The UK Legal System: Sources of Laws and Aspects of Contract Law, Law of Tort, and Employment Law

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BSc (HONS) BUSINESS MANAGEMENT WITH
FOUNDATION
SEMESTER ONE EXAMINATION 2021/2022
BUSINESS LAW
MODULE NO: BMP4002
INSTRUCTIONS TO CANDIDATES: There are THREE questions in this paper,
answer ALL THREE questions.

In your role as a legal adviser, you have been approached by a multilingual organisation who
are looking to establish part of their business in the UK. They are mindful that the legal
framework in the UK is very different to the other countries they currently operate in and
have asked you to write them a report focusing on the system and principles of laws in the
UK.
They have asked that your report should answer the following:
1.0 The UK Classifications of Laws (Total 30 Marks)
(i) Provide a clear definition of law within UK Context (4 Marks)
Law is essential for civilisation because without law no nation can survive. A law must be
based upon the justice and follow the principles of equity, good conscious. It must be
enforced with resolute firmness and it is the moral responsibility of every individual to obey
just laws. In context of UK, law is the collection of rules and regulation which must be
enforceable at court of law, it is a system which establish and regulate the relationship
between different organs of the government and other faculties of the state (Arslan, 2020).
The parliament is the supreme legal authority in UK which makes laws for the land. The
basic idea of law is to establish equality and equal protection of law. Law has the elevated
status which is supreme, it based on the doctrine according to which every person must obey
and follow the law. Although, the United Kingdom does not have written constitution,
however, the nation is governed by the common law which are customary codified laws.
Thus, law means a command or directions which are prescribed and formally constructed
which having a binding force by the government.
(ii) Define and discuss the characteristics of the two main classifications of laws in
UK
(10x2 = 20 Marks)
Generally, the laws are broadly classified into two categories;
 Civil law : In context of UK, there is no civil law, rather there is common law which
is prevailing in UK since 1189 called as common law (Hameed, 2018). The term civil
law is used to refer civil law as secular law which is based on the doctrine of judicial
precedents as these laws are opposed to common laws. Civil law includes several laws
and legislation such as, contract law, company law, family law, media and
communication law, intellectual property law, law of tort etc. the distinction between
common law and civil law lies at their origin and their evolution and development.
The role of judges played crucial role in development of civil law and the codification
of laws as well. Thus civil law are the collection of rules and regulations which are

used in non-criminal matters which aims to determine the rights and liabilities
between parties.
 Criminal law: The other important category of law is criminal law, it is a branch of
law which describes the criminal offence and their punishment which is prescribed by
the law. In relation to UK criminal law, there is no specific criminal code. There are
several criminal offences which are described in common law and not enacted by
legislation (Burke and Cowling, 2020). The state or the government is empowered to
initiate the proceedings in criminal cases to determine whether a person should be
penalized or not. Criminal law are in two forms; substantial and procedural. The
purpose of criminal law it to deter a person and to infused a fear in order to stop them
from committing any crime.
(iii) Identify the three different Legal systems in UK (3x2 = 6 Marks)
In UK, England and Wales share the common legal system which is developed by the judicial
precedents and the matters heard by in the previous matters. The origin of these system was
established during the reign of King Henry second. At that time many customary local laws
were prevailing and later on these customary local laws were replaced as national laws which
are applied to all and thus called as common law.
The other legal jurisdiction of UK legal system is Scotland, which has its own judicial and
legal system. The legal system of Scotland is not entirely common law system but it is a
mixture of both the system (Micińska, 2019). There are many similarities of Roman-Dutch
law.
The present scenario of UK legal system much more modern and these laws are applicable
throughout the territory of United Kingdom and northern Ireland. There are many differences
among these different legal system. For instance, in respect of property law in which the law
of Scotland is akin to civil law more than English law.
2.0 The UK Source of law (Total 30 Marks)