TASK 1
Making any law in the UK is through the process of Primary legislation, secondary
legislation or delegated legislation. Primary legislation is an act which is passed
by the parliament. It is the act of parliament. This act must say that secondary
legislation can make amendments in it and through which process. Secondary
legislation can also create new rules in it. Primary legislation gives some
specific authority to the executive department to make some particular law for the
state. Examples of primary legislation include Act of the UK Parliament, Act of
Northern Ireland assembly, and the Scottish Parliament. Secondary legislation is
the law created by the ministers by the powers given to them by primary
legislation. It is used to fill the details in primary legislation. These details
give practical measures that enable the law to be implemented in daily life. For
example, the government uses secondary legislation to ban new items in response to
further information about their danger by adding them into the list under the
Misuse of Drug Act 1971. (AC1.1)
The principle of separation of power in the UK is to keep the three branches of
government Executive, Judiciary and Parliament separate. It also maintains the
checks and balances among them so that these branches do not interfere in each
other's work. According to Montesquieu, "separation of power is an idea where the
system of check and balance works like you are running after someone in a circle".
Each branch has given certain powers and specific tasks to perform. The primary
emphasis of parliament is to make laws. Frequently, parliament makes the law that
consists of provisions that empower the government's executive branch or the
judiciary to make some proper rules and regulations. These law enforcement types
that affect the power of other branches of government are called secondary
legislation or delegated legislation. (AC1D1)
There are four primary sources of law in the UK categorised as domestic
legislation, common law, European Union law and European conventions on human
rights (ECHR).
Parliament in the UK makes domestic legislation. The parliament consists of the
House of Lords, House of Commons and the Monarch. Parliament is further divided
into primary and secondary legislation. This legislation makes the act of
parliament, also known as a statute. These statutes are applied to the citizens for
keeping peace among them.
The second source of law in the UK is common law. The body of unwritten law is
based upon some legal precedents made by the courts is common law. It controls the
decision-making process in some unusual cases where the outcome cannot be
determined on the written rule of law. Example of common law is that people have to
read the contract.
The third primary source is EU law, a law system containing 28 members of the
European Union. Whenever the law of the UK, conflicts with the EU law then the EU
systems always overrules, and the last main source of law in the UK is European
convention on human rights (ECHR) as it protects the human rights in the UK which
maintain the rule of law and promotes democracy. The United Kingdom signed the
European convention on human rights in 1950. Even if the UK leaves the European
Union, it will remain signed to ECHR. (AC1.2)
Human right act 1998 is the UK law that received the royal assent on 9th, November
1998 but started to apply on 2nd October 2000. Article 8 of the Human Rights Act
lets you defend your rights in the UK courts and compiles public organisations,
including the government, local councils and police departments to treat everyone
equally with fairness and respect. Some of the human right acts are right to life,
right to freedom, right to education and right to free election. This act aims to
, ensure some of the human rights listed in the act are respected and applied in the
UK, but the Human right act 1998 is criticised for providing weak protection to
human rights. Human right acts guarantee people to satisfy their basic needs such
as food, housing, and education to benefit from all opportunities. After
guaranteeing life, liberty, equality and security, human rights protect people from
powerful ones. The branches of government have a significant role in protecting
Human rights in the UK. (AC1.3)
The judges in court should apply the first literal rule of statutory
interpretation. According to literal rule, the law's words are given their natural
meaning and applied without the judge seeking to make sense of the statute. One
example of literal rule is explained in the case Fisher v Bell(1961) in which it is
clear that it is an offence to offer offensive weapons for sale. Still, under The
Literal Rule, biting is not stabbing, cutting or wounding, therefore, was not
proven guilty. The literal rule's advantages are that it respects the parliament
supremacy, and there is no scope for judges' opinion. Mainly it encourages drafting
precision, reduces litigation and promotes certainty. But the bad side of literal
rule is that it produces unjust and absurd results that are not in line with the
parliament's intention and it ignores the fact that language has its own
limitations and can change in meaning over time. Its rules also demand a standard
of unattainable perfection from the parliament's intention.
