1.1 The constitution The UK has a common law legal system. It is very difficult to give a simple definition of the legal system in the UK, but you may find it helps to think of it as the system that covers how all civil and criminal laws are made, used and enforced. A fundamental part of any legal system is its Author(s):
Introduction In this unit you will have the opportunity to look at some of the constituent parts of the legal system in the UK. You will also consider how laws are made and who is responsible for enforcing them. Finally, you will have an opportunity to experiment with different ways of taking notes. This unit is from our archive and is an adapted extract from the Open University course Starting with Law (Y166), which is no longer in presentation. If you wish to study formally with The Open Un
7 Review of unit learning outcomes After studying this unit, you should be able to: explain how Acts of Parliament originate: Â party manifestos, national emergency or crisis, Royal Commissions, the Law Commission, Private Members' Bills discuss the process by which rules become law and the role of Parliament in making legal rules: Â first reading, second read
6.1 Influences on the law-making process In Part E I will discuss the influence of pressure groups in the rule-making process and assess the role that citizens can have in influencing the laws Parliament makes. As you have seen already, most Acts of Parliament are the outcome of the policy decisions taken by Government and the actual policies pursued will depend upon the political goals of that Government. Most Acts result from Government Bills sponsored by the relevant Minister. Education legislation, for example, will be int
4.9 The control of delegated legislation You may have been surprised to read that through delegated legislation an enormous amount of law is made every year outside of the democratically elected parliamentary process and therefore this law is being made by non-elected people. There are, however, certain safeguards to ensure that delegated legislation is controlled by way of both parliamentary and judicial control.
4.8 Professional regulations Certain professional bodies, such as The Solicitors Regulation Authority, have delegated authority under enabling legislation to regulate the conduct of their members. The Solicitors Regulation Authority has power to control the conduct of practising solicitors under the Solicitors Act 1974. The General Medical Council regulates the conduct of its members under the Medical Act of 1858. It has four main functions: to keep up-to-date registers of qualif
4.2 The volume of delegated legislation Delegated legislation is a very important source of legislation quite simply because of its volume. There are far more pieces of delegated legislation created each year than Acts of Parliament. For example, in 2005 there were only 24 general public Acts of Parliament passed whereas there were 3,699 Statutory Instruments made. You will learn about Statutory Instruments as one type of delegated legislation.
3,3,7 Royal Assent You have already seen references to Royal Assent in this unit. The monarch formally assents to a Bill in order for it to pass into law. Royal Assent has never been withheld in recent times. Queen Anne was the last monarch to withhold a Royal Assent, when she blocked a Scottish Militia Bill in 1707. The Queen feared a Scottish militia might be turned against the monarchy. Since the sixteenth century no monarch has actually signed a Bill themselves. Instead, the monarch signs what are kno
2.10 Summary of Part A In Part A we have examined the various ways in which Acts of Parliament may originate: Party manifestos National emergency, crisis or new development Royal Commissions The Law Commission Private Members' Bills.
3.5 Review of learning outcomes Decide for yourself, by working through the table below, whether you have satisfied the learning outcomes for Part B. 3.1 Key themes and learning outcomes The key themes of Part B are: business mediums; sole trader; partnership or firm; assets and liabilities. After studying Part B, you should be able to: identify the main types of business medium; demonstrate an understanding of the key characteristics of businesses run as sole traders; demonstrate an understanding of the 2.5 Review of learning outcomes Decide for yourself, by working through the table below, whether you have satisfied the learning outcomes for Part A. 7.2 Preparing and drafting a Bill A period of preparation of a Bill allows time to scrutinise evidence on the policies underlying Bills, and to consider whether Bills can be improved before they are introduced. Proper preparation of a Bill should lead to better-informed debates on Bills when they are introduced, and may save time by identifying problems at an early stage. This period of pre-legislative scrutiny allows valuable time for consideration, and therefore helps to avoid introducing laws that are unworkable. Consultat 7.1 Reserved and devolved matters As stated earlier, the UK Parliament can still legislate on reserved matters and also on devolved matters, with the agreement of the Scottish Parliament. This section looks at the law making process at Westminster. It is a very different process, which involves both the Houses of the Westminster Parliament. An Act of the UK Parliament also starts off as a Bill, which, if approved by a majority in the House of Commons and the House of Lords, will become an Act of the Westminster Parliame Introduction This unit is designed as an introduction to the academic study of the concept of rules, but will also serve as an introduction to a variety of different writing styles that are used in the academic world. It will challenge you to think about why some statements are rules and some are not, and what it is that distinguishes rules from habits and customs. It also looks at more formal rules and how such rules are applied and enforced. Rules shape our lives because they set out what we may and may Introduction This unit considers the growth of human rights and humanitarian law before looking at the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) in detail. It will also look at the position of human rights in the UK and the effect of the Human Rights Act 1998. This unit is an adapted extract from the course Rules, rights and justice: an introduction to law
(W100) The relationship between the EC and the EU The words ‘European Economic Community’ (EEC), ‘European Community’ (EC) and ‘European Union’ (EU) have already been used in this unit, and many texts and journal and newspaper articles use them interchangeably. It is important that you are clear on their relationship and what they mean. This unit will always refer to the current position as the EU, but what is the relationship between the EC, the EEC and the EU? As mentioned earlier, the Maastricht Treaty (1992) established 2.1 History The Council of Europe was set up in 1949. It is an intergovernmental organisation (based in Strasbourg, France) set up to protect human rights, promote cultural diversity and to combat social problems such as intolerance. Its creation was seen as a way of achieving a European approach to the protection of certain individual rights. Although presented now as historical events, the horrors of what had taken place in the Second World War were then fresh in the minds of the governments and 6.8 Extrinsic aids Extrinsic aids are matters which may help put an Act into context. Sources include previous Acts of Parliament on the same topic, earlier case law, dictionaries of the time, and the historical setting. In addition, Hansard can now be considered. Hansard is the official report of what was said in Parliament when the Act was debated. The use of Hansard was permitted following the decision in Pepper (Inspector of Taxes) v Hart (1993) where the House of Lords accepted that Hansard could be 6.4 The mischief rule This third rule gives a judge more discretion than either the literal or the golden rule. This rule requires the court to look to what the law was before the statute was passed in order to discover what gap or mischief the statute was intended to cover. The court is then required to interpret the statute in such a way to ensure that the gap is covered. The rule is contained in Heydon's Case (1584), where it was said that for the true interpretation of a statute, four things have to be
I am confident that I have a sufficiently comprehensive understanding to enable me to move on.
I am sufficiently confident in my understanding to enable me to move on, but I am aware that I need to revisit the material later.
<
I am confident that I have a sufficiently comprehensive understanding to enable me to move on.
I am sufficiently confident in my understanding to enable me to move on, but I am aware that I need to revisit the material later.
<
