Tutorial 1

Discuss what ‘law’ is and where the content of ‘law’ comes from.

What is law ?
https://www.studocu.com/my/document/multimedia-university/general-principles-of-law/
assignment/2551112

https://www.studocu.com/my/document/universiti-teknologi-mara/law/final-notes-juris/
10832387

Law is a system of rules that a particular country or community recognizes as regulating the
actions of its members and may be enforced by the imposition of penalties. It is also the
principles and regulations established in a community by some authority and applicable to
its people,whether in the form of legislation or of custom and policies recognized and
enforced by judicial decision. The basic purpose of law is to regulate the society, to safeguard
and shield the rights of people and to resolve conflicts. It acts as a barrier that prevents people
from behaving in a negative manner that affects the rights and quality of life of other people,
hence violation of law implies the punishment of lawbreakersIn short, law can be defined as
rules of behaviour.

In the Oxford English Dictionary, “Law” has been defined as the body of enacted or
customary rules that is recognized by a community as binding. Based on the
Shorter Oxford English Dictionary, Law can also be defined as anybody of rules which is
organised, structured and relates to a particular code of conduct. Jowitt's Dictionary of
English Law states that law is a rule of action to which men are obliged to make their
conduct comfortable.

Apart from that, law has been defined by several legal jurists. According to Sir John
William Salmond, law can be defined as the body of principles recognized and applied by
the state in the administration of justice. Besides, John Austin defined law as a command
issued by the sovereign and backed by sanctions while Benjamin Nathan Cardozo defined
law as a principle or rule of conduct established as to justify a prediction with reasonable
certainty that it will be enforced by the courts if its authority is challenged.
Where the content of ‘law’ comes from?
https://www.studocu.com/my/document/multimedia-university/faculty-of-law/legal-
method-sources-of-law/11845001
https://www.studocu.com/my/document/multimedia-university/legal-method/primary-
and-secondary-sources-of-law/23281014

1. Primary Sources

- Refers to statements of law from a government entity such as the legislature, executive
and judiciary.

- Legislature provides legislation, the executive sets out orders and regulations, and the
judiciary establishes precedents or case laws.

- customary law, opinion of legal scholar,

Statutes

- Written Acts of Parliament, which enables them to create new laws or repeal old laws

- Sources of law in that the actual words of the statute constitute law

- Example: Contract Act 1950, Criminal Procedure Code, Penal Code

Subsidiary legislations

- It also referred to as delegated legislation is the law made by an authority other than
the legislature under powers given to it by a primary or parent legislation.

- Section 3 of Interpretations Act 1948 & 1967: “subsidiary legislation” means any
proclamation, rule, regulation, order, notification, by-law or other instrument made
under any Act, Enactment, Ordinance or other lawful authority and having legislative
effect

Case laws

- Case law refers to the legal decisions made by judges in court cases.

- Judges interpret and apply the law to specific situations and set legal precedents that
guide future cases.

- An example of the application of the doctrine of stare decisis can be seen in the case
of Donoghue v Stevenson (a landmark case regarding the duty of reasonable care of
the manufacturer to the final consumer.)
 - The principle of this case became a landmark authority to be cited in many legal
cases, such as in Grant v Australian Knitting Mills, the High Court of Australia also
referred to the judgment in Donoghue’s case that established the duty of reasonable
care held by the manufacturer.

Law Reports

- Law reports contained detailed descriptions of cases tried in the courts and their
judgements.
- They are published periodically and are available in law libraries.
- Law reports contained detailed descriptions of cases tried in the courts and their
judgements.

English law

- S 3(1) Civil Law Act 1956: allows for the application of English Common Law &
Equity on 7th April 1956. Sabah as in England on 1st December 1951 and Sarawak as
in England on 12 December 1949
- where there is a lacuna in the local law, the court is duty bound to refer to English law
and for this the court must observe the three statutory hurdles, namely, the ‘cut-off
dates’, ‘local circumstances’, and ‘local inhabitant

2. Secondary sources

- Contains statements to explain, interpret and analyse law (reference materials)

- provide explanation of basic concepts that helps a person to expand their area of
research and aid a person to generate keywords to use when browsing through
primary resources of law.

- Example: Legal Encyclopedias, books and journals

Legal encyclopedias

- comprehensive set of brief articles on the legal topic with citations to cases and
additional material

- For example: Halsbury’s law of Malaysia