English law

The Royal Courts of Justice on the Strand in London is the seat of the High Court of Justice and the Court of Appeal.

English law is the legal system of England and Wales,^[1] and the basis of common law^[2] legal systems in the Republic of Ireland, Commonwealth countries^[3] and the United States.

English law in its strictest sense applies within the jurisdiction of England and Wales. While Wales now has a devolved Assembly, any legislation which that Assembly passes is enacted in particular circumscribed policy areas defined by the Government of Wales Act 2006, other legislation of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, or by Orders in Council given under the authority of the 2006 Act. Furthermore that legislation is, as with any by-law made by any other body within England and Wales, interpreted by the undivided judiciary of England and Wales.

The essence of English common law is that it is made by judges sitting in courts, applying legal precedent (stare decisis) to the facts before them. A decision of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom, the highest appeal court in England and Wales, is binding on every other court. For example, murder is a common law crime rather than one established by an Act of Parliament. Common law can be amended or repealed by Parliament; murder, for example, now carries a mandatory life sentence rather than the death penalty. English courts recognise the primacy of statute law over common law where the two overlap.^[4]

England and Wales as a distinct jurisdiction

England
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The United Kingdom is a state consisting of three legal jurisdictions: England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. The formerly separate jurisdiction of Wales was absorbed into the Kingdom of England by King Henry VIII. The difference between the United Kingdom and the different jurisdictions within it is relevant for matters such as the distinction between nationality and domicile. Thus, an individual would have a British nationality and a domicile in one of the constituent states, the latter law defining all aspects of a person's status and capacity. Dicey and Morris (p26) list the separate states in the British Islands. "England, Scotland, Northern Ireland, the Isle of Man, Jersey, Guernsey, Alderney, and Sark. . . is a separate country in the sense of the conflict of laws, though not one of them is a State known to public international law." But this may be varied by statute. The United Kingdom is one state for the purposes of the Bills of Exchange Act 1882. Great Britain was a single state for the purposes of the Companies Act 1985. Traditionally authors referred to the legal unit or state of England and Wales as England, although in recent decades this usage has increasingly become politically and culturally unacceptable.

Wales

Although devolution has accorded some degree of political autonomy to Wales in the National Assembly for Wales, it did not have sovereign law-making powers until after the 2007 Welsh general election when the Government of Wales Act 2006 granted powers to the Welsh Government to enact some primary legislation. The legal system administered through both civil and criminal courts remains unified throughout England and Wales. This is different from the situation of Northern Ireland, for example, which did not cease to be a distinct jurisdiction when its legislature was suspended (see Northern Ireland (Temporary Provisions) Act 1972).

A major difference is also the use of the Welsh language, as laws concerning it apply in Wales and not in the rest of the United Kingdom. The Welsh Language Act 1993 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which put the Welsh language on an equal footing with the English language in Wales with regard to the public sector. Welsh may also be spoken in Welsh courts.

Since 1967 most lawyers have referred to the legal system of England and Wales as "the Laws of England and Wales" following the Welsh Language Act 1967 as may be seen by looking at the applicable law section of most commercial agreements from these countries. Before, from 1746–1967 this was not necessary (see below) but may have been done quite often nonetheless.

Statute law

Statutory framework

The first schedule of the Interpretation Act 1978, defines the following terms: "British Islands", "England", and "United Kingdom". The use of the term "British Isles" is virtually obsolete in statutes and, when it does appear, it is taken to be synonymous with "British Islands". For interpretation purposes, England includes a number of specified elements:

• Wales and Berwick Act 1746, section 3 (entire Act now repealed) formally incorporated Wales and Berwick-upon-Tweed into England. But section 4 Welsh Language Act 1967 provided that references to England in future Acts of Parliament should no longer include Wales (see now Interpretation Act 1978, Schedule 3, part 1). But Dicey & Morris say (at p28) "It seems desirable to adhere to Dicey's [the original] definition for reasons of convenience and especially of brevity. It would be cumbersome to have to add "or Wales" after "England" and "or Welsh" after "English" every time those words are used."
• the "adjacent islands" of the Isle of Wight and Anglesey are a part of England and Wales by custom, while Harman v Bolt (1931) 47 TLR 219 expressly confirms that Lundy is a part of England.
• the "adjacent territorial waters" by virtue of the Territorial Waters Jurisdiction Act 1878 and the Continental Shelf Act 1964 as amended by the Oil and Gas Enterprise Act 1982.

"Great Britain" means England, Wales, and Scotland including its adjacent territorial waters and the islands of Orkney and Shetland, the Hebrides, and Rockall (by virtue of the Island of Rockall Act 1972). The "United Kingdom" means Great Britain and Northern Ireland and their adjacent territorial waters. It does not include the Isle of Man, nor the Channel Islands, whose independent status was discussed in Rover International Ltd. v Canon Film Sales Ltd. (1987) 1 WLR 1597 and Chloride Industrial Batteries Ltd. v F. & W. Freight Ltd. (1989) 1 WLR 823. The "British Islands" means the "United Kingdom", the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islands.

Types of Statute law

• Acts of the Old Irish Parliament
• Acts of the Scottish Parliament
• Acts of the United Kingdom Parliament
• Measures of the Northern Ireland Assembly
• Ministerial Order
• Northern Ireland Statutory Rules
• UK Statutory Instruments

Citation style

Statutory law is referred to as "Title of Act Year",^[5] where the title is the "short title", and ends in "Act", as in "Interpretation Act 1978". Compare with American convention, which includes "of", as in "Civil Rights Act of 1964".

