UK Law: Legislative Process, Precedent, and EU Impact

This report provides a comprehensive overview of the legislative process in the United Kingdom and the impact of the European Union on English law. It begins by outlining the sources of law, differentiating between primary and secondary sources, and discussing aspects requiring change, such as criminal law punishments. The report details the process of enacting laws in the UK, from the introduction of a bill to royal assent. Part B delves into the rule of precedent, illustrating its application in both civil and criminal cases. It also examines the rule of statutory interpretation, exploring literal, golden, and mischief rules. Finally, the report analyzes the advantages and disadvantages of European Union membership, considering its impact on domestic laws and the UK's legal landscape, concluding with a summary of key findings and the importance of fair interpretation of laws.

The Legislative Process
and the Impact of the
European Union on
English Law

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................3
PART A ..........................................................................................................................................3
Sources of law........................................................................................................................3
Aspects of primary and secondary law that needs changing and its purpose.........................3
How changes are made in laws?.............................................................................................4
How are laws enacted in United Kingdom?...........................................................................4
PART B............................................................................................................................................5
Rule of Precedent...................................................................................................................5
Application of Rule of precedent in Civil case......................................................................5
Rule of Statutory Interpretation..............................................................................................6
Impact of European Laws on Domestic law...........................................................................7
CONCLUSION ...............................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................9

INTRODUCTION
United Kingdom (UK) do not have written constitution of their own. The laws in UK are
made by the parliament with the royal assent given by the Queen. There are two types of laws in
UK i.e. primary law an secondary law. Primary laws are made by the parliament following the
procedure that is mandatory to be followed for the enactment of the law. Secondary laws ar
generally the powers which are delegated to the ministers and other authority by the parliament
to implement and make the laws they find necessary for the country (Schmidt, 2018). This report
consist of two parts. Part A explains the sources of laws and the aspects of the laws present in the
country. It also provides with the changes that are needed to be made in both the types of laws
along with the procedure that is followed by the parliament for its enactment. The B part of the
report explains rule of precedents and the rule of statutory interpretation of the court.
PART A
Sources of law
Laws are the rules and regulations made by the country to be obeyed by its citizens. In
Unite Kingdom (UK), the country is democratic and no one is considered above Law. There are
two sources of law. The first source of law is primary source and the second is secondary sources
of law.
Primary sources are the true and actual law which were formed either while framing of
the constitution or while making judgement (Schimmelfennig, 2018) . They are the original
sources of law. These sources includes: constitution, statutes, cases, treaties, etc.
Secondary sources are considered as background resource of law. These sources
explain, interpret and analyse the primary sources of law. Secondary sources helps researchers in
their research work as it also provides citation to the primary sources of law and helps to better
understand the law. The secondary sources includes: law review, journals, mannuals, legal
dictionaries, digests, etc.
Aspects of primary and secondary law that needs changing and its purpose
Primary law are the original laws that are made by the parliament in UK. There are many
laws in the country which have vigorous punishments for the crime committed. The criminal law
of UK have only capital punishment in case a murder is committed by a person. Murder is
considered as most serious offence and the court give life sentence to the dangerous offenders.

The change can be made under the criminal law in UK related to the punishment of
murders to the offenders. The court may sentence the offenders to be liable for punishment for
years which may vary according to the nature and motive of committing murder. The court may
give change to the offenders to improve themselves for good till the time they are in prison. This
will give the criminal offenders a second chance to restart their lives as a good person and this
will motivate them to work in direction to do good things in future.
Secondary laws are those laws which are made by the ministers or any other authorised
authority under the power which are given to them by the parliament (Garben, 2017). For e.g.: if
the government of UK receives any information that relates to the danger which involves use of
drugs then the ministers have power under the secondary law to impose ban on use of drugs.
These laws so made, are implemented according to the changes required by the society or
upon receiving any new information which could affect the country in any possible manner. This
helps in functioning of the society and its management.
How changes are made in laws?
Primary law is treated as the first and original source of laws. They are passed with the
assent of parliament after following various steps. Secondary legislation provides elaboration to
the existing laws. Sometimes these elaborations provides with new interpretation and theories
which helps researchers to give a different meaning to the whole law.
Secondary legislation helps in creating new rules and regulations by adding more details
to the already existing acts and laws. When the law makers consider to make changes in the
particular law, they refer to the secondary sources of law for references to better understand the
changes that can be made.
How are laws enacted in United Kingdom?
There is a specific process which is followed by the parliament while making new law in
the United Kingdom. The new law which is proposed is called as a Bill. It is important the new
bill prosed receives assent from both the houses of parliament and along with it, receives royal
assent before making it an act of the parliament by the Queen.
The first stage is when a new bill is introduced by a First Reading. This is only the
process in which an introduction to the bill in provided by an official notice stating what the bill
is about (Heinelt, 2018). This process gives time to the members of parliament to prepare for the
discussion of the bill.

