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English law
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Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

English law is the legal system of England and Wales,[l] and is the basis of common law[2]~s..used inmost Co~ountries[3] andthe United States~ Louisianal'aSop~ivillaw or pluralist systems in use :11 other countries). It was exported to Commonwealth countries while the British Empire was established and maintained, and it forms the basis of the jurisprudence of most of those countries. English law prior to the American Revolution is still part of the law of the United States through reception statutes, except in Louisiana, and provides the basis for many American legal traditions and policies, though it has no superseding jurisdiction. English law in its . test sense applies within the iurisdiction of England and Wales. llisrWales now has a devolved Assembly, any legislation which that Assembly enacts is enacted in particular circumscribed policy areas defmed 2006, other legislation of the Parliament ofthe United Kingdom, authority of the 2006 Act. Furthermore that legislation is, as with within England and Wales, interpreted by the undivided judiciary

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

by the Government of Wales Act or by orders in council given under the any by-law made by any other body of England and Wales.[4]

The essence of English common law is that it is made by judges sitting in courts, applying their common sense and knowledge oflegal precedent (stare decisis) to the facts before them. A decision of the highest appeal court in England an1 Wales, the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom, is binding on every other court in th(erarchYJ and they will follow its directions. ~ample, there is no statute making murder illegal. [citatIOn needed! It is a common law crime - so although there is no written Act of Parliament making mur er illegal, it is ille a y virtue of the constitutiona au onty onhe courts an .their previous decision~. Common-law can e amended or repea e - y ar rament; murder, by way of exa~ mandatory life sentence today, but had previously allowed the death penalty. E?-gland and Wales are constituent countries of the United Kin~~~ of the Euro~ean Union. Hence, EU law is a part of English law. The Europearr'Hni s s mai fOf -Couri\es wlifcll use CIVIl law and so tlie civittaw-system is also in England in this form. The European Court of Justice can direct English and Welsh courts on the meaning of areas of law in which the EU has passed legislation. The oldest written law currently in force is the Distress Actl...partof the Statute of Marlborough, 126 (52 Hen. 3).5] Three see iOilsofMagna Carta, orig~ally signed in 1215 and a landmark in t e development ofEllgnsn a~ are ex t but arguably t ey a e to the consolidation of the c m "297.

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Contents

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1England and Wales as a distinct jurisdiction

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1.1 Wales 2 Statutory law 2.1 Statutory framework 2.2 Citation style 3 Common law 3.1 Precedent 3.2 Overseas influences 4 Subjects and links 4.1 Criminal law 4.2 Constitutional law 4.3 Administrative law 4.4 Family law 4.5 Tort 4.6 Contract 4.7 Property 4.8 Trusts 4.9 Labour law 4.10 Evidence 4.11 Miscellaneous 5 See also 6 Notes 7 References

England and Wales as a distinct jurisdiction

The United Kingdom is a state consisting of several legal jurisdictions: (a) England and Wales, (b) Scotfarur and (c) Northern Ireland. The formed s ~urisdiction ofWa es was a sorbed mfO-;. Englan e II u~ By the Act of Union, 1707 Scotland retained an in ependent c urdrand judiciary. Ireland lost its mdependent parliament later than Scotland but its established Anglican church was historically an archbishopric of the Church of England headed by the king or queen and deferring to the Archbishop of Canterbury; for the most part the legal system is separate from that of England and Wales. The legal system ofIreland is completely separate from that of the Ll.K, now, but that of Northern Ireland retains some links from the Imperial past, inasmuch as it is based on the medieval English common law system, there are many English statutes from the time of Poynings' Law on that apply in Northern Ireland and there is an appeal to the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom from the Court of Appeal of Northern Ireland. "The civilized portion of the earth is divided up into certain units of territory in each of which a particular law proper to that territory alone prevails, and that territory is for legal purposes a unit." " 2.2. What Determines the State. - It has been seen that the existence of separate legal units within the dominions of a single sovereign is a fact, the result of historical accidents ... when Hawaii was annexed to the United States it remained a separate legal unit. Statehood is also defined in public international law by the Montevideo Convention, which refers to the following criteria as necessary to establish true statehood: (a) a permanent population; (b) a defined territory; (c) government; and (d) capacity to enter into relations with the other states.

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Some jurisdictions such as Australia use the term "law unit" and some authors use the word "country", :'elieving that these words are less confusing than the use of the word "state". The majority view is that .,state" is the best term. Hence, for Conflict purposes, England and Wales constitute a single state. This is important for a number of reasons, one of the more significant being 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 i a sm state or t e !!!poses 0 the omp es-Acl-1-98-~aditi(')nalty-atttJ.:i(;)l:S..r.eferrs.r::I-trr11ii', legal unit or state of England and Wales as ng anQ,atffioug m recent decades this usage has increasingly become politically and culturally unacceptable.

Wales
See also: Contemporary Welsh Law 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,[6](see below) as may be seen by looking at the applicable law section of most commercial agreements from these countries. Before, from 17461967 this was not necessary (see below) but may have been done quite often nonetheless.

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Statutory law
Statutory framework
The first schedule of the Interpretation Act 1978, defmes the following terms: "British Islands", "England", and "United Kingdom". The use ofthe 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

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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 ofthe 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 (with Wales) and Scotland including its adjacent territorial waters and .he islands of Orkney and Shetland, the Hebrides, and Rockall (by virtue of the Island of Rockall Act :972). The "United Kingdom" means Great Britain and Northern Ireland and their adjacent territorial ',aters. It ~oes not include t~~ nor t~ Channel Islands, whose independent status .was .iiscussed ill Rover Internationa fd. v Canon Film a es ta. - 7) 1 WLR 1597 and Chloride 'ndustrial 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.

