Assignment about Law and Ethics

Law and Ethics

The subject of law is wide and encompasses various branches therein. The branches are in the
form of the acts or statutes and the same are further categorised by the areas covered by such
acts. As part of the knowledge of the prospective job role, it is to state that the areas of the
law Public, Commercial, Corporate and Employment and Pensions are explored in length as
follows.
Separation of powers
The idea of separation of power denotes that the major institutions of the state must function
independently and that the power is not concentrated at one place. Thus, the three main
branches of the government are executive, legislative and judicial. The theoretical aspects of
the law are important to be studied to widen the knowledge of a legal practitioner. In context
of UK, there is no formal separation of powers; rather a balance of powers is achieved by the
distinguishing of the roles, as elaborated follows (MacKinnon, 2015).
Executive Power: In UK, the Executive Power is concentrated in the Crown and the
Government. This includes the Cabinet ministers and the Prime Minister of the country. In
addition the above, the civil services also fall in the category of executives. The members of
the Parliament elect the government who preside over the country’s administration by sitting
in the House of Lords or House of Common. The executive powers are entrusted with the
responsibility of formulation and implementation of the policies.
Legislative Power: The collective body of Parliament holds the legislative powers in the
country. The UK Parliament is distinguished into three parts namely the House of Commons,
House of Lords and the Monarch. In UK, there is a close integration of the executive and the
legislative powers. For instance, the Prime Minister usually plays dual role of leading the
majority party in the legislature as well as heading the executive branch. The main role
played herein is to facilitate the government in creation or amendment of the laws,
scrutinising the work of the government and undertake the financial decisions. The close
integration between the two powers is stated to provide stability and efficiency in government
operations.
Judicial Power: The judiciary is comprised of the judges in the courts of law. It is to be noted
that in UK, the Crown makes the senior judicial appointments. The judges are entrusted with
the responsibility of developing the common law and interpreting the legislations on the lines
of the Parliament’s objectives. It is to be further noted that under the compliance of House of

Commons (Disqualification) Act 1975, judges are barred from contesting election to the
Parliament. The independence is further protected by the tenure of the judges as well as the
grant of immunity from the legal actions in discharge of the judicial functions.
Remedy of specific performance and the limitations imposed by the courts
Contract Law forms a key role in the commercial contracts and it is significant for a legal
professional to be well versed with that. One of the legal remedies to the breach of the
contract is the remedy for specific performance, and the same is granted by the discretion of
the court. The remedy compels the breaching party for the performance of the contractual
obligations for his part (FindLaw, 2018). The said remedy is ordered when the damages are
not an adequate form of the remedy. It is to be noted that the specific performance is not
ordered when there is a failure to define clearly the obligations in the contract as was held in
the case of Co-opInsurance v Argyll Stores [1997] 3 All ER 297. This nature of remedy is
mostly ordered in the case of the construction contracts where it is to be ensured that the
work is completed in a certain time as held in the case of Jeune vQueens Cross Properties
Ltd [1973] 3 All ER 97.
Some of the limitations put on by the court on this form of relief are listed as follows.
The first consideration is whether the damages are an inadequate remedy or not. Thus, when
the payment of damages are adequate to compensate as an award of damages for the breach
of contract, the specific performance would not be granted by the court under common law.
The principle was established in the case of Cohen v Roche [1927] 1 KB 169.
The second limitation is put on the type of the contract. The order of specific performance is
done most likely in the cases of contracts for the sale of land or immovable properties. In the
case of the personal service the specific performance would not be ordered.
It was further held in the case of Chappell v Times Newspapers Ltd [1975] 1 WLR 482 that
the limitation would be put on the specific performance if the claimant is not willing to
perform his or her side of the obligations.
Lastly, the limitation would be imposed if the person against such an order is initiated would
find it hard to perform the said obligations as was pronounced in the case law of Patel v Ali
[1984] 1 All ER978.
Differences between a general partnership and a company