Law Making in the UK Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Law Making in the UK - Essay Example Such things as local byelaws or professional rules are delegated legislation. 3. Devolved parliaments such as the Scottish Parliament can pass both primary legislation and also separate legislation on devolved issues e.g. those that apply particularly to their regions. 4. Precedent. ( page 141) This is a legal term in common law. It refers to a decision made based upon earlier judgments. The lower courts base their decisions upon principles which have been laid down in higher courts. 5. Common Law. ( page 189) This term refers to the substantive rules, i.e. rules about which behaviour is allowed, and procedural rules i.e. how things should be done.. Both of these kind of rules judges create and use in court. Common law alters according to changes in society i.e. what society considers to be allowable or not during a particular period. . 6. European Union law. ( page 225) Laws passed by the European Parliament are valid in the member countries of the European Union. Primary legislatio n includes laws based upon treaties and agreements between members. Secondary legislation includes such things as directives and guidelines. Also included are judgments made in the European Court of Human Rights. Question 2 Explain the role of the judiciary in developing common law. Does this role assist with law making? Common law, otherwise known as case law, is case centred i.e. it depends upon the particular cases that occur. This distinguishes it from statutory law i.e. that detailed in Acts of parliament. I t is judge centred as it is the judiciary, at various levels, who make the decisions. Common law develops in a very gradual way depending upon circumstances i.e. which cases come to court. It is based upon precedent, that is what has preceded it. Where a new case presents the same situation as an earlier one then the earlier decision will be followed. It is not planned ahead. It is a system used by the United Kingdom and still in place in many of her former possessions such as Commonwealth countries and the United States of America. The European Court of Justice was established under different rules – those based upon Roman and German styles of Civil Law, but in practice is basing its decisions more on a case by case style, although based upon earlier decisions it has made i.e. it is building up a common law base to be used by its judiciary when making rulings on particular cases.. Hobhouse is cited as saying ( page 190) that common law must develop as â€Å"circumstances change and the balance of legal , social and economic needs change.† Society is in a constant flux and judges need to be able to make decisions based upon the changing circumstances. This can be done by overruling earlier decisions made in a lower court. Lower courts are bound by decisions made in higher courts. Judges are not necessarily required to follow the precedent of earlier rulings. It can be a matter of distinguishing – pointing out particular circumstan ces which mean that somewhat different principles might be applied in a certain case – mitigating circumstances for instance. The disadvantage of this system is that it only works for cases that are actually brought before the courts - the courts only rule on these cases not hypothetical ones that might or might not occur. Some would consider this a disadvantage, but at least time is not wasted considering what might have been. The real