BMP4002 Business Law: Analysis of UK Legal System & Employment

This report provides a comprehensive overview of the UK legal system for business law, covering the classifications of law into civil and criminal categories, the roles of the High Court and Supreme Court, and the sources of law, including case law and legislation. It explains the process of making legislation and delegated legislation. Furthermore, the report delves into UK employment law, outlining the statutory duties of employers to their employees, and discusses wrongful and unfair dismissal actions. This analysis offers a detailed understanding of the legal framework governing businesses and employment in the United Kingdom.

BSc (Hons) Business Management
BMP4002 Business Law
Assessment 1
Legal System for Business
Law
Submitted by:
Name:
ID:
1

Contents
Introduction 3
Part 1: Classifications of Law 3-5
Define laws and identify the respective legal systems in the UK
3
Explanation with examples the following as means of classification
of laws in the English Legal system 4-4
a) Civil Law 4
b) Criminal Law 4
Explanation of the role of the following Courts in the English Legal
system 5-5
a) High Court 5
b) Supreme Court 5
Part 2: Source of law 5-6
Explanation of Case Law as a source of laws 5
Explanation of the process of making Legislation 6
The meaning and examples of Delegated Legislation 6
Part 3: UK law making process: Employment Law 6-7
Statutory Duties of Employers to their employees 7
Wrongful Dismissal and Unfair Dismissal Actions
Conclusion 8
2

3

Introduction
Changes occur in the legal system and laws all the time. Modifications and alterations
are required when the laws are no longer relevant with the scenarios present in the
environment of society. Laws are essential for the growth of individuals and their
conduct(Adams and Prassl, 2018). Law-making helps define the rules and regulations so that
people can be governed according to it. It reflects the morals and values of the societal culture
where people live. It helps to set up a standard of behavior which is then guided and managed
by the order given by laws which helps in their growth. Positive acceptance and attitude are
needed by the people towards the laws made in the United Kingdom, which help protect the
people's interests and live in peace within society. This project will cover the various
directions in existence in the UK and their classifications and their implementation. It shall
also provide information about the High Court and Supreme court, legal obligations, and
prescribed duties.
Part 1: Classifications of Law
Define laws and identify the respective legal systems in the UK
Any society can be effectively managed by the rules and regulations that are provided
by law which enables easy functioning. Law is believed to be superior to all the legislative
and executives present in the country. Because it states that the things present in the society
are inferior to the overall legal system. The power and authority of law make the functioning
of society easier, and it helps guide the behavior of citizens in the UK so that they follow
certain conduct and act appropriately. It must be ensured that these rules of law do not
overpower the right of citizens. The partially written nature of UK laws makes them so that
they are not entirely codified, which is why they prove effective. There are two types of laws
that can be applied: common law and Statutory law. Statutory laws can be defined as those
made by the Legislation and legislature, which can also be called parliamentary
houses(Adams, Freedman, and Prassl, 2018). It comprises the House of Commons and the
House of Lords, which are given the responsibility to form rules which can be helpful
ineffective management of society. They first introduce a bill that becomes an act and then
apply to all citizens. In contrast, Common law comprises all those laws formed by the
judgments given by the judges in different cases, which at a later stage become landmark
judgments that are followed in Judicial precedents and thus are binding on all the people.
4

