UK Legal System: An Empirical Study

This assignment requires a detailed empirical study of the UK legal system. Students will examine various areas of law, including business law, insolvency procedures (like compulsory liquidation), and employee rights related to dismissal and redundancy. The study should draw upon relevant case law, legislation, and scholarly sources to provide a comprehensive understanding of these legal aspects within the UK context.

Business law
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................3
A. Parliament sovereignty and sources of laws in UK................................................................3
Sources of UK Law: ....................................................................................................................4
B. Role of UK government in making laws and application of statutory and common laws in
justice courts................................................................................................................................5
Task 2...............................................................................................................................................7
Impact of various regulation on business ....................................................................................7
SECTION 2......................................................................................................................................9
a) Appropriate legal advice based on case law or statutes...........................................................9
B) Alternative legal solution based on a....................................................................................11
different legal framework.........................................................................................................11
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................13
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................14
...................................................................................................................................................16
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INTRODUCTION
Business laws are defined as set of legal regulations which governs the deals or business
interactions between communities. These business laws are also known as commercial or
mercantile laws. Business laws regulates the commercial entities with the implementation of
partnership laws, contract laws and all regulations related to stakeholders of business. Before
establishment of the business, organisations must consider the related legal aspects. The failure
to compliance with these legal laws can lead to legal troubles which can not only lead to
financial penalties but can also damage the success of the business (Arrowsmith and Craven,
2016).
The report will consider the impact of legal systems on operational activities of business.
It will describe the role of UK government in formulating business laws. It will also describe
various sources which enforces the implementation of these business laws. By using the case
study of JPM the report will analyse the impact of business regulations such as health and safety,
equality and data privacy regulations. The report will also explain the various aspects of some of
the most common business regulations such as winding up petition and contract laws. The report
will evaluate the alternative legal business solutions for the given case scenarios.
TASK 1
A. Parliament sovereignty and sources of laws in UK
The regularity of legislative programs by speech of Queen every year demonstrates the
message that in UK parliament is sovereign. The given statement depicts the same meaning
reflecting that UK is affirmed in the development of its parliamentary sovereignty. According to
this principle the parliament of UK is considered as the highest legal authority. The parliament
has the right to amend, implement or abolish any law. With development and growth UK
government has also passed various laws which limits the sovereignty of the parliament. These
laws include human right act 1998, establishment of supreme court and participating decision in
European union (Barkan, Bintliff and Whisner, 2015).
The laws passed by the parliament cannot be blocked from implementation by the
judicial bodies. The parliament sovereignty law was framed in the law of constitution.
Parliament of UK ensures that jurisdiction cannot challenge the parliamentary decisions but
parliament must formulate laws which may not bind or restrict the future sessions of the
parliament. Another important factor which limits the power of European parliament is European
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union. Eu laws also consider the human rights as the basis for business laws because it aims at
welfare of all participating members. Being a part of the European union, UK has to follow its
regulations and its laws holds superiority over the parliamentary laws.
Sources of UK Law:
Parliament:
The supreme and major authority which is responsible for making laws is parliament of
UK. The parliament can propose the laws by act of parliament or the primary legislations. When
House of Lords and House of commons of UK parliament approve the proposed draft or bill then
it can be formulated further as an act. The implemented act is responsible to create a new law or
to modify any existing law. Along with the confirmation and approval from both the House of
Common and Lords it is also essential as per constitution that monarch must also provide royal
assent to the bill (Epstein, 2017). Only then a law can be imposed. It is the responsibility of the
UK government to bring laws. The parliament has the authority to impose law with immediate
effect or either law can come into force from any specific date in the future. When a bill is
approved it is read several times in both the houses so that necessary amendments can be made
by concluding its pros and cons. This is achieved by discussions in various sessions of the
houses.
European union:
The European union (EU) comprises several judicial bodies such as court of justice and
first instance and tribunal of civil services. UK is bounded with legal regulations and treaties
implemented by EU. There are binding agreements formulated by EU for its member countries.
These agreements are based on objectives and decision making approach of European union. The
foundation of EU laws is not only dependent of United Kingdom rather they are dependent on
various treaties like TFEU and Fundamental Rights charter of EU. They also depend on
international agreements which influences EU as well as general regulations followed by UK. As
a member of European union UK has to follow and implement these laws. These laws cannot be
modified by parliament of UK.
