Business Law Report: Sources of Law and Their Impact on UK Businesses

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BUSINESS LAW
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Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Lo1...................................................................................................................................................4
P1 Sources of law........................................................................................................................4
P2 Governments’ role and application of common and statutory law in the United Kingdom...7
M1 Effectiveness of reforms and developments on the UK legal system...................................9
Lo2.................................................................................................................................................10
P3 Impacts of laws and acts on business...................................................................................10
M2 Distinguish between legislation, standard and regulation...................................................12
L03.................................................................................................................................................13
P4 Formation of different types of organisation........................................................................13
P5 Management of business organisation..................................................................................15
M3 Advantages and disadvantages of these different kinds of organisation.............................17
Lo4.................................................................................................................................................19
P5 Providing a legal solution to resolve disputes......................................................................19
M4 Comparing and contrasting the legal advice.......................................................................20
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................21
References......................................................................................................................................22
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Introduction
The legal system is the system which possesses the set of laws a county has and the methods
through which they are construed and enforced on people. These are the regulations in the
written form which a government of the country or the constitution of the country forms. This
explains the rights and responsibilities of the people in the society. The major types of laws the
country follows are civil, common, statutory and religious law (Goodwin and Maru, 2017).
Many businesses are governed by the government and many are privately owned. The companies
have to follow the business laws and if there is any discrepancy, the government has made some
of the laws to look into it.
Over this business project report, the rules associated with the business in the United Kingdom
will be argued and the influences of these rules on the business units will be measured as well.
The business law will describe the nature and role of laws in business. As a legal trainee
practitioner, in Hardy and Morrison Solicitor, a central London based law firm will give some
assistance and recommendation to the firm on fluctuating the situation of the company which is
an outcome of the effect of variations in the lawful system and rules of the nation.
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Lo1
P1 Sources of law
Constituents of the legal system
Laws of the country or legal systems of the country are the written rules which define the role,
procedures and institutions through which public inventiveness and private ventures are brought
out with genuine reasons. The legal system is the system which interprets and enforces the laws
on public and it also explains and defines various rights and responsibilities of the individual
(Goodwin and Maru, 2017). The objective behind the formation and establishment of these laws
is public development and awareness. There are various laws and legal regulations each country
has according to its constitution.
The legal system of the United Kingdom
Figure 1 Legal System of the UK
(Source: Goodwin and Maru, 2017)
Sources of law
Sources are the ways through which an individual, a group of people or a company gets justice.
Legal systems are very important for the civilisation of any country. Sources give the agenda
behind the establishment of the particular law. These sources are responsible to discriminate
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between the crime and the punishment of the crime (Thirlway, 2019). Sometimes changes in the
sources of law or legal system bring the changes in the business environment of a company as
well as it brings changes in lives of people. The sources of laws define the structure for getting
justice. In the United Kingdom, there are three types of laws which are formed based on the
difference in the crime and criminal charges for each. These laws are as follows
Legislative law
Legislative law is the law which has been formed by the governing body of the United Kingdom
like local, state or national government. This law has been declared by the parliament by the
process of making it. Before the regulation comes into existence it is known as a bill (Thirlway,
2019). Legislation has many purposes like it can regulate the authority, outflow it, providing
funds to the business, sanction or grant the permission for something and can make some
restrictions as well. It is also known as an act of parliament. It is the basic and primary source of
law for a country.
Common law
Common law is the part of English law which is a legal procedure where the decisions have been
made by judges who sit in court. The common constantly changes. Judges generate the common
law by giving the written judgements of the case which have been presented in front of them
(Llewellyn, 2016). It is developed and set by the English judges over some time and applied by
various countries like Canada, United States of America and then India The feature of common
law which differentiates it with other is that it should remain common on the earth. The practice
of common law for criminal matters is created by the house of lord and court of appeal
(Llewellyn, 2016).
European law
European law is the law which is operated within the member countries of the European Union.
It has various political institutions and has also developed social and economic policies.
European Union presents the new legal orders in international law (Tuori, 2015). The legal basis
of the European Union is agreement on the European Union and agreement of functioning of
European. This has a separate legal system and its own rules and regulations which have been
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adopted and accepted by the member countries of the European Union. This law also includes
some principles of the European Union.
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P2 Governments’ role and application of common and statutory law in the
United Kingdom
Role of government
The first and foremost agenda of government behind law-making is proper implication and
enforcement of laws in the country. It is the basic and primary role of the government. There
three main functions of the parliament of the United Kingdom which involves the representing
the interest of citizens, passing the laws and controlling the actions of government (Leyland, P.,
2016). The functioning of every lawmaking system is different from others due to the
dependence of the parliamentary system of the country. The laws have been made to make the
citizens of the country feel safe. These laws must always be in support of the people of the nation
and according to the interest of the people. Most of the times the executive branch of the
country’s government make a draft of laws and the parliamentary authority review, amend and
pass the laws (Leyland, 2016). The role of government is to run the country responsibly.
The law-making process starts with the bill, a piece of the proposal. This has to start from
parliamentary by passing the bills to the House of Lords and House of court. The bill has to
pass from both the houses and approvals from both house is required (Leyland, 2016). The
government before passing the law or bill must consider the interest and benefits of these laws to
the public. The laws which were invented or implemented must be comprehensive and they must
create awareness and mindfulness in people.
Application of common law
Common law is the law where the judges are responsible to create or pass the law by making
written judgements of the cases. The common laws of the country ensure that the laws will
remain common on the land; otherwise, it is the court of appeal and House of Lords who create a
legal standard for a criminal matter in Britain (Llewellyn, 2016). Many of the times there is a
situation when the case or situation is purely new for the common law and because of this court
of UK has to look for the solutions from the decisions of the other countries for a similar case.