The golden rule is defined by the Lord Wensleydale in case Grey v Pearson (1857)
that "The grammatical and ordinary sense of words is to be adhered to unless that
would lead to some absurdity or some repugnance with the rest of the instrument in
which case the ordinary sense of words may be modified so as to avoid the
absurdity, but no farther". The advantages of golden rule were it provides an
escape route from absurd and unjust results produced by the literal rules and by
avoiding absurdities and injustices, the golden rules put true parliament
intentions into force, but this rule still respects constitutional doctrines of
parliament supremacy and separation of power by allowing judges enough freedom to
fix the errors. But there were also disadvantages that it is very limited in its
use so it is used in only some rare occasions and it was impossible to predict when
the court will use the golden rule. Also, there is no clear guidance about how and
when the rule should be used and no particular definition of what an absurd result
is.
The purposive approach was explained by Lord Simen which stated that "the court
should put itself in the shoes of draftsmen to consider what knowledge he had and
importantly what statutory objective he had been thus placed, the court proceeds to
ascertain the meaning of the statutory language". While interpreting EU law, the
courts are required to apply the purposive approach. The courts have used it when
interpreting domestic legislation to give an interpretation in line with the EU
law. Advantages are it is a flexible approach which allows parliament's intention
like in case of Maunsell v Olins, and it allows the court to give effect to EU
directives like in case of Pickstone v Freemans. While some disadvantages are,
judges are given too much power to develop the law and usurp the power of
parliament judges which become lawmakers infringing the separation of powers and it
assumes parliament has one intention and ignores the fact that parliament is
divided into party lines. (AC2.3)
The civil and criminal courts both are under supreme court. Under civil court,
there is a court of appeal, high court which includes the Queen's bench, chancery
and family and county courts. In civil court, one person files the case against
some other because of some problems between them. An organisation or business
company can also file the case and can also be sued. While under criminal court,
there is a court of appeal, crown court and magistrate court. In criminal court,
the government files the case against a person or company for committing the crime.
The government must prove that the accused man is guilty beyond the reasonable
Making any law in the UK is through the process of Primary legislation, secondary
legislation or delegated legislation. Primary legislation is an act which is passed
by the parliament. It is the act of parliament. This act must say that secondary
legislation can make amendments in it and through which process. Secondary
legislation can also create new rules in it. Primary legislation gives some
specific authority to the executive department to make some particular law for the
state. Examples of primary legislation include Act of the UK Parliament, Act of
Northern Ireland assembly, and the Scottish Parliament. Secondary legislation is
the law created by the ministers by the powers given to them by primary
legislation. It is used to fill the details in primary legislation. These details
give practical measures that enable the law to be implemented in daily life. For
example, the government uses secondary legislation to ban new items in response to
further information about their danger by adding them into the list under the
Misuse of Drug Act 1971. (AC1.1)
The principle of separation of power in the UK is to keep the three branches of
government Executive, Judiciary and Parliament separate. It also maintains the
checks and balances among them so that these branches do not interfere in each
other's work. According to Montesquieu, "separation of power is an idea where the
system of check and balance works like you are running after someone in a circle".
Each branch has given certain powers and specific tasks to perform. The primary
emphasis of parliament is to make laws. Frequently, parliament makes the law that
consists of provisions that empower the government's executive branch or the
judiciary to make some proper rules and regulations. These law enforcement types
that affect the power of other branches of government are called secondary
legislation or delegated legislation. (AC1D1)
There are four primary sources of law in the UK categorised as domestic
legislation, common law, European Union law and European conventions on human
rights (ECHR).
Parliament in the UK makes domestic legislation. The parliament consists of the
House of Lords, House of Commons and the Monarch. Parliament is further divided
into primary and secondary legislation. This legislation makes the act of
parliament, also known as a statute. These statutes are applied to the citizens for
keeping peace among them.
The second source of law in the UK is common law. The body of unwritten law is
based upon some legal precedents made by the courts is common law. It controls the
decision-making process in some unusual cases where the outcome cannot be
determined on the written rule of law. Example of common law is that people have to
read the contract.
