Sources and Varieties of English Law
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

English law

English law refers to the legal systems of
England and Wales
Classification

Law can be classified by source (where it
comes from) and by type (varieties or
categories of law)
Classification by source
English Law
1.
2.
3.
4.
EU Law – law that emanates from the Institutions of
the EU. This can overrule national law.
Statute law – law made by Parliament (Acts of
Parliament)
Common Law (customary law, judge-made law) –
made by the decisions of the judges
Equity – created by the Chancery court under the
Lord Chancellor to ‘fill in the gaps’ in the common law
Written and unwritten law

1.
2.
Two main categories of law:
Written (formally enacted)
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
Common law remedies


Legal remedies (damages)
Equitable remedies (e.g. injunctions)
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
Subcategories of civil law




Law of contract
Law of torts
Family law
Patents and copyrights
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=KeKcTe4HR
Ps
Answer the following questions:
What was equity based on?
What is an injunction?
What is the ultimate domestic source of law?
Thank you for your attention!