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SOURCES OF LAW

UNITED KINGDON

The Sources of law


The term sources of law refers to where the law

comes from.
English and Welsh law come from several sources.
The main sources are:
the common law
equity
legislation
judicial precedent
delegated legislation
European law
European Convention on Human Rights.

The Common law


The common law originates from the original laws and

legal customs of England that existed prior to the


Norman conquest of England in 1066.
After 1066 these original laws slowly merged and
developed into a single system of law referred to as the
common law.
The common law is a judge-made system of law because
it was the judges who over many centuries were
responsible for merging and developing the original laws
and legal customs in to this single system of law.
Today the term common law is regarded as including all
case law.

Equity
Equity means fairness in ordinary language.
As a legal term it began as a set of special rules founded and

administered by the old Court of Chancery.


It was created because the original common law often failed to
ensure fairness or justice, and people would appeal to the Kings
Chancellor who as keeper of the Kings conscience could help.
The Chancellor dealt with such appeals in the Court of Chancery.
This court decided cases in the light of justice and fairness rather
than the strict letter of the law.
The Court of Chancery established special remedies such as
injunctions that are very important today. They are sometimes
known as equitable remedies.
Equity was administered by the Court of Chancery until 1873,
when the Judicature Acts merged the common law courts and the
Court of Chancery. Courts today can award both common law and
equitable remedies.

Legislation
Legislation is law made by Parliament and is

sometimes referred to as Acts of Parliament or


statutes.
Legislation over-rides all common law and
equity.
Although legislation is the main source of new
law today, it did not become an important
source until the end of the eighteenth century.
Indeed even today legislation forms a
comparatively small part of the bulk of our
laws and the common law still remains the

Judicial Precedent
In all courts it is the judge who is responsible for deciding

questions of law. This involves the judge interpreting the


common law, equity or legislation.
Courts are arranged in to a hierarchy of importance. A court
that is more important is known as a superior court and one
that is less important is known as an inferior court.
When a judge has to interpret the law he or she will look to
see if that law has been interpreted by a court before. The
judge will generally always have to follow the interpretation of
the law by a superior court. For instance, judges of the
Divisional Courts and Crown Court are bound by the decisions
of the Court of Appeal and House of Lords while the Court of
Appeal is bound by the decisions of the House of Lords.

Judicial Precedent
The system of judicial precedent means that inferior

courts have to follow the decisions of superior courts. This


system is sometimes called stare decisis (Latin for let the
decision stand).
Judicial precedents are sometimes collectively referred to
as case law and are regarded as part of the common law.
For example, if a judge was required to decide the
meaning of the term intention then he or she would look
to the previous decisions made by the House of Lords in
important past cases such as R v Nedrick (1986) and R v
Woolin (1998).
Judges and lawyers can find previous cases because
important cases are recorded in various law reports.

European Community
Law
European Community Law is law that comes from the

European Union of which the United Kingdom is a member.


When the United Kingdom joined the European Community
Parliament passed the European Communities Act 1972.
The European Communities Act 1972 not only made European
law directly enforceable in British courts but also gave it
supremacy over any British law.
European law covers areas such as
health and safety in the workplace
sex and race discrimination in the workplace
consumer rights and
trading laws
The European Communities Act 1972 also made the European
Court of Justice the final court of appeal in matters of
European law and giving it precedence over British courts.

Delegated legislation
Parliament has quite often delegated its power to make law

to various bodies or people.


There are different types of delegated legislation. The main
types are
Orders in Council
Statutory instruments and
Bye-laws
Orders in Council permit the government through the Privy
Council to make law. These are used in a variety of
situations such as introducing restrictions of the movement
of livestock during a foot and mouth crisis or to introduce
European Union directives in to the British legal system.

Delegated legislation
Statutory Instruments permit government ministers

to introduce particular regulations that have the


power of law.
Bye-laws are the means through which local
authorities and other public bodies can make law. For
instance, a local council may wish to make it illegal
for a dog owner to permit his or her dog to foul a
public footpath.
All delegated legislation requires Parliament to pass
a statute, often called an enabling statute, which
states when and in what circumstances the body or
person can make a law.

The European Convention on


Human Rights
The European Convention on Human Rights is an

international agreement that the United Kingdom


has signed.
The Convention gives people certain rights such as the
right to freedom from torture (Article 3) and the right to a
fair trial (Article 6).
The Convention also established the European Court of
Human Rights to decide if there have been any breaches
of the Convention.
The British Parliament passed the Human Rights Act 1998
that introduced the Convention in to British law.
The decisions of the European Court of Human Rights will
now be an important source of case law for British courts.

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