Private Members’ Bills,
Private Bills and Hybrid Bills. According to Elliott, C. and Quinn, F. (2009: p 42), Public Bills
are exhibited to Parliament by Government minsters and alter the general law of the entire
nation. Private Members’ Bills are presented by individuals who are non-government
ministers. Private Bills are typically submitted by local authorities, open partnership and
normally only affect that sponsor. The UK Parliament (2015) states that a Hybrid Bill is a
mixture of characteristics for both Public and Private Bills. Moreover, the Public Bill Offices
choose whether a Bill belongs to the Hybrid classification.

According to Elliott, C. and Quinn, F. (2009: p 42-43), the House of Commons reads the title
of the prepared Bill during the First Reading as an information of the proposed measured.
During the Second Reading, the proposals are fully argued, possibly modified and members
vote on whether the enactment should progress. For the Committee Stage, the Bill is mentioned
to a committee of the House of Commons for particular investigation. They take into
consideration the aspects made during the debate. Further amendment to the Bill may be made
as well. At the Report Stage, the Committee returns its consideration to its fellow members of
parliament, and possible amendments are argued and voted upon. The Third Reading, which is

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Essay Title: Describe the sources and classifications of law in the UK
Module Code: FC012 Student Number: 201159370

the final stage, the Bill is re-presented to the House. At this stage may have short argument in
the House of Commons and a vote on whether to acknowledge or decline the proposal. Next,
the Bill goes to the House of Lords and the process of scrutiny is the same process as in the
House of Commons. Suggested amendments from the House of Lords are sent to the House of
Commons for deliberation. Lastly, the Commons give their response on the agreement, reasons
for rejection, or the schemes for alternative changes.

Adam. A (2010: p 22) states that the House of Lords were able to reject a bill until the early
20th century. Due to the Parliament Acts 1911 and 1949, the House of Lords are not able to
reject a Bill outright but they can delay a Bill up to a year except money Bill. This Bill can be
delayed only for a month. The ability to delay a Bill gives the Lords a reasonable power, as the
government is probable to seek an agreement to allow it to pursue its policies. As the power to
reject a Bill by House of Lords had cancelled, the power of the House of Commons had
increased and two houses began to have equal power.

Based on Gillespie, A. (2015: p 28), when both houses agree the content of a Bill, the Bill is
then sent to the Queen for Royal Assent. When the Bill is going to receive a Royal Assent will
be marked on the Act and it becomes part of the Act. The position of the Royal Assent is often
being argued. However, it is usually accepted that the Monarch no longer has power to decline
assent. Eg. At 1990, the Belgium King refused to sign an Abortion Bill. This resulted in the
King application for a couple of days and the Bill was signed by the Prime Minister, and then
Parliament restored Balduino in his throne (Pablo de Lora: 2013). In relation, the similar
situation could happen if it applies in the UK because the UK parliament may come out with
the same solution that reached by the Belgium Parliament.

Due to the Parliament Acts 1911 and 1949, it is good that both houses have the same level of
power. However, if the House of Lords would like to delay a Bill, the law making process will
be longer because they are able to postpone money Bills up to a month and other Bills up to a
year. Therefore, the advantage is the House of Lords no longer have the ability to veto a Bill
and the disadvantage is the law making process will be longer.

Adams, A. (2010: p 23) defines that Delegated Legislation which is known as Secondary
Legislation as well is made by bodies outside Parliament. This is by Act of Parliament through
the exercise of law-making power assigned to them. The main types of Secondary Legislation
are Orders in Council by The Emergency Power Acts 1939 and 1984, Statutory instruments
which is created by government departments, Regulations to execute law from the EU by The

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Essay Title: Describe the sources and classifications of law in the UK
Module Code: FC012 Student Number: 201159370

European Communities Act 1972 and Bye-laws which is created by local authorities and other
bodies with statutory powers such as London Underground and Network Rail. Relatively, the
used of Secondary Legislation is arguable. The advantages of this legislation are saving of
parliamentary time, specialist knowledge, adaptability and enactment can take place when the
Parliament is not sitting. While the disadvantages of the particular legislation are loss of
parliamentary control, bulk and often change.

According to Gillespie, A. (2015: p 12), law is not passed by Parliament only in England and
Wales but can develop from the previous decisions of courts as well. Elliott, C. and Quinn, F.
(2009: p 13) clarify that the judges prepare a written decision to which party wins during the
listening to the evidence and the legal argument. When the decision of the legal principles is
made, it is called the ratio decidendi means ‘reason for deciding’. Obiter dicta is called when
every part of the judgement do not form part of the ratio decidendi of the case meaning ‘things
said by the way’. When a judge determining a case, they have to follow any decision that has
been made by the higher court in case there are similar facts. The principles regarding which
court are bound by which are known as the principles of judicial precedent or known as stare
decisis.

