UK Classifications of Laws and Source of Law for Business Management

BSC (Hons) BUSINESS MANAGEMENT WITH
FOUNDATION
SEMESTER 1, EXAMINATION 2021/22
BUSINESS LAW
MODULE NO: BMP4002
Exam Paper Release Date & Time: Saturday 11 June 2022 at 10:00am
Submission Cut-off Date & Time: Monday 13 June2022 at 10:00am
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ANSWER BOOKLET
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1.0The UK Classifications of Laws
1. The rule of law is a fundamental doctrine that requires every individual to obey and
submit to the law, not the arbitrary actions of other individuals or groups. Basically,
no one is above the law. The UK does not have a written constitution. In addition to
parliamentary sovereignty and jurisdiction, the rule of law is essentially the
determining principle of our “unwritten constitution”. The rule of law encompasses a
set of fundamental principles and values such as legal certainty, fairness, equality,
legislation, due process and more. The United Kingdom (UK) has three separate
legal systems: one each for England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. This
reflects its historical origins. The answers below relate primarily to the legal system
of England and Wales but may relate to other parts of the UK. The UK has an
unwritten constitution as there is not a single written document outlining the rights of
individual citizens and the governance. The UK Constitution is composed of a

variety of sources, some written (e.g. statutes) and others (e.g. constitutional
conventions) unwritten (Abbasi, and Parsa, 2019).
2. Commercial law - it is a range of legal services designed to help businesses make
money from their products and services. For example, intellectual property (IP)
rights are critical for creative industries and manufacturers to capitalize on
innovation, sales on a national and international basis require contracts, and agency
or distribution agreements can be made to expand the goods or services for sale .
Competition Law - in the UK it is a criminal offense for a person to enter into an
agreement between competitors to manipulate offers, fix prices, allocate markets or
customers or limit production or provide certain legal disqualifications and defences
(known as "antitrust offences") ( for contracts concluded before April 1, 2014).
Company law - UK company law governs companies incorporated under the
Companies Act 2006. The company, which is also subject to the Insolvency Act
1986, the UK Corporate Governance Code, European Union directives and court
procedures, is the primary legal vehicle for organizing and conducting business.
Public companies, with a modern history dating back to the late Industrial
Revolution, now employ more people and generate more wealth in the UK economy
than any other form of organisation (Lemassel, 2020).
3. Common Law - in relation to the UK, it was originally developed by judges through
case-by-case court decisions rather than laws made by a legislature. In this system,
much of the law is created through decisions by judges called precedents. This
means that if a similar case was decided by a court in the past, a court is obliged to
follow the reasoning of the previous decision. While judges are very important in
common law systems, the legislature still has a role to play. Common law systems
also rely on laws passed by the legislature or a parliament, and judges are tasked
with interpreting how the laws of the legislature are applied in individual cases.
Civil law – in the UK context, this system puts more emphasis on legislation created
by the legislature. Civil law statutes tend to be more detailed than common law
statutes and contain constantly updated codes of laws detailing all matters that may
be brought to court, the procedure to be followed and the appropriate punishment.
Religious law - In Britain's traditional religious legal systems, criminal law is based
primarily on religious texts and interpretations of those texts. Religious legal systems
include canon law (e.g. Roman Catholic, Anglican), Islamic law and Talmudic
(Jewish) law. Even in countries with common or civil law systems, religious courts
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