Precedents by judicial bodies:
The fundamental source of UK law is the precedents made by the judges. The
judgemental decision of judicial authorities are published in law reports. These reports consist of
complete details of judgement criteria, case summary and all associated facts related to the case.
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According to the doctrine of precedents made by judges, the judgements can be used as a base
for making future decisions in cases. The judicial authorities have the rights to propose or
formulate laws but they do not have the authority to challenge the laws made by the parliament.
Precedents are used as sources of laws when similar cases are repeating and thus it requires to
have a common and strict legal framework for resolving similar issues in future as well.
Formation of laws in UK: When the members of parliament feels the need of any law they make
a proposal for the same. This proposal is known as the bill. For making laws with mutual
agreement it is read in House of Lords or House of Common. Usually the general laws for public
such as taxation laws are first read in Common house. After reading the MPs make discussions
that whether it should be proceeded further or not. If it requires any amendment then they are
added to the draft or bill. After modifications it undergoes into iterative readings so that the final
structure can be made with consent of majority of parliament members. When the bill is
approved by both of the houses then it is required to be approved by Royal consent. The bill can
be transformed into law only after their approval.
B. Role of UK government in making laws and application of statutory and common laws in
justice courts
The role of government is very vital in formulation of laws. This is because, parliaments
consider three core actions such as represent citizen interest, pass laws and monitor actions. They
all perform legislative functions in addition to introduce own interest. It includes power to amend
and approve reject draft laws. There are different parties included that engaged in law making
process. It varies and depends on its origin from the British system. Administration branches of
government develop main role in parliament review. In presidential system, house of parliament
consider introduction of the government which helps to approve common peers performances
and go through similar process in house.
In the law making, simple read in the chamber made available to all members of
parliament. Government considers different activities as law that assists to perform new activities
results from proposal made by the government. As per proposal, aim must be completed to create
ordered structure in society and to address specific problems. The agenda of the government is
informed with assembly election so that ruling and opposition parties can obtain support from
prime voters. Joint version of upcoming parliament with government (Haigh, 2018). Other
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events also influences which compete to take proper attention in significant manner. In the
European work performances, it can be stated that special interest of group must solve problems
and issues to inform and influence with political agenda. Another role played by government is
consider ideas for addressing issues exist in UK. This is because, government take interaction
with intention for government proposal and aim to persuade colleagues to support with ideas. As
per the approval of cabinet committee, proposal must be taken with legislations and final
decision that presented in parliament for MPs peers and functions.
Common and statutory laws:
There are various laws which are developed on the basis of precedents made by judges of
judicial bodies. During judgements the judges can refer the cases with similar facts and
summary for making the final decisions. If the case has any special circumstances then judges
have the authority to pass it as standard case and to make it as new legal regulations.
This approach helps the judicial authorities to develop a standard law which can be used in future
for dealing with all such similar cases and judges does not require analysing the similar cases
again and again for their reference. Common law is also known as case law. The justice courts
can implement these common laws in two different manner. The judgements can be directly
formulated as laws in the absence of statutes. It is also possible that judicial courts provides their
interpretation on existing legal regulations (Hedley, 2017). On the basis of their interpretation
they can propose the amendments in its extent or redefine its structure. However, such
implementation of common law essentially requires the approval of parliament.
The judicial bodies do not make all the decisions on the basis of precedents only. There
are laws which are framed by the UK government. These laws are known as the statutory laws.
It is the responsibility of the judges that their decisions are in compliance with the existing laws.
Statutory laws are framed for addressing the entire nation and citizens and are in general context.
The judicial courts consider these regulations as the basis for their judgements. These laws serve
as the base for making judgements. The case laws are developed on the basis of certain cases
instead of generalised policies. But they have the possibilities of occurrence in future again and
thus the common law can serve as the base for resolving those issues. Judges need to ensure that
their decisions are not in contrast with the decisions made by other judicial bodies in the past for
similar context cases. The statutory and common laws are served as the fundamental blocks in
making judgements in judicial courts. The judges of these courts consider the statutory laws
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formed by parliament. On the basis of these laws they decide the code of conduct for the citizens.
However, in certain instances when they face difficulty in passing judgements then they can refer
previous cases. The precedents from other judicial authorities can assist them to concluded
relevant facts.
