Business Law Assignment

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Business Law Assignment

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Part 1a
The English legal system I commonly is known as the English common law. These are the laws
prevalent in England. From these laws, various other legal systems of different countries have
been derived from (Gillespie, 2013). They are authoritative by nature. The citizens of England
are bound by the laws of the country. They have to be abide by the laws under their common
law, legal system. In case there are violations of the conditions of law, they would be exposed to
different kinds of punishments depending upon their acts. The key elements of the structure of
the English common law system means and includes: all these laws and regulation are created by
the parliament and the legislative organ of the government of England. Apart from the laws,
there are regulations and by laws. There plenty of acts enforced under the English legal system
regarding the different fields of occurrences that take place in the lives of the people. The laws of
the common law have also been derived from judicial precedents, customs, usages, norms and
traditions, some laws are derived from the principles of natural justice, equity and good
conscience (Cownie, Brandney & Burton, 2013). There are two most important branches of the
English legal system. They are: Civil laws and Criminal Laws.
The first and the foremost branch of the English legal system includes the civil laws. It is often to
as a non criminal law in the countries of United States of America, Pakistan, England and Wales.
The law relating to the civil aspects is different from the criminal law from many respects. The
civil law basically deals with the civil matters of the society. The civil law is further divided into
many branches. Some of these branches include income tax, property, contracts, torts, personal
laws, laws relating to business and companies, legal methods, administrative law, laws relating
to lands and acquisition etc. most of the civil laws are not codified. But there are many laws
which are codified as well. Most of the civil laws are determined from the age old customs and
usages and the judicial precedents. Crimes are not included under the branch of civil law. In case
of violation of the rules of the civil laws, the punishment is given by the courts in the form of
compensation, damages, fines, specific reliefs and the like (Jackson & Summers, 2012).
The laws relating to quasi contracts are inclusive under the civil law. The branch of civil law can
be further divided into substantive and the procedural or Adjective laws. The primary purpose of
the laws of civil nature is to understand the rights and duties of the persons towards each other as
well as towards the society. Under the various punishments of the civil law granted by the

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violation of the civil, there can be exemplary, nominal, compensatory or punitive damages
depending upon the act of the people. Under the English legal system, the burden of proof is
always upon the parties who bring the case to the court. It is some upon the party who is
aggrieved, to prove to the court that he has been aggrieved (Reinach & Crosby, 2013). The trial
further proceeds with the witness and evidences brought by the parties. The burden of proof is
upon the balance of probabilities. It shifts under the civil law. The parties under a civil suit are
commonly known as the plaintiff and the defendant. Under civil wrongs, there are several
exceptions, which act as defence for the defendant parties. The act of God (vis major), plaintiff
the wrongdoer (Volunti non fit injuria), act of necessity, actions undertaken by the statutes,
private defence are the instances of the general defences under civil law. The important cases
which are very in the civil branch of the English legal system includes, Donoghue v Stevenson,
Derry v Peek, Rylands v Fletcher, Ashby v White etc. thus, the civil law under the English legal
system consists of various important elements which are essential for the smooth functioning of
the society. Crimes do not happen every day. But all the people in the society across the globe
are engaged with civil matters all the time. The civil law is that branch of law which provides the
rule and regulations which required is the day to day lifestyle of the people (Zuckerman, 2013).
The second branch of the English legal system includes the criminal law. The criminal law deals
with the crimes and the worse situations which take place in the society. Crime can be defined as
the wrongs which are committed against the persons in the society. The aggrieved party suffers
to a greater extent when compared with the wrongs of the civil law. The suffering can extend to
the causing death of the parties. The crimes are caused not to the aggrieved persons alone but to
family and relatives. The also suffer for the loss. Thus, crimes are always committed against the
society (Cassese, Acquaviva, Fan & Whiting, 2011). Consequently, the punishments are also
greater. The punishments under the criminal law includes imprisonment and imposition of fine
together, solitary confinement, death penalty or capital punishment. The burden of proof under
the criminal laws under the English legal system is always upon the parties who brings the case
to the court. Such a person is called the prosecution. The burden of proof is always upon the
prosecution to prove the case. It ne never shifts. It is upon the prosecution to proved the guilt of
the accused beyond reasonable doubts and not only upon the balance of probabilities. In case the
prosecution fails to do this, the accused would not be convicted (Halder, Jaishankar &
Jaishankar, 2012). This principle is based upon the adversarial culture. The criminal

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jurisprudence under the English common law believes in the adversarial system of law. This
means that no person can be presumed to be guilty unless proven guilty. The English legal
system provides the accused with the fair chance of defending himself at all times during the
trial. He cannot be convicted of any offence unless he is proven guilty beyond reasonable doubts.
The criminal law under the English common law is more complicated upon its comparison with
civil law. There are various kinds of trials of the different offences ranging from the most t
serious to the petty offences. There are warrant trials, summons trial, summary trial and the
sessions trial. Some of the civil wrongs are also included in the arena of the criminal judicature.
The civil wrongs which affect the society at large are included. Some of them are public
nuisances, wrongful confinement, negligence etc. The evidence act comprises the rules for both
civil and criminal laws. For the existence of crime, there should be the existence of mensrea, that
is, guilty mind (Carson, 2018). Unless there is the presence of the guilty mind the act of the
parties cannot be considered as crime. There are various defences available at the criminal
judicature, they include doli incapax (a child below 7 years of age cannot commit a crime). Jus
necessitus (necessity), accidents, private defence, acts justified by law etc. in order to keep the
society safe and happy, the crimes have to be stopped and the offenders have to punished to
create an example in the society that the consequence of a crime can be dreadful. Important case
laws include Dudley v Stephens, Naz foundation case etc.
Thus, the above were the major branches of law under the English legal system.
The Alternative Dispute Resolution is commonly abbreviated as ADR. It is the process of the
resolving the disputes which has arisen between the parties in a different way. These conflicts are
resolved through other authoritative bodies other than courts. Under this method, the conflicting
parties come to a mid way decision either through a mild litigation process or through
agreements and settlements (Hollander-Blumoff & Tyler, 2011). In this way, the conflicts
between them are resolved and the courts are also not involved. Thus, the parties who were under
disagreement before, come under an agreement with the id of the third parties. The main purpose
of the introduction of the Alternative dispute resolution is to reduce the burden of cases which
are pending the court. The less serious offences and issues are included under the arena of the
external dispute resolution. The more serious offences remain with the courts to be adjudicated.
The chief purpose of the Alternative dispute resolution is to provide speedier justice to the