This became the usual way to refer to Acts in the second half of the 19th century, starting in the 1840s; previously Acts were referred to by their long title together with the regnal year of the parliamentary session in which they received Royal Assent, and the chapter number. For example, the Pleading in English Act 1362 was referred to as 36 Edw. III c. 15, meaning "36th year of the reign of Edward III, chapter 15", though in the past this was all spelt out, together with the long title.

Common law

Since 1189, English law has been described as a common law rather than a civil law system (i.e. there has been no major codification of the law, and judicial precedents are binding as opposed to persuasive). This may have been due to the Norman conquest of England, which introduced a number of legal concepts and institutions from Norman law into the English system. In the early centuries of English common law, the justices and judges were responsible for adapting the Writ system to meet everyday needs, applying a mixture of precedent and common sense to build up a body of internally consistent law, e.g., the Law Merchant began in the Pie-Powder Courts (a corruption of the French "pieds-poudrés" or "dusty feet", meaning ad hoc marketplace courts). As Parliament developed in strength legislation gradually overtook judicial law making so that, today, judges are only able to innovate in certain very narrowly defined areas. Time before 1189 was defined in 1276 as being time immemorial.

Precedent

One of the major problems in the early centuries was to produce a system that was certain in its operation and predictable in its outcomes. Too many judges were either partial or incompetent, acquiring their positions only by virtue of their rank in society. Thus, a standardised procedure slowly emerged, based on a system termed stare decisis which basically means "let the decision stand". The doctrine of precedent which requires similar cases to be adjudicated in a like manner, falls under the principle of stare decisis. Thus, the ratio decidendi of each case will bind future cases on the same generic set of facts both horizontally and vertically in the court structure. The highest appellate court in the UK is the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom and its decisions are binding on every other court in the hierarchy which are obliged to apply its rulings as the law of the land. The Court of Appeal binds the lower courts, and so on.

Overseas influences

The influences are two-way.

• The United Kingdom exported the English legal system to the Commonwealth countries during the British Empire, and many aspects of that system have persisted after the British withdrew or granted independence to former dominions. English law prior to the Wars of Independence is still an influence on United States law, and provides the basis for many American legal traditions and policies. Many states that were formerly subject to English law (such as Australia) continue to recognize a link to English law—subject, of course, to statutory modification and judicial revision to match the law to local conditions—and decisions from the English law reports continue to be cited from time to time as persuasive authority in present day judicial opinions. For a few states, the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council remains the ultimate court of appeal. Many jurisdictions which were formerly subject to English law (such as Hong Kong) continue to recognise the common law of England as their own—subject, of course, to statutory modification and judicial revision—and decisions from the English Reports continue to be cited from time to time as persuasive authority in present day judicial opinions.
• The UK is a dualist in its relationship with international law, i.e., international obligations have to be formally incorporated into English law before the courts are obliged to apply supranational laws. For example, the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms was signed in 1950 and the UK allowed individuals to directly petition the European Commission on Human Rights from 1966. Now s6(1) Human Rights Act 1998 (HRA) makes it unlawful "... for a public authority to act in a way which is incompatible with a convention right", where a "public authority" is any person or body which exercises a public function, expressly including the courts but expressly excluding Parliament. Although the European Convention has begun to be applied to the acts of non-state agents, the HRA does not make the Convention specifically applicable between private parties. Courts have taken the Convention into account in interpreting the common law. They also must take the Convention into account in interpreting Acts of Parliament, but must ultimately follow the terms of the Act even if inconsistent with the Convention (s3 HRA).
• Similarly, because the UK remains a strong international trading nation, international consistency of decision making is of vital importance, so the Admiralty is strongly influenced by Public International Law and the modern commercial treaties and conventions regulating shipping.

Subjects and links

Criminal law

English criminal law derives its main principles from the common law. The main elements of a crime are the actus reus (doing something which is criminally prohibited) and a mens rea (having the requisite criminal state of mind, usually intention or recklessness). A prosecutor must show that a person has caused the offensive conduct, or that the culprit had some pre-existing duty to take steps to avoid a criminal consequence. The types of different crimes range from those well known ones like manslaughter, murder, theft and robbery to a plethora of regulatory and statutory offences. It is estimated that in the UK, there are 3,500 classes of criminal offence. Certain defences may exist to crimes, which include self-defence, intention, necessity, duress, and in the case of a murder charge, under the Homicide Act 1957, diminished responsibility, provocation and, in very rare cases, survival of a suicide pact. It has often been suggested that England should codify its criminal law in an English Criminal Code, but there has been no overwhelming support for this in the past.

Constitutional law

• Fundamental Laws of England
• Rights of Englishmen
• Constitution of the United Kingdom

Administrative law

Family law

• Alimony
• Residence in English family law
• Bastard

Tort

Contract

Property

• Chose

Trusts

Labour law

Evidence

• Hearsay
• Ladd v Marshall

Miscellaneous

• Alcohol licensing laws of the United Kingdom
• Costs

See also

Law of England and Wales portal

• Common law
• Law Commission (England and Wales)
• Scots law
• Welsh law
  • Contemporary Welsh law (New powers for the Welsh Assembly)
• Constitutional status of Cornwall

Notes

References

• Beale, Joseph H. (1935) A Treatise on the Conflict of Laws. ISBN ISBN 1-58477-425-8
• Dicey & Morris (1993). The Conflict of Laws 12th edition. London: Sweet & Maxwell Ltd. ISBN 0-420-48280-6
• Slapper, Gary; David Kelly (2008-07-15). The English Legal System. London: Routledge-Cavendish. ISBN 978-0-415-45954-9. 
• Barnett, Hilaire (2008-07-21). Constitutional & Administrative Law. London: Routledge-Cavendish. ISBN 978-0-415-45829-0. 

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