For this, the person needs to have proper research on that case, look after the solutions provided
by different countries and the decision of the higher court and take guidance from them.
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For example, the judges in the court will rule a judgment stating that most of the people must
aware about the contract before entering into it. Most of the times this is not stated into some
specific law body but it is commonly implemented in the justice court to save some of the
interest of the citizen (Llewellyn, 2016).
Application of statutory law
Statutory law is the law which has been written by the legislative body of the country. This law
has been formed purposely by electing legislators and the official process of legislation.
Judiciary has the right to understand and impose the laws but it cannot create the statutory law.
These laws are created with code and they are codified, which means that the laws are kept
together and give them numbers for their references (Endicott, 2016). The statutory law is
created purposefully by legislation. The representatives of the elected legislature anticipate what
the law has to be. These laws are different from the regulatory laws, common laws and other
laws which were created previously. These laws are strictly constructed and followed by the
courts as well as the government (Endicott, 2016). It has a very simple procedure of proposing a
bill in front of the legislature and then making votes for their views. If the bill gets approved,
then it is further passed to the governor or the president of the central level and any one of these
authorities signs the bill then the bill will be passed as a law of statue. For example, traffic rules,
company act, laws related to tax and criminal laws etc are the statutory laws.
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M1 Effectiveness of reforms and developments on the UK legal system
Legal reforms are the process in which the existing laws are examined and the essential changes
have been made in law and implemented them legal system. This is done to improve the process
of providing justice and efficiency of the law system. The law reform bodies do the research and
provide ways to simplify and improve the law. These law reform bodies are set by governments
and they are known as statutory corporations. These bodies are liberated from government
control (Armstrong and Bulmer, 2018). The activities which the law reforms perform are
preparing and presenting the cases in front of the court to make changes in the common law. The
government of the country has made various reforms and policies for the development of the
people of the country.
To get justice, the government has to make some reforms and developments in the legal system.
This reform and development need to be prepared according to the necessity and essence of the
law in the nation. In the United Kingdom, the government has brought the system of common
law for the citizens of the country, where there are various types of cases have been solved
(Armstrong and Bulmer, 2018). The main agenda of the reform and development in-laws is to
benefit society; they must be equitable for society and must be improved. The immigrants of
other countries are facing various issues and asking for new reforms from the UK government.
The government of the country has made various reforms and policies for the development of the
people of the country.
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Lo2
P3 Impacts of laws and acts on business
There are certain laws and acts which can affect a business either in positive as well as negative
way. These laws have impacted various business and profit-making organisations. Some of the
laws and acts are as follows
Contract law
Contract law is one of the main laws of the United Kingdoms, where two parties agree for giving
commitments to each other. The parties are bind with an agreement of sharing profit and loss
equally (Beale, et al., 2019). In the eyes of UK legislation, it is the sale and supply of goods and
services and selling of goods and services by one party to another that is from supplier to Hardy
Morrisons Solicitors. The contract law involves offer by one party and acceptance by another
party, terms and conditions of the contract and intension of the contract (Beale, et al., 2019).
Employment law
Employment law in the company defines the relationship between the employees and the
employers. It provides the scenario through which it can be easily understood that what the
employer can ask to form the employee and what employee is expecting from the employee
(Morrison, 2019). In Hardy Morrisons solicitor’s employment law is followed as per the
guidance and they have to pay a minimum amount to the employees of the company (Morrison,
2019). They have to maintain relations with their employees and workers. The United Kingdom
government has established Employment right act in the year 1996. By applying this rule each of
the company ensures that the process of hiring and dismissal is followed by everybody
Competition law
Competition law has been made to promote healthy competition in the country in the companies
by regulating anti-competitive conduct by companies. This law is applied from private as well as
public administrations (Whish and Bailey, 2015). Due to this Hardy Morrison solicitors have
never faced the wrath of the competitors by unhealthy competition from other rival companies
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and never tried to use illegal way to compete against by the competitors. Hardy Morrison
solicitors have never broken these rules and laws.
Data protection act
This act was established in the year 1998 by the United Kingdom’s government through the
parliamentary act. This is designed to protect the personal and business data stored in the
computers of the companies. In this act, the individual has the right to control the flow of
information about them (Whish and Bailey, 2015). According to this rule, nobody can use the
other person’s data without their prior permission, the same rule applies in the organisation that
they can't use their employee's data and the employees have no right to disclose the data or
information which is confidential.
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M2 Distinguish between legislation, standard and regulation
Legislation Regulation Standard
The legislation is the law is
declared by the governing body
of the country. This is the
system of rules which have been
made by the government for the
common people (Carr, 2016).
Regulations are the description
of implementation and
enforcement of rules and
regulations in the country. They
are known as administrative
laws.
These are the sets of guidelines
and conditions for producing a
product or providing a service
(Percival et al., 2017).
The company Hardy Morrison
solicitors use the legislation
structure which works as the
external authority and the
company has to follow those
rules.
This shows the ways to enforce
the rules in the company Hardy
Morrison solicitors and the
company needs to support the
requirement of the legislation
(Percival et al., 2017).
These standards are generally
set by the private sector
organisations and other
organisations and people can
use these standards. This also
sets the rules for packaging,
technological use and processes
for production.
These legislations sometimes
work as the basis for Hardy
Morrison solicitors for trading
(Carr, 2016).
Regulations are needed to be
implemented and that’s why
they may be helpful or maybe
provocative to the Hardy
Morrison solicitors.
The values set by the
administration always support
the business to deliver the
products according to the
standards (Mutua, 2016).
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