Citation style
Main article: Short title <tatutory law is referred to as "Title of Act Year" ,[7] where the title is the "short title", and ends in "Act", ,5 in "Interpretation Act 1978". Compare with American convention, which includes "of", as in "Civil :>JghtsAct of 1964" . -:-hisbecame the usual way to refer to Acts in the second half of the 19th century, starting in the 1840s; ~~eviously Acts were referred to by their long title together with the regnal year of the parliamentary -ession in which they received Royal Assent, and the chapter number. For example, the Pleading in ::: glish Act 1362 was referred to as 36 Edw. III c. 15, meaning "36th year of the reign of Edward III, n .napter 15", though in the past this was all spelt out, together with the long title.

Common law
-ince 1189, English law has been described as a common law rather than a civil law system (i.e. there .as been no major codification of the law, and judicial precedents are binding as opposed to persuasive). -:-hismay have been due to the Norman conquest of England, which introduced a number of legal .oncepts and institutions from Norman law into the English system. In the early centuries of English .ornmon law, the justices and judges were responsible for adapting the Writ system to meet everyday ,ceds, applying a mixture of precedent and common sense to build up a body of internally consistent 2W, e.g. the Law Merchant began in the Pie-Powder Courts (a corruption of the French "pieds-poudres'' ::-"dusty feet", meaning ad hoc marketplace courts). As Parliament developed in strength legislation .radually overtook judicial law making.so.that, today, 'ud es are onl able to innovate in certain very -,3.ITowly defined areas. Time before 1189 wasdetlned in 1276 as being time immemorial.

Precedent

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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 ositio~y by virtue of their rank In SOCIe. us, a standar ise proce ure slowty-em6f.ge based on a system terme stare decisis. Thus, the ratio decidendi of each case will bind future cases on theS3.iiiegenenc set offacts both or ontally and vertically. 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.Britisl; withdrew or granted independence to former dominions., n lish la rior 0 the Wars of c-Tna~. still an influence on United States law, and provides asis y Amencan egal traditions an po ICIes. Many states t a 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 lawOf England as tnerr subject, of course, to statutory mod~ctahevtston-ana eciSlOns om the Eng IS niue to e cited from time to time as persuasive authority in present day judicial opinions.

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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 !@din nation igternillionJlL--, consistency of decision making is of vital im ortance, so the Admiralty is strongly influenced by Public International Law and the modem comriiercial treaties and -conven 1uns--regUlafii 6smP ~ng. - -

-and links Subjects

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C riminallaw
Main article: English criminal law Enzli --" - aw derives its main principles from the common law. (he main elements of a crime are t, e actus 1:. .s:.~metliinKWlIic is criminaIIfR!Olii15ired) arrd/a 11}ens rea (having th~1"e uisite crimina -:-inind usuall intenti n or recklessIress -: A-prosecutor must show that a person has ,:-aused1:lieOffenslve 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 :nanslaughter, 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, invitation, 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.
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Constitutional law
Fundamental Laws of England Rights of Englishmen Constitution of the United Kingdom

Administrative law
Main article: English administrative law

Family law
Main article: Family law system in England and Wales Alimony Residence in English family law Bastard

Tort
Main article: English tort law

Contract
Main article: English contract law

Property
Main article: English property law Chose

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Trusts
Main article: Trust law in England and Wales

Labour law
Main article: British labour law

Evidence
Hearsay Ladd v Marshall

Miscellaneous
Alcohol licensing laws of the United Kingdom

See also
Commonlaw Leading cases in English law Law Commission (England and Wales) Scots law Welsh law Contemporary Welsh law (New powers for the Welsh Assembly) Constitutional status of Cornwall

Notes
1.
A Jurisdiction Of Courts In England And Wales And Their Recognition Of Foreign Insolvency Proceedings (http://www.insolvency.gov. ukifreedomofinfonnationitechnicallTechnicaIManual/Ch4960/Chapter52/partllpart _l.htm) A http://dictionary.law.comldefinition2.asp?selected=248 A The Common Law in the British Empire (http://www.hnet.msu.edu/-law/ ASLHlconferences/2000conferencell 0 1900345b.htm) A "Website of the government in Wales" (http://new. wales.gov. uklabout/constitutional/govwalesact2006Ibrieflegcomp?lang=en) . http://new. wales.gov. uklabout/constitutional/ govwalesact2006Ibrieflegcomp?lang=en. Retrieved 2008-04-15. A Legal oddities (http://www.davros.org/legal/oddities.html) A "Notaries in England & Wales - a comeback?; Footnote 1" (http://www.notaries.org.uklpage32/page108/pagel08.html) . www.notaries.org. http://www .notaries.org. uklpage32/page 108/page 108.html. Retrieved 2009-01-13. A There was originally a comma after the name of the Act, as is usual to separate a qualifier, but this has been dropped, yielding the more abrupt current form.

2. 3. 4.

5. 6.

7.

References
Beale, Joseph H. (1935) A Treatise on the Conflict a/Laws. ISBN ISBN 1-58477-425-8

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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: RoutledgeCavendish. ISBN 978-0-415-45954-9. Barnett, Hilaire (2008-07-21). Constitutional & Administrative Law. London: RoutledgeCavendish. ISBN 978-0-415-45829-0. ?etrieved from ''http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=English_law&oldid=472574810" .ntegories: English law: Legal codes

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