Business Law: UK Classifications and Sources of Law

BUSINESS LAW
MODULE NO: BMP4002
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ANSWER BOOKLET
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1.0 The UK Classifications of Laws
Answer to the question no. 1(i)
Law can be defined as a system of rules and regulations that a government imposes on the society in
order to ensure peace and harmony among the nation. These laws or norms are obligatory on the
citizens of that country and they are required to adhere to the legislation s made by the authorities.
The law changes according to the changes in the society that means it is dynamic in nature. It helps
in controlling the irregular behaviour or conduct of the people. The law of the United Kingdom is
also known as Common Law or English Law. Earlier when Britain was a part of the European
union, the directives of the EU has been conversed into the British parliamentary system, but after
exiting the EU, Britain retain back its power over the law making process(Charlson, 2020).
Answer to the question no. 1(ii)
The English Law is classified into two types- Criminal and Civil law.
 Criminal law- It is a branch of law that restricts specific acts or conducts and deliver the
punishments to the people who are caught doing such acts or who are indulged in the
unlawful activities prohibited by law. It is the act which affects the society at large. The
punishments includes the imprisonment, fine or both. In order to prove the accused guilty,
the prosecution requires to construct the two important factors that is mens rea and actus

reus, which means the involvement of guilty mind and an unlawful act following the motive
formed under the former element(Edmonds, 2019).
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 Civil law- It is branch of law that includes the conflicts or disputes between the individuals.
The civil law provides with the remedy like compensation to the plaintiff who has suffered
any loss or injury by the act or conduct of the defendant. Civil law covers acts such as
negligence, trespass, vicarious liability, etc.
Answer to the question no. 1(iii)
There are three different legal systems exist in the United Nations, that is- England and Wales,
Scotland and Northern Ireland. Each of the system consists of its own laws, lawyers, judges, court
systems. The laws that are being traced from the legislation which applies to any one of the
jurisdiction, might get applied to other jurisdiction equally or similarly. The courts that are
associated to particular legal systems can decide the matters of other jurisdiction, but the final
judgement would be of the Apex court of the country that is, Supreme Court. The laws of Wales
and England are varied from each other due to the process of degeneration.
2.0 The UK Source of law
Answer to the question no. 2(i)
The sources of law can be classified into two variants, that is Primary and Secondary sources.
Further, Primary sources are classified into Case laws and Legislations and Secondary sources are
divided into Law journals, Textbooks, Treaties, etc. Primary sources of law are those sources that
refer to the laws which are derived from the authorised bodies which contains observations of the
court, judicial precedents, legal writings, government documents, etc. Secondary sources of law are
considered to be the second hand resources which helps in examining, describing and analysing the
law(Hardman, 2021). They includes treaties, encyclopedias, amendments, modifications in law,
restatements, etc.
Answer to the question no. 2(ii)
The characteristics of the sources of law are-
Primary sources-
 Case laws – It means the cases or the matters that are already decided by the courts and in
order to solve the cases which holds similarity to the previously decided cases which could
be applied in deciding the recent case scenario. It is commonly known as precedents. The
sources of precedents are law reports, weekly law reports, All England Law, Specialist
series, etc.
 Legislations- It is one of the major source of primary sources of law. Legislations means the
laws drafted by the law making body of the country that is parliament of United Kingdom.
Britain do not posses a written constitution as it is also stated as uncodified or partially
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