Gillespie, A. (2015: p 79) states that Supreme Court is the highest court in English Legal
System. The decisions of this court are binding on all the courts below it except when they are
able to abscond the precedent through distinguishing. The prerecession of the Supreme Court
which is the House of Lords agreed in 1966 that it did not consider itself bound by its previous
decisions and has claimed the power to overrule its earlier decisions. The second precedent in
the English Legal System is the Court of Appeal (Gillespie, A. 2015: p 80). Moreover, this is
the more typical appellate court because the hearing of the Supreme Court only for a highly
limited number of appeals. This court is bound by the Supreme Court and it binds all courts
lower than it.

Following on is The High Court. According to Gillespie, A. ( 2015: p 85) Queen’s Bench,
Family, and Chancery are the three principal divisions of this Court together with specialist
courts and the other important court to examine is the Administrative Court that has a
supervisory jurisdiction. Among the three divisions, the Family Division requires special
attention when it deals with the children welfare for public policy reasons relate to the Criminal
Division of the High Court. In the hierarchy of the court, the High Court is below the Supreme

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Essay Title: Describe the sources and classifications of law in the UK
Module Code: FC012 Student Number: 201159370

Court and the Court of Appeal. This court is accordingly bound by their decisions. Although
its principal binding role is in respect of its supervisory jurisdiction, it binds all lower courts.

According to Elliott, C. and Quinn, F. (2009: p 18), The Crown Court is bound by all the courts
above it. Even though, the High Court judges sit in the Crown Court, its decisions do not form
binding precedents. Persuasive precedents are known as their form of judgements which seem
that serious consideration must be given. Elliott, C. and Quinn, F. (2009: p 19) states that the
inferior courts are Magistrates’ and County Courts. These courts are bound by the High Court,
Court of Appeal and the House of Lords. The decisions that made by them are not reported and
binding precedents cannot be produced.

Judges in the UK are not creating new law or rights but they develop law (Gillespie, A. 2015:
p 14). Elliott, C. and Quinn, F. (2009: p 20) state that when a case appears to be related with
the earlier decision, the judges can distinguish, overrule and reverse. If there are obvious
differences from the earlier case to the facts of the recent case, the judge does not need to follow
the previous one by distinguishing the two cases. When the judges reject the statement of law
that made by the lower court, they can overrule it. The earlier decision of the lower court will
remain the same but will not be taken after. However, the ability to overrule cases is used as a
spare because it reduces the lower courts’ power and esteem. If the higher court consider the
lower court has interpreted the law incorrectly, the higher court may make changes to the
decision that made earlier by lower court. It is clear that when a decision is reversed, the higher
court is typically overruling the statement of the lower court as well. The case Young v Bristol
Aeroplanes can be used as an example of how the judges developed law in the UK. Gillespie,
A.(2015: p 89, 90) claims that this case provides the exceptions because a High Court judge
did not express overruling the decision made by Court of Appeal even though they consider
the Court of Appeal may interpret the law wrongly. Thus, the previous decision was
undermined instead of overruling it directly.

According to the UK Parliament (2015), European Union consists of 28 countries and the UK
is one of the members. The UK joined the European Economic Community (EEC) at 1973 and
the EEC was renamed as the European Union (EU) in 1993. The main purpose of EU was
formed is to create political unity within Europe and to stop another war from happening. In
addition, the economic strength of Europe can be improved (Elliott, C. and Quinn, F. 2009: p
87).

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Essay Title: Describe the sources and classifications of law in the UK
Module Code: FC012 Student Number: 201159370

The Faculty of Law in the University of Oxford (2016) clarify that Secondary legislation is
emerged from the Council and Commission of the European Communities and there are three
types included which are regulations, directives and decisions. In regulations, national
implementing legislation is not necessary because it is immediately applicable. On the other
hand, directives have to be implemented in the legislation of Member States within a period of
time. The European Communities Act 1972 is being applied on most directives in the UK.
Similarly, decisions require national implementing legislation as well. However, there are
differences between directives and decisions because decisions do not need to include general
application and are attend to either particular member states, persons or bodies.

The content and interpretation of law and the method that case law is developed, the Human
Rights Acts 1998 has the potential both directly and indirectly to influence them. People had
to declare that the UK had contravention its duty under the agreement to the European Court
of Human Rights (ECtHR) at Strasbourg. Although the Convention is not immediately binding
on the English courts, it was typically used as an assistance to statutory interpretation and to
decide the extent of the common law. As a convention precedent, the decisions made by the
ECtHR were used. When the court is deciding any case which is related to human rights, it
must consider the case law of the ECtHR. The courts have to interpret legislation in order to
be compatible with Convention rights (Adams, A. 2010: p 32, 33).

