LAW 402

Lecture 1 – Finding the Law

Legislation (primary/secondary)
Cases from court (common law)
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Public law always involves the state (e.g. – adoption, human rights law)
Private law (e.g., divorce, suing for negligence)
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Statue law – law that’s made by parliament (acts of parliament)
Common law – created by judges in court over decades and is followed.
Statue law is always superior to common law
Civil liability act and tried to curve compensation culture
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Common law – judge, prosecution, and defence
Civil – judge does most of work
International Law – Law outside the Uk (eg War crimes)
Domestic Law – Jurisdiction is England & Wales
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Common law/ Equity
Equity – set of remedies and procedures that come from civil law (used when legal remedies
are inadequate)
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Sources of Law – Acts of Parliament
Terminology – Acts, Legislation and Statue all same definition
Primary legislation – law that is enacted for the first time
Parliament are supreme – parliament sovereignty = legally unlimited power
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Why are new laws needed?

- Government manifesto
- Social change
- Emergency situation
- Law outdated
- Law clarification
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Pre-parliamentary process
Bill- proposal for a new law, or a proposal to significantly change an existing law
Draft bill – government bills that are issued first in a draft form to allow them to be looked
at in detail before they’re introduced
Green paper – consultation documents produced by the government
White paper – policy documents produced by the government that set out their proposals
for future legislation.
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Public bills – proposed changes to the law as it applies to the population in general. Almost
all public bills are passed by parliament are those introduced by the government
Private bills – rarely passed.
House of commons, house of law, royal assent – if not approved by all 3 it will NOT become
law
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A statue may reform the law by:
- Repeal – rescinds/ revokes existing enactment
- Creation – created entirely new law that has never been addressed
- Amendment – correction or insertion

A statue may re-organise the law by:

- Consolidation – repeals
- Codification – codifies existing enactments and relevant case law

- Law reform
- Laws must adapt to social change
Law changes can be brought about by other methods:
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- Judicial change
- Reform by parliament
- Pressure groups
Judicial change: R v R (1991) CA then HL declared husband may now be guilty of rape if wife
does not consent to sex
Judicial reform:
Major reforms rarely done by courts because:
Courts can only deal with as they arise before them
Judges decide cases on issues the way they’re presents 0 no surveys or research or see how
their decisions affect people
- Precedent prevents radical reform
- P laws are prospective
Tactics used:
- Campaign
- Publicity
- Petitions
- Publicity
- Lobbying MPs
Social Media –
- Hashtags (eg me-too movement) have global affect/ domino affect
Law Reform – up skirting
- Made criminal offense under the voyeurism act in 2019
Delegated Legislation:
Secondary legislation is law created by ministers (or other bodies) under powers given to
them by an act of parliament (primary legislation)
Secondary legislation is also known as ‘delegated’ or ‘subordinate’ legislation and often
takes the form of a statutory instrument
THE PARENT ACT – An act of parliament which is the source of authority to make an
instrument of legislative or administrative character; for example the act which purported
to give authority to
Eg – child support act 1991
Forms of delegated legislation –
- Orders In council – issued only upon the advice of ministers
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- Regulations – authority conferred on Ministers – Lord chancellor has power

regarding the legal aid schemes, while the minister for transport is able to deal with
necessary road traffic regulations
- Byelaws – local laws to deal with local issues
Primary Law cannot be challenged, Secondary can
Common Law –
System of Law developed through case decisions of the judiciary. All laws are made by the
courts as apposed to the laws made by parliament (judge made law)
Binding precedent – lowers courts must follow decision of higher courts because it creates
certainty and fairness.