The next stage is of Second Reading. In this stage principles are considered by the house.
Later the consideration, bill is sent to various groups of the members of parliament for its
examination of details.
The next stage is of Third reading where the Bill is debated and voting is done by the
members. If there is majority in the voting by government, bill is passed to House of Lords.
When a bill receives assent from both the house and it has been passed through them, it is
sent for the Royal Assent to the Queen (Russell and Gover, 2017) .
This is the process which is followed by the parliament in UK to make a changed law, an
Act.
PART B
Rule of Precedent
The rule of precedent is an approach of the court which is used by the judges while
deciding the matter having same facts in question. Under this rule, courts are bound to deliver the
past decision. Although, higher court are not bound by the decisions of the lower court.
Application of Rule of precedent in Civil case
The case of Austin v Southwark, was related to the ending of the secured tenancy and
also the provisions of Section 82 of the Housing act of 1985. the question which was raised in
the case was whether the tenancy ends with breach of terms or after the order is executed. The
judge under this case had sympathy towards the alternate suggestion made while interpreting the
law but the court was bound by the order treated as precedent (Magone, 2018). The court
considered that the change in the judgement would lead to the change in the common law of the
country. If the judgement is given following the different interpretation it would contradict with
the will of the parliament and its enacted laws. Therefore the judgement was given according to
the precedent.
Application of Rule of precedent in Criminal case
The case of R v Wenton states that the appellant smashed windows with the brick in the
morning and also threw petrol inside the house with lighted piece of paper. The house belonged
to the couple who were living with three children and all of them were sleeping at the time of
incident. Luckily there was no fire generated (Kelemen and Pavone, 2018). The appellant was
convicted on 5 major grounds which also included endangering the life of people.

It was held by the court even though smashing of the window did not create any
endangerment to the lives of the people but throwing petrol and lighted paper did endanger the
lives. It was made clear by using the precedent i.e. R v Stree (1988) that damage to the property
is also equivalent to the engagement to the lives of the people. If the property of a person is
damaged it was considered that the life of the person inside the said property is also dangerous
for the life of the people.
Rule of Statutory Interpretation
There are various rules which are used by the court to reach conclusion and to interpret
the meaning of the laws. These rules are developed by the court so that it can assist judges in the
interpretation of a statute. They are: Literal Rule: this is the rule in which the meaning of the words as considered as it is and
in its literal sense.
Case Law: Abley v Gale
It was held by the court that when the words of the statute are plan and unambiguous it do not
need an interpretation as it would be immoral and unjust. Golden Rule: This is the rule which allows judge to depart a word from its normal
meaning so as to avoid absurdity (Kreppel and Oztas, 2017).
Case law: R v Allen (1872)
The Golden rule was applied in the case while deciding that the word “marry” means undergoing
ceremony or not? And therefore in this case conviction was upheld by the court.
 Mischief Rule: This rule was taken in the year 1584 in Heydon's case where four things
were laid which have to be followed while interpreting. They are:
1. common law which was present before making an act.
2. mischief that lead to the enactment of present statute.
3. remedy provided by the act.
4. true reason for the remedy.
Case law: smith v. Huges
Mischief rule was applied and it was held by the court that charge sheet was correct as windows
and balconies are considered as an extension to the word “Street”

Impact of European Laws on Domestic law
In the early 1946, Europe was in poor condition which resulted in the coming together of
6 nations for creating economic opportunities for each other (Konstadinides, 2017).
Cooperation's often leads to providing various advantages and also it comes with variety of
disadvantage. Domestic laws of the company has quite a lot impact on them as they are bound by
the laws made by the European Union.
Advantages:
 There are now many jobs available for the citizens and high wages are being paid which
they deserve.
 It helped local producers to indulge in activities like import and expect at a fair deal
without breaking their budgets.
 European Union takes all the Eco- friendly policies very seriously.
 Major changes are made since the evolution in Industrialisation. All resources are being shares by the members of the union created. This creates security
and stops the aggression coming from outside the Europe.
Disadvantages:
 The borders of the Europe can be easily crossed. This has increased the fear of terrorist
attacks.
 There are many problems that are faced by the European union related to the division of
Europe.
 The European Union always favours the larger countries with the expenses taken from
the smaller countries.
 The taxation system made by the Europe do not encourage business development or its
activities.
 Under the membership in European union, the countries still have to pay for playing inj
the European union.

CONCLUSION
From the above report, it is concluded that the laws plays very important role in
governing the country. The laws in the UK are made by the parliament or by the ministers or any
other authorities who are given power to do so. They must be interpreted according to the facts
of the case. The laws therefore are needed to be interpreted keeping in mind that the justice is
provided to the party fairly. The court while delivering decision must use the rule of
interpretation or precedent rule to make the delivery of judgement easy. The domestic laws of
UK are made under the influence of the laws made by the European Union as UK is one of the
member of the European Union. Although there are disadvantages of forming a union but the
countries who are members to the union, enjoys many benefits especially those which help them
to increase their economy.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Garben, S., 2017. The Constitutional (Im) Balance between the Market and the Social in the
European Union. EuConst, 13, p.23.
Heinelt, H., 2018. European Union environment policy and new forms of governance: a study of
the implementation of the environmental impact assessment directive and the eco-
management and audit scheme regulation in three member states: a study of the
implementation of the environmental impact assessment directive and the eco-
management and audit scheme regulation in three member states. Routledge.
Kelemen, R.D. and Pavone, T., 2018. The political geography of legal integration: visualizing
institutional change in the European Union. World Politics, 70(3), pp.358-397.
Konstadinides, T., 2017. The rule of law in the European Union: the internal dimension.
Bloomsbury Publishing.
Kreppel, A. and Oztas, B., 2017. Leading the band or just playing the tune? Reassessing the
agenda-setting powers of the European Commission. Comparative Political
Studies, 50(8), pp.1118-1150.
Magone, J., 2018. Iberian trade unionism: Democratization under the impact of the European
Union. Routledge.
Russell, M. and Gover, D., 2017. Legislation at Westminster: Parliamentary actors and influence
in the making of British law. Oxford University Press.
Schimmelfennig, F., 2018. Liberal intergovernmentalism and the crises of the European
Union. JCMS: Journal of Common Market Studies, 56(7), pp.1578-1594.
Schmidt, S.K., 2018. The European Court of Justice and the policy process: The shadow of case
law. Oxford University Press.