Salwan and Narang (2008) refer the term law as: (a) legislative pronouncements of the

rules which should guide one's actions in society; (b) the body of principles recognised and
applied by the state in the administration of justice; (c) a rule of action to which human being's
conduct must conform.
Labour law (Employment law) is the body of laws, administrative rulings, and
precedents w h i c h a d d r e s s t h e l e g a l r i g h t s o f , a n d r e s t r i c t i o n s o n , w o r k i n g
people and their organizations. As such, it mediates many aspects of the
r e l a t i o n s h i p b e t w e e n t r a d e unions, employers and employees. I t i s t h e b o d y o f
l a w t h a t g o v e r n s t h e e m p l o y e r - employee relationship, including individual employment
contracts, the application of tort and contract doctrines, and a large group of statutory
regulation on issues such as the right to organize and negotiate collective bargaining
agreements, protection from discrimination, wages and hours, and health and safety. There are
many different sources of law in any society. Some laws will be written in the country's
Constitution; others will be passed by the legislature (usually a parliament or congress); others
will come from long social tradition. The following are sources of law.
A constitution is a set of fundamental principles or established precedents according to
which a state or other organization is governed. These rules together make up, i.e. constitute,
what the entity is. When these principles are written down into a single document or set of legal
documents, those documents may be said to embody a written constitution; if they are written
down in a single comprehensive document, it is said to embody a codified constitution. In any
country with a written Constitution, the Constitution will take precedence over any other source
of law. For example, if the Constitution says there is freedom of speech for all citizens, but the
social tradition is for women not to speak in public, a court will protect the right of any woman
to speak in public if she chooses to do so; the Constitution takes priority over tradition.

Acts of Parliament/Local Laws: These are sets of written law or statutory laws passed
by the parliament of Tanzania since independence in 1961 and sets of laws passed by the
colonial legislative council. All sets laws are subject to the basic law of the land which is the
Constitution of the United Republic of Tanzania of 1977 as amended severally. Apart from
‘Acts’ there are other written laws passed through delegated powers and commonly referred to as
subsidiary, subordinate or delegated legislation.
 (i) Statutory Law: These are laws passed by local legislature and are called “Acts’ to refer
to laws passed by the local legislature as from the period of independence in 1961 and those
passed by colonial legislative council are called ‘Ordinances’. However, as of 2002, through an
Act of Parliament, The Laws Revisions Act of 1994 Chapter Four of the laws of Tanzania [R.E.
2002,] all legislations previously known as Ordinances, (laws enacted before independence i.e.
laws enacted by colonial administration-Orders in Council, commonly referred to as Ordinances)
are now legally recognized as Acts. Presently, all Tanzanian laws, including Ordinances are
referred to as ‘Acts’ and have been codified together in Chapters making it a common reference
of ‘Chapters’ or abbreviated as ‘Cap’. The principal legislations and subsidiary legislations
thereto, are published in the Government Gazette and printed by the Tanzania Government
Printers. Therefore anyone can order for statutes through the Government Publication Agency.

(ii) Delegated/Subsidiary Legislation (By law, Rules, Regulations), Orders and Directives

Pre-existing Laws-Customary and/or Religious Laws: Customary and/or religious law

is another of law that makes another authority to Tanzanian sources of law. Customary law and
Islamic law is established under section 9 of the Judicature and Application of Laws Act,
Chapter 358 of the Laws of Tanzania [R.E. 2002] (JALA).These are sets of rules developed
through customs, practices and/or usages of Tanzanian ethnic tribes and they are accepted by
Tanzanian as binding rules. The customs were accepted by the colonial regime thus accepted to
be applicable in ‘native courts’ to native parties. At independence these rules continued to be
binding and were made part of the laws of Tanzania in all courts having exclusive application at
the primary courts. The application of customary laws is only limited to; i) civil cases
particularly on issues of marriage, succession, inheritance, land and family relations. ii)
Customary law applies only to members of the community concerned. iii) Customary law applies
only when there is no written law, does not conflict with statutory law and as of today’s
conception, to circumstances which are not repugnant to principles of human rights. To date
customary laws include: codified customary laws, Islamic laws and other religious laws.

(i) Codified customary laws or Statutory Laws

These are sets of rules codified under the procedure set forth in the Judicature and
Application of Laws Ordinance. They include a few of rules on the laws of person, rules of
inheritance in some tribes, and rules on wills. They are commonly found in the Local Customary
Law (Declaration) Order (Numbers one to eight), 1963.

