Project 40021: Overview of UK Legal System, Courts and Employment

This report provides a foundational overview of the UK legal system, including classifications of law such as civil and criminal law, the structure and roles of courts like the High Court and Supreme Court, and the process of legislation, including delegated legislation. It also addresses employment law, focusing on statutory duties of employers and actions related to wrongful and unfair dismissal. The report emphasizes the collaborative nature of various legal entities in establishing a robust system of rights and laws in the UK, highlighting the significance of both the judicial and legislative frameworks in the country's development and the recognition of employee rights.

Project 40021

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................2
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................3
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................7
.........................................................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES:...............................................................................................................................9
Books and Journals:....................................................................................................................9
Online .........................................................................................................................................9

INTRODUCTION
This is a foundational report which provides the basic building blocks for the system of law. The
details of what law is and the legal system of UK is mentioned briefly. This also have contents in
familiarity with the types of law namely criminal and civil law. It introduces the procedure of
law making and what does the word delegated legislation means; and will provide an overview
of the role of courts in UK with case laws as to how are they source of law. Also the details
about employees responsibility and ill-practices are mentioned namely wrongful dismissal as
well as unfair dismissal actions.
MAIN BODY
PART 1: CLASSIFICATIONS OF LAW
Define laws and identify the respective legal systems in the UK
The instrumentation of rules that a specific state or community acknowledges as controlling the
acts of social units and which it may implement by the infliction of punishments or fines
(penalties) is termed as LAW.
The legal system of UK has constitution which is the form of non- written. Though queen is the
head of the State but the government in practise holds the authority by which it performs all the
executive functions. UK has bicameral parliament meaning two houses namely the House of
commons and the House of Lords exist together. The latter is elected directly for five years
which the government can reconstitute before expiration of the term. The legal system has
constitutional law having two areas- statute law and case laws. The judicial law is referred by
the court in interpreting the law of statutes. Much of the nexus between the Sovereign and
Parliament is formulaic rather than legal. UK has signed the European Convention on he Rights
and in order to comply with it has passed Human Rights Act through which it was incorporated
in UK law. The UK courts now can apply the convention directly.
Explanation with examples the following as means of classification of laws in the English
Legal system
a) Civil Law:
It is a kind of law(Private) and concerns the resolution of conflicts between people or businesses.
In civil cases, the standardised proof is based on ‘a balance of chances’, a less difficult demand

which means that the judicature simply has to be of the perspective that it is more apt than not
that the suspect is liable. Intially, the cases are heard by the County Courts and the High Court is
being divided in three divisions: Family court, Queen’s Bench and the Chancery. Appeal may be
there from the County Court to a High Court. The Supreme court is the dominant court of appeal.
It has its function different from legislations. Civil cases are often of contract, tort or family
dispute natured and thus common law mostly governs it.
b) Criminal Law:
Criminal law is a facet of public law in which the authorities will prosecute the offender for
conduct that the government wishes to regulate and which is considered to be ethically
condemnable. In felonious law the authorities prosecute a person with the sanction of the Crown
in lieu of society at large. In criminal suit, the criminal prosecution is needed to prove the case in
judicature ‘beyond sensible doubt’. This is a exigent standard even by the concept that the
suspect is lining the expectation of a vicious penalty being obligated if turned guilty. Criminal
cases are mainly heard and decided by the Magistrates’ Courts. The severe cases are directly
taken up by the crown's court. Appeal Criminal Division takes up the appeal of the courts.
Explanation of the role of the following Courts in the English Legal systema) High Court:
The role of High Court in UK is wide having appellate as well as original jurisdiction and
comprising of divisions. The Chancery division takes up cases having business, intellectual
property and other property related issues. The Queen's bench division takes up case mostly
related to contract, tortious liability and defamation. The family division deals with family
related disputes. High Court judges may sit in any part, applying both jurisprudence and equity,
though they are nowadays unremarkable allotted to specific activity and divisions
(Amatrudo,2018). Third highest judicature in the UK is a High Court which mainly deals with
both civil cases as well as appeals. All the high court proceedings can be issued as well as heard
anywhere in England. Usually single judges hear the cases in High Court but the cases like
criminal appeals and reviews are taken up by the Divisional Courts. For cases involving libel,
slander, malicious prosecution, jury will also sit in the High Court.
b) Supreme Court:

The decisions of Supreme Court have impact of shaping the society and directly affects the lives
of people beyond the parties of the case. The decisions had commendable impact on rights of gay
asylum seekers, Scottish suspects, agreements of pre-nuptial, etc. It has an essential function in
the transformation of law of United Kingdom (Havelková,and Möschel, 2019). Being appellate
court, It cannot see a case until an important order has been prepared in a court which is lower to
it. It is the concluding court of appeal for every United Kingdom cases of civil nature, and
felonious cases from UK hears appeals on debatable points of the law of broad public standing
maintains and creates the function of the ultimate judicature in the UK as a leader in world of
common law (Ambos,2018).
PART 2: SOURCE OF LAW
Explanation of Case Law as a source of laws
These are the direct foundation of legislation that creates the doctrine of judicial precedent in the
Common Law System. Judgements are reported in various law reports. A most authoritative
version of law report is expected to be cited in the court when any law report is referred.
Case laws are used reciprocally with common law are based on precedents rather than law based
fundamental law, codified Acts , or regulations. These uses the elaborated facts of case that has
being solved by the courts. The decisions made by judicature (highest) are called precedents .
Stare decisis means that "let the decision stand" which is a principle that is binding on the judges
made by the previous decisions. These understanding are distinguished from the enactments,
that are codes which are created by the legislature. In some territorial dominion, lawsuits can be
applied to current adjudication.
Explanation of the process of making Legislation
Either house can initiate the bill which after debates, examination and suggesting amendments to
the draft and signing by Monarch becomes an Act (Dowlatkhah,2018).
The stages of making legislation are as follows-
First reading:The bill reaches the chamber and its name is red out at this stage in the
chamber.
Second reading:At this phase members discuss any issues where they think changes may
be required.