Task 2
Impact of various regulation on business
At the time of carrying out any business it is important that its functions work smoothly
and in an effective manner. It is a important to implement different types of laws that help in
carrying out business functions in an effective manner. According to the given case, JPM is
operating its business at small scale which is opened by three friends. After operating it
successfully for last few years their accountant advice to adopt some rules and regulation so that
business can be operated successfully. Here below are provided some impacts of different
regulations after implementing certain laws.
Implications and impacts of Health and Safety Regulations
The major reason for implementing it is that make sure that all their employees work in healthy
and safety environment. It is essential for any firm that they carry out their business in safe and
healthy environment so that employees can work freely. There are few laws related to it which
are provide below:
 The Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992
As per the act there are different regulation which are made mandatory by the JPM
publishing for ensuring the suitable working condition for its employees. It includes
▪ Suitable and comfortable light and ventilation services at the company and keep
them update and clean.
▪ Providing appropriate staff facilities such as washing, toilet and refreshment.
▪ Furthermore, providing safe passage to employees so that chances of tripping
hazard and slipping can be avoided at the workplace.
 The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999
This management regulation enables firms to play following roles and responsibilities:
Assessment of factors which affects the performances must be carried out so that
employees can work in healthy environment and risk free.
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 Head of employee can be appointed who can look over the maintenance of workplace in
order to ensure healthy and safety working environment (What are the main health and
safety regulations, 2017).
.
Training and development facility can be provided to employees so that they can easily
handle risky equipment while working.
At last healthy and safety written policy should be keep for employees within the
company.
After implementing these laws JPM company can easily show its responsibilities and
ensure all its employees are working in healthy and safety environment.
Implications and impacts of Equal Opportunities Regulations
These all regulations are very effective for staff members of the company who lead to
work within the firm in order to gain equal opportunities. Different laws in relation to maintain
equal opportunity at the workplace are as follows:
 Equal Pay Act of 1963: As per the act it is important for the firm to pay equally to both
men and women as per their job position (Regulations, Guidance and Policy, 2018).
Equal work is known the jobs which are being compared in related to equal working
hour, skills etc. this help in providing better opportunity in their career and preforming
effective working environment.
 Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) of 1967
As per the act it leads to forbid employment discrimination between employees in
relation to age, gender etc. Employees belong to different gender or age should be
provide same facilities without making any discrimination.
Though applying this act JPM can easily maintain effective working environment within
the firm. Along with this it also helps in motivating employees to work hard for the firm
without feeling treated as biased.
Other then this regulation there are different laws and legislation which can be
adopted by the cited firm such as Disabilities Act of 1990. as per the act company can
provide opportunity to its disable people to work within their firm. It will help in
increasing their confidence to earn self respect. At the workplace discrimination can be
occurred because of different ways that are direct and indirect discrimination, harassment
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etc. Thus, applying this rules and regulation company can easily maintain their duty and
improve reputation of the firm. so company should understand this all laws and
legislation.
Implications and impacts of General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)
It is a regulation which is effective for JPM publishing, follow this legal aspect in their
system in order to enhance quality of services (Employee dismissal and redundancy rights,
2016). It will assist in keeping all the company information and data safely. Further it avoids
chances of bearing the data and to be misused by others. Further, the general data protection
regulation (GDPR) is famous and powerful law in EU law that can help in protecting data and
privacy for all the workers who are working in the EU. Moreover, it will also help them at the
work place to export all their personal information to EU and EEA. Therefore, this regulation
assists in controlling to the staff members and protect their personal data for making their safety
and in the workplace.
Through implication of this law within JPM publishing can assist in enhancing their
safety measures which is beneficial for their firm. this all regulations are effective enough
within the firm so that strong and trustworthy relationship can be maintain between employer
and worker A Definition of GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation), 2017).
SECTION 2
a) Appropriate legal advice based on case law or statutes
CASE 1
i) Legal advice to Champion Ltd
According to the above described scenario of Champion Ltd. which is a London based
company it is identified that they have invested some amount of money from North London so
that they can develop a new stadium (How does the winding up petition process work?, 2018).
Further it is identified that they have been facing lots of difficulties because of financial crisis
when they shift their busines because of fall in customer rate. they also been defaulted at
different occasion because of not able to make payment to bank loan amount. There interest rate
increases which led to lead to create the worst situation in which their creditors are threating to
sue them in court for winding up a petition against the company.