The third primary source is EU law, a law system containing 28 members of the
European Union. Whenever the law of the UK, conflicts with the EU law then the EU
systems always overrules, and the last main source of law in the UK is European
convention on human rights (ECHR) as it protects the human rights in the UK which
maintain the rule of law and promotes democracy. The United Kingdom signed the
European convention on human rights in 1950. Even if the UK leaves the European
Union, it will remain signed to ECHR. (AC1.2)
Human right act 1998 is the UK law that received the royal assent on 9th, November
1998 but started to apply on 2nd October 2000. Article 8 of the Human Rights Act
lets you defend your rights in the UK courts and compiles public organisations,
including the government, local councils and police departments to treat everyone
equally with fairness and respect. Some of the human right acts are right to life,
right to freedom, right to education and right to free election. This act aims to
, ensure some of the human rights listed in the act are respected and applied in the
UK, but the Human right act 1998 is criticised for providing weak protection to
human rights. Human right acts guarantee people to satisfy their basic needs such
as food, housing, and education to benefit from all opportunities. After
guaranteeing life, liberty, equality and security, human rights protect people from
powerful ones. The branches of government have a significant role in protecting
Human rights in the UK. (AC1.3)
The judges in court should apply the first literal rule of statutory
interpretation. According to literal rule, the law's words are given their natural
meaning and applied without the judge seeking to make sense of the statute. One
example of literal rule is explained in the case Fisher v Bell(1961) in which it is
clear that it is an offence to offer offensive weapons for sale. Still, under The
Literal Rule, biting is not stabbing, cutting or wounding, therefore, was not
proven guilty. The literal rule's advantages are that it respects the parliament
supremacy, and there is no scope for judges' opinion. Mainly it encourages drafting
precision, reduces litigation and promotes certainty. But the bad side of literal
rule is that it produces unjust and absurd results that are not in line with the
parliament's intention and it ignores the fact that language has its own
limitations and can change in meaning over time. Its rules also demand a standard
of unattainable perfection from the parliament's intention.
The golden rule is defined by the Lord Wensleydale in case Grey v Pearson (1857)
that "The grammatical and ordinary sense of words is to be adhered to unless that
would lead to some absurdity or some repugnance with the rest of the instrument in
which case the ordinary sense of words may be modified so as to avoid the
absurdity, but no farther". The advantages of golden rule were it provides an
escape route from absurd and unjust results produced by the literal rules and by
avoiding absurdities and injustices, the golden rules put true parliament
intentions into force, but this rule still respects constitutional doctrines of
parliament supremacy and separation of power by allowing judges enough freedom to
fix the errors. But there were also disadvantages that it is very limited in its
use so it is used in only some rare occasions and it was impossible to predict when
the court will use the golden rule. Also, there is no clear guidance about how and
when the rule should be used and no particular definition of what an absurd result
is.
The purposive approach was explained by Lord Simen which stated that "the court
should put itself in the shoes of draftsmen to consider what knowledge he had and
importantly what statutory objective he had been thus placed, the court proceeds to
ascertain the meaning of the statutory language". While interpreting EU law, the
courts are required to apply the purposive approach. The courts have used it when
interpreting domestic legislation to give an interpretation in line with the EU
law. Advantages are it is a flexible approach which allows parliament's intention
like in case of Maunsell v Olins, and it allows the court to give effect to EU
directives like in case of Pickstone v Freemans. While some disadvantages are,
judges are given too much power to develop the law and usurp the power of
parliament judges which become lawmakers infringing the separation of powers and it
assumes parliament has one intention and ignores the fact that parliament is
divided into party lines. (AC2.3)
The civil and criminal courts both are under supreme court. Under civil court,
there is a court of appeal, high court which includes the Queen's bench, chancery
and family and county courts. In civil court, one person files the case against
some other because of some problems between them. An organisation or business
company can also file the case and can also be sued. While under criminal court,
there is a court of appeal, crown court and magistrate court. In criminal court,
the government files the case against a person or company for committing the crime.
The government must prove that the accused man is guilty beyond the reasonable
