Types of law and legislation

Question 1

Define public law

Answer 1

Public law involves the relationship between an individual and the state. It includes criminal law, constitutional law and administrive law

Question 2

Define private law

Answer 2

Private law involves the rights and duties between two individuals. It includes civil law, contract law, tort law and property law

Question 3

What is criminal law and what is its verdicts?

Answer 3

Criminal law covers crimes against the state and involves a defendant and prosecutor. The prosecutor must prove the facts beyond a reasonable doubt. Results in a guilty or not guilty verdict

Question 3

What is criminal law and what is its verdicts?

Answer 3

Criminal law covers crimes against the state and involves a defendant and prosecutor. The prosecutor must prove the facts beyond a reasonable doubt. Results in a guilty or not guilty verdict

Question 4

What is civil law and what are its verdicts?

Answer 4

Aggrieved person (the claimant) commences court action and the other party is the defendant. Claimant must prove their case on the balance of probabilities. Compensation or remedy is provided to9 the claimant if they win the case

Question 5

What are the types of legislations and describe them

Answer 5

Primary legislation: law created by the acts of the parliament
Secondary legislation: The parliament delegates power (via acts) to create detailed law to government departments, local authorities etc. These include by-laws and orders in council
Control exists through scrutiny by standing committee, debates in parliament and through the courts

Question 6

What are the stages of primary legislation?

Answer 6

First reading - bill is read in the HoC
Second reading- principles of bill debated in the house
MPs take vote on whether it should pass onto the next stage
Committee stage: bill examined and discussed in more detail in the HoC committee
Amendments to the bill are proposed and drafted
Report stage: committee reports back to the House, any amendments debated and voted open
Third reading: Bill represented in the house. Final votes taken
The HoL then take over and go through a similar process
If HoL amends bill, it has to go back to HoC
Royal assent: Sent from HoC, the monarch must agree and sign the bill
The bill can come into effect then or later, it is now a law

Question 7

Advantages and disadvantages od delegating legislation

Answer 7

Advantages:
saves parliament time
More efficient than the parliament process
Easier to ammend/appeal
Experts can be used when very technical details are required
Disadvantages:
Parliament is no longer in direct control of all legislation
Insufficient time given to consider issues
Excessive legislation may be passed (makes things confusing, do laws align with each other?)
May not be adequately published without parliament involvement

Question 8

What is case law?

Answer 8

case law = common law
Law produced by decisions made by judges and the higher courts
Development and application of existing principles by law being applied to cases
Case law cannot be relied on for the development of new laws

Question 9

What is judicial law?

Answer 9

When a judge determines a case, they examine how judges have previously dealt with similar cases
If the same legal principles are relevant, the judge can apply these principles (or develop them further)
Judges may determine the facts are too different from earlier cases so precedent does not apply
Case law is older than legislation

Question 10

Advantages and disadvantages of judicial precedent

Answer 10

Advantages:
Consistency and certainty
Efficiency and time saving
precision due to further developments
Flexibility
Disadvantages:
Rigidity
Uncertainty
Complexity and number of cases
Slow development of law

Question 11

Four rules around custom law

Answer 11

1. Minor source of law
2. Cannot be contrary to act of parliament
3. local/trade customs must be exercised openly & peacefully without need to further permission
4. Outdated parliament

Question 12

What is the English court system?

Answer 12

Magistrates’ court - deal with criminal cases (max sentence of 6 months)
Crown court - serious crimes
County court - civil cases with max £100k claim
High court - Deals with serious civil cases. The three divisions are family division, queen’s bench (contract and tort cases), chancery division (finance, company law etc)
Court of appeal - separate civil and criminal divisions, appeals can only happen with compelling reasons (eg new evidence)
Supreme courts - highest appeal courts, usually come from court of appeal