As per laws and legislation it is legal step that creditors have right to demand for winding up
company. With reference of case law of Mann v Goldstein [1968] 1 WLR 1091 It is legal that
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creditors in law to sue in court for winding up because company own money from them.
According to the law if company take loan of £750 or more than creditors can issue petition in
court against the firm. Court should support the creditors. It is also adversities in the Gazette
after a fixed period. In the provide case company is in fault and creditors have right to sue for
compensation (Hudson, 2013)..
In order to avoid such circumstance company adopted the process of liquidating their business.
Company liquidation is known as the process in which company who want to wind up can sell
all their business assets in order to make payment to creditors. This liquidation process can be
started by owner or by creditors after taking permission from court (Kimble, 2012)..
 Creditor Voluntary Liquidation (CVL): It is known as the procedure which is chosen
by the organisation or its directors to shut the firm. It is known as right choice because it
will help then to get a good debt from their assets (Company Liquidation Types, 2014).
Through taking this action all the legal action taken by court can be stopped if company
choose this method for liquidation.
Following this there are some steps of creditors related to the voluntary liquidation process for
company which can be preferred for crooking up the business.
 An insolvency practitioner which can be appointed by the firm as their liquidator
 After measuring the assets company can pay to their creditors.
 After this, all the surplus cash can be paid to creditor.
 AT last step company will dissolve and the close all their business activities on
permanent bases.
 Compulsory Liquidation:
It is method which is carried out by court as initiated for liquidating the firm
(Compulsory liquidation: a quick guide, 2018). It will start through applying petition by the
creditors against the firm to sell all their assets and to realise and distribute to firm. As per the act
of Insolvency Act, 1986 and The Insolvency Rule, 2016. this act can be adopted for liquidation
of the firm.
CASE 2
ii) Legal advice to Amber Ltd.
In accordance with the case study, it is found that CFO of Amber Ltd, Mr. Anderson was
responsible of managing financial operations of the organisation. He had an accessibility to all
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the sensitive and confidential information of the company. As per the described case, this was
found that at the time of appointment, Mr. Anderson was made to sign a contract of
employment. As per the employment contract of firm it was mandatory for him to serve 12
month notice before leaving the company. On proposal from one of the strongest competitor of
the firm Mr. Anderson accepted his proposal without letting Amber Ltd (Burling, Burling, and
Lazarus, 2012). Instead of serving for 12 months so that he could not use sensitive information
of Amber illegally Mr. Anderson served for duration of one month only.
In this context, contract breach is analysed as situation that when the parties in the contract fails
to complete their legal obligation. It is also considered as legal situation that confirms the
disputant parties to provide remedy against damages. Breach of contract is also analysed as
situation which is occurred in this case as organisation tends to create major impact on business
operations (Kimble, 2012). In reference to the case law Farley v Skinner [2001] UKHL 49 in
present case, it can be said that the party Anderson has not fulfilled the terms and condition of
contract which makes them liable to provide damages which are faced by Amber Ltd. Although,
company can adopt various legal procedure to continuation of contract. However, Injuction is
analysed as legal remedy which enable the organisation to sustain or stop the action of party
from performing another contract. Thus, Amber Ltd has the legal authority to file injuction
against its CEO. There are various kinds of injuction which can be adopted by organisation to
stop the action. Company can claim damages from party which are faced by them if it is
decided by court that the Anderson has not fulfilled the terms and condition of contract. It is
also suggested to parties that they can also adopt alternative dispute resolution strategies for
resolving dispute.
B) Alternative legal solution based on a
different legal framework
Cases and legal issues which will be resolved by the legal authorities with consideration
all the norms, laws, acts and regulations, but out of the court premises is known as Alternative
dispute resolution. It is the most adequate and helpful techniques for bringing the legal advices to
the parties which are affected in the business (Glover and Doss, 2017). It aims at bringing the
mutual solution which bounds the parties on agreeing on a similar solution.
Considering the case where Anderson was serving the industry Amber Ltd on which the
contractual agreement made between them for serving 12 months of notice period. Thus,
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Anderson has refuses to serve it and which results in breach of the contract. However, two
techniques will be suggested here such as “Mediation” and “Arbitration” (Hudson, 2013).
