Types of Law

Historical Development

  1. Law are made by Customs
  1. Nordic-invasion in 1066 connected England to make common law

King Sends Chancellors on Circuits to mediate customs and create laws

  1. Parliament Passes Law
  1. Delegated Legislation (occurred around 50 years ago)

Kept the Best customs and removed the less practical

Some say the Judges/Chancellors just created the law instead of basing it on customs

Common Law

Kings appoint lords in different regions to facilitate matters

Customs which were useful stayed

Before the Nord's came, communication was scarce and regions would develop their own individual customs

With the Nordic Invasion, comes a centralized government

This system was removed with the Nordic's invasion

Customs were chosen by the Chancellor

Called Common Law because when a law was made, delegates travelled the land to implement this law which is why it is common

Court Law

Judges were appointed by William the Conquer

Judges went in circuits to settle issues

Meet in London to discuss customs

Michelle Zander said that the Judges actually invented the customs, no proof however.

The definitions of Common Law (Four types)

  1. Judge Law; Law which is developed by Judges through doctrines of judicial precedent
  1. Law operated in Courts
  1. Common Law; Developed by Early Judges to form a common law for the whole country
  1. Decisions made by judges have the same force as statutes, contrast the civil law

Equity

Originated from cases being ignored; only compensation was given and no other actual action

Example Case: New Windsor Corp V Mellor

King assigned chancellors; they were usually priests

No actual parliament act for murder

There isone for theft created in 1968

There were too many appeals for the chancellors to handle

Created the Court of Chancery

Used to soften the rules of the common law

Used to fill gaps in the common law

Sepinez; Order witnesses to attend court

Alternatives

Specific Performance

Recission

Injunctions

Retrifications

The Court and law often conflicted

In the end Law>Chancery

Example Case

D&C Builders Ltd v Rees (1965)

Leaf v International Galleries (1950)

Example of Maxims

Mareva Injunction; Freeze order (Assets)

Anton Piller Order; Search Order

Maxims; Sayings which give moral rules/principle

Judicial Precedent

These are verdicts past lawyers make for future cases

Henry of Bracton (1210-1268)

Introduced the concept of case law and legal logic

He greatly influenced the judicial precedent

Judicial Precedent is based on the Latin Maxim's

Provides fairness and certainty in the law

Types of precedent

Original; If no pre-existing account of a case has occurred before

Binding Precedent; must follow bindings of previous cases similar to the current one

Persuasive; not binding to the case, but was persuaded by previous cases

Ways to Avoid Precedents

Overruling; Previous court states its wrong

Reversing; High court overturns lower courts decision

Distinction; Cases are completely different

Advantage of Judicial Precedent

Precision; Accurate use of law to determine verdicts

Consistency; similar verdicts based on past case

Flexibility; Allows lawyers to look at the specific differences in the case without needing to overlook entire case

Certainty; Follow past decisions

Time Saving

Disadvantages of Judicial Precedent

Complexity; hard finding relevant case

Illogical decisions; "Law is an ass" Charles Dickens

Rigid; lower follows high court verdicts

Slow growth/adaptability

Acts of Parliament

They are the main legislative body

Laws past are known as Acts/Statutes

Power is delegated to other subordanites

Makes up the House of Lords and Commons

Government must Alline itself with existing laws

Bills must be passed by both houses

Sometimes protests can impact parliament

1995 Disability act

Limitation

Not easy to understand

Parliament Sovereignty (They have ultimate power); some argue citizens should be more involved

Statutes are often linked to multiple Laws

Takes a long time to modify existing Statutes

click to edit

Parliament has the power to overrule all other laws (With exceptions)

Example of Exception1998 Human rights act

Delegated Branches

People other than parliament which can enact laws

When Laws are made by delegates, this is called enabling laws/ enabling act

Example of Delegation people

Why the Branches

Queen, Prime Minister and leading Gov members

Its Faster to enact laws

Local delegates know the situation better

Better allocation of time and resources

Are able to make laws without parliament; these are called statutory instruments

Criticism

So many branches that its hard to keep count

Hard to understand the language

Takes power from democracy; elected people in parliament arent the ones chosing the laws