Curs 5

SOURCES OF ENGLISH LAW (I)

Unitatea de învăţare:
1. Legislation
2. Case law
3. European Union law

Bibliografie:
1. Badea, Simina, Legal English - A Practical Approach, Editura Universitaria, Craiova,
2014, p. 29-34. 2. Lister, R.; K. Veth, Dicţionar juridic român-englez, englez-român,
Traducere: Roxana Dinulescu, Editura Niculescu, Bucureşti, 2010.
3. *** Oxford Dictionary of Law, 6th edition, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2006.

Obiectivele modulului
Dupǎ studiul acestei unitǎţi de învǎţare veţi reuşi sǎ:
 înţelegeţi care sunt principalele izvoare de drept englez
 dezvoltaţi o perspectivă asupra acestor noţiuni şi a relaţiilor dintre ele
 vă familiarizaţi cu elementele predate prin activităţi aplicative
 vă dezvoltaţi abilităţile de comunicare în limba engleză pe teme cu caracter juridic

The main sources of UK law are:

• legislation (statute law)
• case law
• European Union law
Legislation (statute law) refers to enacted law, namely the law created by a
legislature, i.e. the British Parliament. This kind of enacted laws are called statutes.
Legislation may be direct (laws enacted by the legislature itself, i.e. Acts of Parliament) or
delegated legislation (rules or laws laid down by a body or person to whom the legislature has
delegated power to make such rules).
The beginnings of statute law are due to Edward I (reigned 1272–1307), who has
been called the English Justinian because his civil enactments amended the unwritten
common law.
Among Edward’s statutes, we should mention:
• The first Statute of Westminster (1275), which made jury trial compulsory in criminal cases
and altered land law.
• The Statute of Gloucester (1278) by which the jurisdiction of local courts was limited.
• The second Statute of Westminster (1285), which made land an asset for purposes of paying
judgment debts, while also improving the law of administration of assets upon death.
• The Statute of 1290, known by its opening words, Quia emptores terrarum (“because sellers
of lands”), which barred the granting of new feudal rights, except by the crown.
In modern times the statutes issued before 1285 are sometimes treated as common law
rather than statute law, as these laws mostly restated existing law, providing more details, but
without making an entirely new law. Judges usually tried to construe the words of the statute
as part of the general law on the subject. Prior to the rise of the House of Commons, it also
was difficult to distinguish acts of Parliament from the decisions or resolutions of the royal
council, the executive authority. Some statutes were passed but never put into force, while
others seem to have been quietly ignored.
(adapted from Encycoplaedia Britannica)
 Case law
Case law is the law created by judges in the course of judicial decisions. Since the
legal system of England and Wales is a common law system, in each case, the judges apply
existing principles of law, following the precedent of earlier decisions. There is also a
hierarchy of precedent. Under the doctrine of stare decisis, a decision made by a higher court
must be followed by a lower court.
European Union law
The United Kingdom left the European Union on 31 January 2020. During the
transition or implementation period, which started on 1 February 2020 and ended on 31
December 2020, all EU law, across all policy areas, continued to apply in the United
Kingdom, except the provisions of the Treaties and acts which were not binding upon and in
the United Kingdom before the Withdrawal Agreement entered into force.
EU legislation which applied directly or indirectly to the UK before 31 December
2020 has been retained in UK law as a form of domestic legislation known as ‘retained EU
legislation’.
The European Union (Future Relationship) Act 2020 implements the arrangements for
the relationship between the UK and the EU after the transition period, as agreed on 24
December 2020.

Concluzii:
The main sources of UK law are:
• legislation (statute law)
• case law
• European Union law

Test de autoevaluare:
1. Which are the main sources of English law? – 2 puncte
2. What is case law? – 2 puncte
3. What is the difference between direct legislation and delegated legislation? – 2 puncte
4. Was EU law still applicable in the UK during the transition period? – 2 puncte
5. Explain the following Latin expressions: stare decisis, ratio decidendi, obiter dictum. – 2
puncte

Traduceri:
1. Noţiunea de izvor de drept are sensul de act juridic cu valoare normativă în care sunt
cuprinse regulile de drept.

Răspuns: The notion of source of law refers to a regulatory legal act, containing legal rules.

2. Această noţiune are două sensuri: izvor material, prin care se înţeleg condiţiile materiale,
naturale de existenţă a societăţii, care dau conţinutul, esenţa dreptului şi izvor formal, adică
formele specifice de exprimare a normelor juridice prin care se determină voinţa care a stat la
baza adoptării lor.

Matching exercise
Match the following Latin expressions with the notions they refer to:

1. stare decisis
2. ratio decidendi
3. obiter dictum
4. ejusdem generis
5. expressio unius est exclusio alterius
6. ultra vires

a) a comment by a judge during the course of delivering a judicial opinion, but which is not
essential to the decision in the case, and therefore not precedential. It means “something said
in passing”;
b) one of the rules or principles of interpretation which means that “the mention of one word
in itself rules out a contrary meaning”/ “the expression of one thing is the exclusion of
another”. E.g. Since it is an offence to have an unlicensed motor-vehicle, it is obvious that any
vehicle which is propelled other than by a motor is not included in this category. It may also
be rendered by expressum facit cessare tacitum (“if something is expressed there is no room
for implication”);
c) “beyond, in excess of powers”, also termed extra vires. It refers to something which is
beyond the power authorized by law;
d) it means “to stand by things decided” and expresses the doctrine of precedent, therefore
when the same points arise again in litigation, it is necessary to abide by former precedents;
e) the English translation is “of the same class”. According to this rule, if several words
having similar meanings, are followed by one of doubtful meaning, then that word should be
interpreted as having a similar meaning to the others;
f) the principle(s) of law deduced from the facts of a case, on the basis of which the court
reaches a decision. The expression means “the reason for deciding” and is binding on inferior
courts, in accordance with the doctrine of precedent. If the ratio decidendi binds, everything
else is obiter, therefore not bound to be followed.

Fill-in exercise

Fill in the blank spaces with the given words and expressions: enforcement,
infringement, Home, international agreements, bound, Customs, competence, Single

During the transition period, the United Kingdom:

 remained in the EU ...Union and in the ... Market with all freedoms, and all EU
policies applying;
 continued to apply the EU's Justice and ... Affairs policy: The United Kingdom was
able to choose to exercise its right to opt-in/opt-out with regard to measures amending,
replacing or building upon those EU acts the United Kingdom was ... to during its
membership;
 was subject to the EU's ... mechanisms, such as ... procedures;
 had to respect all ... the EU signed, without being able to apply new agreements in
areas of EU exclusive ..., unless authorised to do so by the EU.

Grile:

1. The principal legislature is the UK Parliament, which is ... in London.

a. found
b. based
c. situated

2. The legislative, executive and judicial power in the UK could only be operated within the ...
of EU law when the UK was a EU member.
a. perspective
b. structure
c. framework

3. Case law involves the creation of law in the course of ...

a. deciding cases
b. rendering cases
c. proceedings

4. Some EU law became directly part of UK ... law without any domestic proceedings.
a. domestic
b. internal affairs
c. household

5. ... has been called the English Justinian.

a. Henry VIII
b. Edward II
c. Edward I