Explanation with examples the following as means of classification
of laws in the English Legal system
a) Civil Law:
Civil law can be defined as a law that deals with the cases that involve disputed
property and the individuals' rights relating to it. These cases require proper management so
that people do not suffer. These are bound by general contracts and agreements that help their
general functioning. Control of rules allows civil law to take the form of an implied law,
which deals with matters that are property related and thus create infliction of the
considerations. Therefore, civil law considers all issues about the individual's rights on
property or land while governing the failure of the contractual agreements. The Courts that
have the authority to hear these types of cases are County courts, Appellate courts, tribunals,
High courts, and Supreme courts (Aroney, 2018). Thus, this law tries to majorly include the
issue related to physical property-related injuries and civil wrongdoings. The innocent party
in these cases are given remedies in the form of compensation, injunctions, and damages
which the court awards.
b) Criminal Law:
All the severe issues and incidents in a society comprising different forms of crime
are included under criminal law. Individuals in the community are given protection by this
law which provides them with safety from crimes. The topmost priority of this law is to serve
the public by protecting them and their interests while also ensuring safety to their body. It
tries to achieve general management of the society where an individual's morals are
governed, which also guides them to act in a certain way. Thus, criminal law is that branch of
law that studies aspects that can harm or damage society and its identity. It provides a system
of justice that helps protect the personal liberties of individuals (Scalia, 2018). It gives the
criminals punishments for their wrongful acts, which can be in penalties or imprisonment or
death penalty according to the nature of the crime. It has a broad scope covering crimes like
robbery, theft, rape, murders, assault, etc. The courts that deal with criminal law matters are
Queens Bench, Divisional courts that cover the area of division, High courts, and Supreme
courts.
Explanation of the role of the following Courts in the English Legal
system
5

a) High Court:
Justice is provided by the different High courts established in the respective regions of
London, making it one of the essential courts in the judiciary system. Her Majesty's Court of
England sometimes refers to the high Court. High courts are generally bound by their own
decisions. Critical and high-value cases are dealt with by the High Court, which is not in the
lower courts and tribunals (Baker, 2020). That is the reason that in these cases it acts as a
court with supervisory jurisdiction over the verdicts of lower courts. High Court includes
different benches under it which are Chancery division, Queens bench, Family court, etc.
generally, in the hearing of these cases only a single judge is involved by these courts but
several times in different cases there is a need of adjudications and solutions. All the appeals
against the decision of High Court go to the supreme Court for re-hearing of the case.
b) Supreme Court:
The Supreme court is the top-level Court in the hierarchy of the judiciary system,
which is why it is referred to as the apex court, which can hear the cases involving matters of
public importance relating to national and state levels. It is also regarded as the final Court of
appeal. These Courts can listen to both cases: criminal cases and civil cases of national
interest. Thus, the Supreme court has the essential role to perform in the Judiciary system due
to its responsibilities on its shoulders being above all the other courts. It tries to provide
decisions that can lead to effective management and make everyone comply with its orders
and rules. The matter relating to the constitution comes under its jurisdiction, and it has the
sole power to give a verdict on those matters. So it hears arguments who decisions can lead to
the protection of public interest.
Part 2: Source of law
Explanation of Case Law as a source of laws
Common law includes all those laws that are made by the judicial decisions and
judgments given by the judges of top-level courts, which are regarded as landmark verdicts or
judgments which the lower courts then follow in their upcoming cases which seem similar
and that is known as Judicial Precedent (Elliott, 2018). This law is based on the famous
doctrine of stare decisis, meaning judicial precedent that has a binding effect on future cases.
It usually implies that analysis will be made by the judges of lower courts who will then
6

abide to their superior courts by including the previous important decisions in their judgments
or verdicts. These courts hear cases relating to public protection, safety, management, etc.
Explanation of the process of making Legislation
The legislation-making procedure is a bit complex process that starts with introducing
a bill which later on moves on to other stages. The primary goal behind the formation of a bill
to become Legislation on specific issues is to apply the rules and regulations on the citizens
to abide by them. The UK has two parliamentary houses by the House of Commons and the
House of Lords, which have the role and responsibilities to formulate regulations or
procedures, laws, and acts. The bill's introduction in the house is the first stage of creating
any act, which later moves through different stages before getting the final ascent to become
an act (Fagan and Rubery, 2018). Next to this, the bill goes through the process of voting by
the house members who suggest various amendments and changes to the bill so that all the
loopholes can be covered, and it can become a perfect act or Legislation for citizens. Once
these changes take place, it is sent to the Royal Monarch, who gives the final assent to the
bill, which finally makes it an act that makes it applicable to all the citizens of the UK.
The meaning and examples of Delegated Legislation
Delegated Legislation refers to those types of laws formed by the subordinate bodies
by assigning them power rather than the legislative bodies themselves. It involves all those
laws passed by those bodies that get the ability to do so by delegation so that The statute can
pass Legislation. Parliament has the power and authority to give the Council so that different
bodies can exercise regimes to help them form rules and regulations (Ford, 2018). These
authorities must use their powers within limits and according to government principles. Some
of the famous examples of Delegated Legislation are the Council's order, the sovereignty of
the parliament, etc. the simplest type of delegated Legislation is statutory regulation. These
regulations are made by a different executives who can be ministers.
Part 3: UK law-making process: Employment Law
Statutory Duties of Employers to their employees
Employment laws govern the employers and employees in the UK, and the most
important among them is Employment Act 1996. The employer must abide by the duties
given in the act to be managed effectively. These statutory duties are as follows:
7