(ii) Islamic Laws

These are few sets of law which apply to Moslems inhabiting in Tanzania but they are not
applied in its whole fashion as it is in Islamic legal system countries. It is application falls under
the Judicature and Applications of Laws Act, Chapter 358 of the Laws of Tanzania [R.E. 2002]
(JALA). As such, it empowers courts to apply Islamic law to matters of succession in
communities and parties that generally follow Islamic law in matters of personal status and
inheritance. Driving their sources from the Qua’ran, the Sunna of the Prophet, Ijma (the
consensus of the orthodox community) and the qiyas (the method of analogy), the decisions of
courts impose lenience application as compared to strict Islamic rules. The local legislature and a
mixture of customs have contributed to its modification and application. However, before
independence a double tier system of courts allowed its application in Tanganyika where by the
liwali courts applied Islamic law and secular courts applied other civil and customary laws. By
1963 one system was adopted to merge the two. In Zanzibar however, a double tier system still
exists where by Islamic courts known as Kadhi co-exists with secular courts. In Mainland
Tanzania, the common issues decided under these laws are those under the Law of Marriage Act,
Chapter 29 R.E. 2002; THE Administration (Small Estate) Ordinance, Chapter 30 R.L; the
Restatement of Islamic Laws Acts, Act No. 57 of 1964; the Magistrates Courts’ Act, Chapter 11
R.E. 2002 and the Waqf Commission Ordinance, Chapter 326 R.L

(iii) Personal and Other Religious Laws

Much as the application of Islamic law is in place and enjoy application in Tanzania courts
through Section 9(1) of the Judicature and Application of Law Ordinance of 1961. The courts,
particularly the Primary courts and High Court of Tanzania have been liberal to apply other rules
from personal and other religion in dispensing justice where written laws do not provide for
solution.

Received Law: Received law is applicable in Tanzania only when there is no local
written law to address the matter at issue and when local circumstances permits. Received Law is
established under Section 2.3 of The Judicature and Application Laws Act, Chapter 358 of the
Laws of Tanzania [R.E. 2002] (JALA). Judges may make reference to received law with such
necessary modifications to suit local circumstances. The sets of received law are common law,
doctrine of equity and statutes of general application in force in England on 22nd July, 1920.

(i) Common Law

These are the body of law developed through judgments of the English courts which
made reference to the customs and usage of the English people and then interpreted in courts. By
preservation of courts, they remain applicable (when there is no local law or rule) and persuasive
laws in Tanzania through the doctrine of precedents.

(ii) Doctrine of Equity

These are the body of law developed in England through decision of King’s Courts,
common referred to as the Lord Chancellor Courts, which were developed by judges appointed
by the King to sit in King’s court to make decisions on appeals by people aggrieved by decisions
of England courts. Since the King was referred to as ‘the fountain of justice’ he was not bound
by common law rules or decision. Thus, he dispensed justice according to conscience and
fairness. Later, the King appointed judges who were referred to as Lord Chancellor to adjudicate
on his behalf and hence developed what is called today, as ‘the doctrine of equity’. Just as the
principle of common law, the doctrine of equity remain persuasive and precedents when local
circumstances do not provide for an answer.

(iii) Statutes of General Application

These are sets of legislation passed by the parliament of England to apply in England but
were of general nature that they would apply in other territories. However, only part of the
legislations which were in force in England on the 22 nd July 1920 (commonly referred to as the
reception date) was received to apply in Tanzania.

Case Law/Court Decisions: Is the set of existing rulings which have made new
interpretations of law and, therefore, can be cited as precedent. It is another important source of
law in Tanzania. These are cases arising from the decision of the High Court and Court of
Appeal. They are either reported cases or unreported. Therefore they form the basic precedents
of Tanzanian laws and bind lower courts thereto. Reported cases in Tanzania can be found in a
number of Law Reports. Between 1957and 1977 cases reported from the High Court of
Tanzania and the East African Court of Appeal appeared in East Africa Law Reports. Any case
law that is from a court of equal or higher rank to the one where a case is now being heard, will
normally take precedence over common law, should they differ. Also, a decision by a higher
court (for example a court of appeal or supreme court) is binding upon a lower court. The lower
court must follow what the higher court has said, in another case where the circumstances are
similar. The main sources of Tanzanian court decisions are found in the following documents.

-The High Court Digest (HCD)

-The Tanganyika Law Reports (TLR). This is the collection of cases decided by the
High Courts and Court of Appeal (Supreme Court) of Tanzania
-Unreported Cases of the High Court and Court of Appeal
-The East African Court of Appeal (EACA) and others)

International laws: These are laws which govern intercourse or relations between
sovereign states, or individuals and sovereign states at international level, e.g. law of high seas,
diplomacy, and international crimes (e.g. genocide, crimes against humanity, and etc).
International law may be divided into two classes;

(i) Public international law: law governing relations between states, or a state and
private individuals.
(ii) Private international law: law governing relations between people across
nations, e.g. marriage and divorce between a Tanzanian man and Canadian woman.

General principle of law or general legal principle refers to a principle that is

recognized in all kinds of legal relations, regardless of the legal system to which it belongs. It
can also be a principle that is widely recognized by people whose legal order has attained a
certain level of sophistication. In International law, it refers to a principle that gives rise to
international legal obligations.