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The United Kingdom
The United Kingdom is a unitary state, but it does not have a single body of law England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have their own legal systems and courts
Classification
Law can be classified by source (where it comes from) and by type (varieties or categories of law)
English Law
1. EU Law – law that emanates from the Institutions of the EU. This can overrule national law.
2. Statute law – law made by Parliament (Acts of Parliament)
3. Common Law (customary law, judge-made law) – made by the decisions of the judges
4. Equity – created by the Chancery court under the Lord Chancellor to ‘fill in the gaps’ in the common law
Written and unwritten law
Two main categories of law:
1. Written (formally enacted)
2. Unwritten (unenacted) – rules of equity and common law
Rules of equity
Rules of equity grew up through the practice of medieval Lord Chancellors
“keepers of the king’s conscience” Alternative legal remedies – more flexible Equity gradually became more rigid and was
fused with common law by the Judicature Act of 1873
Common Law
Unwritten law is predominant More precedents than legislative enactment Common law (the general law contained in
decided cases; unwritten or judge-made law) means ancient customs, precedents and books of authority (writings of jurists)
Principal sources of English Law
Statute Law: Legislation (enacted law; statutes or Acts passed by Parliament); the doctrine of parliamentary sovereignty
Common Law: Precedent (courts are interpreters of law); previous decisions by superior courts on similar facts
The doctrine of precedent (stare decisis, binding case – hierarchy of courts, ratio decidendi – similarity of facts)
Subsidiary sources of English Law
Common law means judicial precedents, but also ancient customs and writing of jurists - books of authority
The subsidiary sources are customs and books of authority
Customs
Customs are social habits or patterns of behaviour
“Conventional”rules Many of early rules of the common law were
general customs which the courts adopted The customs must be reasonable, certain and
“ancient” – must go back to 1189
Books of authority
The writings of legal authors Cited in courts Some books by prominent authors are as
authoritative as precedents e.g. Blackstone’s Commentaries (1765)
Why it is called ‘common’
The first legal system that became common to the whole country (England and Wales) in 1066 – after the Norman Conquest
Common law v. Roman law
Common law is a native product of Britain It absorbed only a few rules of Roman law A unique legal system
Classification by type
Law can be classified by the type of law (the matters that the law is regulating)
Classification by types of law includes distinctions between international or national and public or private
National and international law
National (domestic, internal) law – the law of a state regulating its domestic affairs
International law – A body of rules that regulates relations between states and rights and duties of individuals in their relations to foreign states and with each other
Public and private law
National law can be divided into public law and private law
Public law involves the State in some way; it is the area of law in which the state has a direct interest (administrative law, constitutional law, revenue law, criminal law)
Private law controls the relationships between individuals
Public law
Administrative law – the body of law which deals with the powers of the executive organs of the state
Constitutional law – the area of law that deals with the interpretation and construction of constitutions
Revenue law – the area of law concerned with income and taxes
Criminal and civil law
Criminal law – a branch of law concerned with behaviour that is considered to be harmful to society as a whole: the state (prosecutor) takes legal action against the wrong-doer in the name of society
Civil law – a branch of law that deals with disputes between individuals
The injured party (plaintiff or claimant) takes legal action
Vocabulary list
Unitary state – jedinstvena država Principal sources – glavni izvori Subsidiary sources – sporedni izvori Common law – opće pravo Statute law – kodificirano (pisano) pravo Equity – pravičnost Injunction – sudski nalog, sudska zabrana
Vocabulary II
Rules of equity – pravila pravičnosti Administrative law – upravno pravo Constitutional law – ustavno pravo Criminal law – kazneno pravo Revenue law – financijsko pravo Prosecutor – tužitelj Claimant (plaintiff) – tužitelj u građanskoj parnici
Video exercise
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KeKcTe4HRPs
Answer the following questions: What was equity based on? What is an injunction? What is the ultimate domestic source of law?