Ascertaining the process of resolving issues with considering the Mediation process there will be
suitable suggested facilitated among the parties who are involved with this case thus, Anderson
and his employers has to agreeing on the one point that whether Anderson will serve 12 months
in organization else he makes payments on the penalties. Moreover, considering the legal norms
and regulations which are incorporated with this process there will suitable suggestions
facilitated among parties.
Mediation is analysed as important procedures in which parties will be able to resolve their
disputes by appointing a third party which provides them suggestions. Mediator helps parties to
resolve disputes after analysing the fact or terms and condition of contract. In this context,
Amber Ltd and Mr. Anderson can also appoint a mediator between them to resolve dispute.
In this case scenario, it was the legal obligation of Mr. Anderson that they need to serve the
notice period of 12 months before leaving the job of CFO. However, it is a fact that a person
cannot enter in to another contract if he is not discharge from previous contract of employment.
Contract act applies with this scenario, which clearly determine that Mr. Anderson cannot enter
in to employment contract with Beta Ltd because it is not discharged with the contract of
employment with the Amber Ltd.
Apart from this, Arbitration is analysed as alternative legal solution for organisation
which they can adopt for resolution of dispute. This involves intervention of third party which
is considered as Arbitrator. However, It is considered as independent party that helps in
resolving dispute between parties. An Arbitrator can be appointed by parties with mutual
discussion or it can be suggested by courts such as Solicitors, labour officer etc. In this case,
parties in contract can also appoint Arbitrator for resolving disputes . It is a responsible party that
consider the view points of both the party and provide decision on the basis of facts or analysis
of terms and conditions under contract. The legal systems of various countries has variations.
The different legal framework of nations makes differences in code of conduct. For example
according to UK Law the employer cannot terminate its employee without justification whereas
on the other hand in United States of America there is no need to give valid reason to terminate
any employee. In the given case study If Amber Ltd requires terminating Mr. Anderson then it
will require justifying its action. However, in USA this code of conduct will not be considered as
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breach of contract. The case study of Champion Ltd is advised to undergo liquidation as per UK
Law but according to USA credit terms the liquidation is not considered as final method rather it
provides more flexibility in credit related terms and conflicts.
Conclusion
From the above report it is concluded that The regularity of legislative programs by
speech of Queen every year demonstrates the message that in UK parliament is sovereign. The
laws passed by the parliament cannot be blocked from implementation by the judicial bodies.
Further it is concluded that, as per the equality act it is important for the firm to pay equally to
both men and women as per their job position. Equal work is known the jobs which are being
compared in related to equal working hour, skills etc. Mediation is analysed as important
procedures in which parties will be able to resolve their disputes by appointing a third party
which provides them suggestions. Mediator helps parties to resolve disputes after analysing the
fact or terms and condition of contract. In this context, Amber Ltd and Mr. Anderson can also
appoint a mediator between them to resolve dispute.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Arrowsmith, S. and Craven, C., 2016. Public procurement and access to justice: a legal and
empirical study of the UK system.
Barkan, S.M., Bintliff, B. and Whisner, M., 2015. Fundamentals of legal research.
Epstein, A.L., 2017. The case method in the field of law. InThe craft of social anthropology (pp.
205-230). Routledge.
Glover, W. and Doss, D., 2017. Business law for people in business. Austin, TX: Sentia
Publishing.Hutson, L. ed., 2017. The Oxford Handbook of English Law and Literature, 1500-
1700. Oxford University Press.Mogaji, E., 2016. Emotional appeals in UK banks’ print
advertisement.
Haigh, R., 2018. Legal English. Routledge.
Hedley, S., 2017. The Law of Electronic Commerce and the Internet in the UK and Ireland.
Routledge-Cavendish
Hudson, A., 2013. Securities law. Sweet & Maxwell.
Kimble, J., 2012. Writing for dollars, writing to please: The case for plain language in business,
government, and law (Vol. 1). Durham, NC: Carolina Academic Press.
Online
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<https://digitalguardian.com/blog/what-gdpr-general-data-protection-regulation-understanding-
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<http://insolvency.com/company-insolvency/company-liquidation/company-liquidation-types/>
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Employee dismissal and redundancy rights. 2016. [Online]. Available through:
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employee-dismissal-and-redundancy-rights>
How does the winding up petition process work?. 2018. [Online]. Available through:
<https://www.thegazette.co.uk/all-notices/content/101087>
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