 Employers must adequately train their employees by conducting proper training
programs to understand their work while maintaining good behavior.
 According to the National Minimum Wages Act, employees must get a decent salary
or remuneration for their work (Hanretty, 2020).
 The employer must follow the No discrimination policy to ensure that the employees
do not get discriminated against based on religion, race, sex, caste, color, etc.
 There must be proper health and safety protocols for the employer's work premises,
ensuring that employees by following them remain out of risk.
 No employee should be made to work above the employer's average working hours,
which must ensure that they follow fair recruitment policies.
Wrongful Dismissal and Unfair Dismissal Actions
When an employee is terminated from the job, they have the right to ask for claims
related to Wrongful dismissal and Unfair dismissal by the employer. Wrongful dismissal is
when the employer removes an employee by violating the terms of the agreement that state to
provide prior notice of 2 months. It also occurs when Termination occurs before the
employment contract completion(Mossoff, 2018).
Whereas unfair dismissal is when the employer fires an employee without providing a
sufficient reason to do so. It can also arise when an employee's job is terminated without
giving them a chance to explain themselves. For example, Termination of women employees'
contracts when they are on maternity leave.
Conclusion
It can be summarised from this report that the different laws and Legislation have their
importance due to the essential role played by them to guide the behavior of people living in a
society. The two types of law that create legal obligations on people are Common law and
Statutory law, which bifurcations between the laws made by the Judiciary and laws made by
the legislature house. There is Supreme at the apex level of Judiciary, and the High Court is
below it. These courts handle two types of cases which are criminal and civil. Concerning
employers and employees, there are employment acts that define the roles and responsibilities
that are to be performed by the employer, which also lays down provisions concerning
wrongful dismissal and unfair dismissal.
8

References
Adams, A. and Prassl, J., 2018. Zero-hours work in the United Kingdom. Conditions of Work
and Employment Series, 101.
Adams, A., Freedman, J., and Prassl, J., 2018. Rethinking legal taxonomies for the gig
economy. Oxford Review of Economic Policy, 34(3), pp.475-494.
Aroney, N., 2018. 2. The High Court of Australia: Textual Unitarism vs. Structural
Federalism (pp. 29-68). University of Toronto Press.
Baker, J.H., 2020. Criminal courts and procedure at common law 1550–1800. In Crime in
England 1550–1800 (pp. 15-48). Routledge.
Elliott, M., 2018. Sovereignty, Primacy and the Common Law Constitution: What Has EU
Membership Taught Us?. The UK Constitution After Miller: Brexit and Beyond
(Oxford, Hart Publishing, 2018), University of Cambridge Faculty of Law Research
Paper, (24).
Fagan, C. and Rubery, J., 2018. Advancing gender equality through European employment
policy: the impact of the UK's EU membership and the risks of Brexit. Social Policy
and Society, 17(2), 297-317.
Ford, M., 2018. Employment tribunal fees and the rule of law: R (Unison) v Lord Chancellor
in the Supreme Court. Industrial Law Journal, 47(1), pp.1-45.
A court of specialists: Judicial behavior on the UK Supreme Court. Oxford University Press,
USA. Hanretty, C., 2020.
Mossoff, A., 2018. Statutes, Common Law Rights, and the Mistaken Classification of Patents
as Public Rights. Iowa L. Rev., 104, p.2591.
Scalia, A., 2018. Common-law courts in a civil-law system: the role of united states federal
courts in interpreting the constitution and laws (pp. 3-48). Princeton University
Press.
9