Committee stage: This is the scrutiny stage where the amendments are analysed and
voting for the changes is done. Members see the bill from front to end. Members are not
limited at this stage.
Report stage: Another occasion to study a bill and bring amendments. More changes are
discussed and the further ballots are being taken place in order to determine whether to do
an alteration.
Third reading: This stage has purpose to close any ambiguity. A last chance for
improvements are provided and votes.
Considering the changes: If Lords has brought alterations to bill, it is being sent to
Commons to concur. They may evaluate the changes of Lords, and make its own
modification or maybe reject it. Any changes of the Commons are being conveyed back
to Lords (Kooshshkar,Ghasemi Ahde,2019).
Royal Assent: After all the above stages are done, the bill is sent to monarch for signing
which makes them Act of Parliament.
The meaning and examples of Delegated Legislation
It is a law that is not enacted by the law of Parliament but by a authority minister, a delegated
individual or an commissioned unit in the United Kingdom. Secondary legislation is legal
document created by pastors under powers given to them by an Act of Legislature. Delegated
statute law is traced from its parent act, which marks its boundaries and procedures. Delegated
legislation saves time by considering facts of specialized detail. Such details are braced by those
with significant expert cognition. Orders in council, Orders of Council, Ministerial Orders,
Orders passed in executive powers etc. are basic examples of such legislation (Bachmaier,2019).
PART 3: UK LAW MAKING PROCESS: EMPLOYMENT LAW
Statutory Duties of Employers to their employees
All the employees have certain statutory rights abiding by those is the duty of employers.
These rights relate to health & safety, equal opportunities, pay and more. The statutory duties of
employers include paying at least minimum wages to employee. They should provide staff with
a proper payslip indicating breakdown of pay and deductions too. They must provide the
workforce with a cleansed as well as harmless work surrounding. They must provide workers a

regular rest break of minimum 20 minutes if they are being working longer than the time period
of six hours per day. Unless there is an agreement in writing the employer shall not keep the
work hours of week more than 48.
Wrongful Dismissal and Unfair Dismissal Actions
It is a removal in breach of contract. The tribunal only pays attention to contractual obligation of
employer in such a case. There is no limit of service needed for a breach of contract claim, which
can be brought either to the county courts or High Courts When an employer fires an employee
without cause, this is known as wrongful dismissal. Damages are calculated based on the
employee's pay and commodities during the notice period. The right to not be fired unfairly is a
legislative right rather than a contractual right. The determination of whether a dismissal is just
or unfair is dependent on the following factors: the employer's cause for firing; whether the
leader acted moderately in treating this reason as adequate to justify terminating the employee;
and if the dismissal followed a fair process. Except in specific circumstances, a worker must
have two years of continuous service to be eligible to file an unjust dismissal claim (Stephenson,
Persadie, Bissessar and Esnard,2020).
CONCLUSION
This report concludes that the legal system and law in UK has wide ranging and diversified
entities working together to establish a strong system of rights and law based on various statutory
laws, common law, justice and equity. The legal framework has crucial units namely High Court
and Supreme court which are enormously contributing towards the arena of justice. Not only is
the judicial system developing in UK but also the legislative framework is tremendously
causative of development of UK. The rights of employees are also widely recognised in UK.

REFERENCES:
Books and Journals:
Amatrudo, A., 2018. Organisations and Their Enterprise in UK Criminal Law and in
International Law. In Criminal Actions and Social Situations (pp. 89-115). Palgrave
Macmillan, London.
Ambos, K., 2018. European criminal law. Cambridge University Press.
Bachmaier, L., 2019. Rights and Methods to Challenge Evidence and Witnesses in Civil Law
Jurisdictions. In The Oxford Handbook of Criminal Process.
Dowlatkhah, P.P., 2018. Explaining Legal Standards for Police Stop and Inspections in Legal
Systems in Iran, UK and America.
Havelková, B. and Möschel, M. eds., 2019. Anti-Discrimination Law in Civil Law Jurisdictions.
Oxford University Press, USA.
Kooshshkar, R. and Ghasemi Ahde, V., 2019. methods in Iran and UK legal system have been
comparatively investigated. Journal of Civil Law Knowledge, 8(1), pp.42-57.
Stephenson, J.H., Persadie, N., Bissessar, A.M. and Esnard, T., 2020. Equality Laws Compared:
The Caribbean, the UK and the USA. In Diversity, Equality, and Inclusion in Caribbean
Organisations and Society (pp. 157-183). Palgrave Macmillan, Cham.