In the UK, Public and Private are the two classification of law. Private law concerns debate
that occur between citizens and public law is the debates occur between the state and the
individual (Gillespie, A. 2015: p 7). Typically, public law consists of the state or an emanation
of the state as one of the parties to the action. According to Eurofound (2011), ‘emanation of
the state’ means an association, whatever its legal form, which has been appointed to take
responsibility on the public by the state. Criminal Law, Constitutional Law and Administrative
Law are the examples of public law and Contract Law, Law of Tort are the examples of private
law.

Criminal Law is classified as public law is because the state is involving in its sovereign power
in relation to a citizen. Normally, the state will be the prosecutor in criminal cases and many
crimes will have a victim who will almost definitely be a citizen (Gillespie, A. 2015: p 8).
Constitutions organise, distribute and supervise the power of the state. They set out the form
of the state, the major state organisations, and the principles used for governing their relations
with each other and with the citizens of the state (The Constitution Unit 2016). Administrative

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Essay Title: Describe the sources and classifications of law in the UK
Module Code: FC012 Student Number: 201159370

law, usually called regulatory law which consist of rules and regulations promoted and imposed
by managerial body. For instance, the Department of Labour or the Federal Communications
Commission (Library of Congress 2015). Therefore, they are being classified as public law.

Private law is the law which governs the relation between individuals and private institutions
(Chartered Institute of Legal Executives 2016). Contract law is used to characterize those
planned exchanges to the specific society that the law is served and to come up with principles
that can be applied to control the contractual relationship (Poole, J. 2014: p 3). A tort
prosecution allow the victim of a wrong to seek a solution from the person who cause harm to
her which is different from criminal case that is managed by the state (Coleman, Jules,
Hershovitz, Scott and Mendlow, Gabriel 2015). Thus, Contract Law and Tort Law are
considered as private law. However, sometimes law can be classified either Public Law or
Private law. For example, civil law. There are many bodies of law mixing both private and
public law that are included in civil law (Gillespie, A. 2015: p 8).

To conclude, law is made by parliament and it consist of primary and secondary legislation.
Case law which is known as common law as well is developed but not made by the judiciary.
In the hierarchy of the courts, all lower courts need to follow the decisions made by higher
courts. As the UK is one of the members of European Union, there are sources of law in the
UK are taken from the EU law. The European Convention on Human Rights was adopted into
UK law by the Human Rights Acts 1998. Public and private are the two classifications of law.

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Essay Title: Describe the sources and classifications of law in the UK
Module Code: FC012 Student Number: 201159370

Reference list:

Adams, A. (2010) Law for business students. 6th edn. Harlow, Essex, England: Pearson
Longman

Chartered Institute of Legal Executives. (2016). The Legal System of the United Kingdom.
Retrieved from http://www.cilex.org.uk/about_cilex_lawyers/the_uk_legal_system.aspx

Coleman, Jules, Hershovitz, Scott and Mendlow, Gabriel. (2015) Theories of the Common Law
of Torts, The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Retrieved from
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/tort-theories/

Elliott, C. and Quinn, F. (2009a) English legal system. 10th edn. New York: Longman Pub.
Group

Eurofound. (2011). Emanations of the state. Retrieved from

http://www.eurofound.europa.eu/observatories/eurwork/industrial-relations-
dictionary/emanations-of-the-state

Gillespie, A. (2015) The English legal system. United Kingdom: Oxford University Press

Library of Congress. (2015). Guide to Administrative Law. Retrieved from

https://www.loc.gov/law/help/administrative.php

Pablo de Lora (2013). Slipping Euthanasia in Belgium. Retrieved from

http://blogs.harvard.edu/billofhealth/2013/01/19/slipping-euthanasia-in-belgium/

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Essay Title: Describe the sources and classifications of law in the UK
Module Code: FC012 Student Number: 201159370

Partington, M. (2003) An introduction to the English legal system (seminar proceedings). New
York: Oxford University Press, USA

Poole, J. (2014) Textbook on contract law. 12th edn. United Kingdom: Oxford University Press

The Constitution Unit. (2016). What is the UK Constitution? Retrieved from

https://www.ucl.ac.uk/constitution-unit/whatis/uk-constitution

The Faculty of Law in the University of Oxford. (2016). EU Legal Sources. Retrieved from
https://www.law.ox.ac.uk/legal-research-and-mooting-skills-programme/eu-legal-sources

The UK Parliament. (2015). Retrieved from http://www.parliament.uk/