Pearson BTEC Level 5 HND in Management/ HRM / Marketing / Operations Management / Accounting and Finance

PEARSON BTEC UNIT 7:

Level 5
Business Law

LO1 PT 1

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Learning Outcomes
By the end of this unit a student will be able to:
1.Explain the basic nature of the legal system.
2.Illustrate the potential impact of the law on a business.
3.Suggest appropriate legal solutions to business problems.
4. Recommend appropriate legal solutions based upon
alternative legal advice provided

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 The legal system:

- What constitutes a legal system?

- The purpose of law

LO 1: -the evolution of law and different sources of law e.g. legislation,

directives, case law and treaties relevant to country.
Explain the -Divisions and key terminology of the legal system e.g. court structures.

nature of -The differences between civil and criminal law.

the legal The justice system:

system
- The role of government in law-making and the justice system.

- Organisation of the judiciary

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The legal 1. What constitutes a legal system?
system 2. The purpose of law, the evolution of law and
different sources of law e.g. legislation,
directives, case law and treaties relevant to
country.
3. The differences between civil and criminal
law.

The justice system:

4. The role of government in law-making

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WHAT IS LAW?

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Introduction •Varied definitions of law – over the millennia
to Law •There is a common theme in all the definitions:
“ A set of rules that regulate the relationship of people
in society to ensure legal, social and political
order”.
•According to Blackstone law is that part of rule or
action which can be applied randomly to all forms of
action.
•According to Salmond law is a body of rules
acknowledged and enforced by the State in the
organisation of justice.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rOLJeOHF8G0

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Why Law Is Important?

1.Laws set the standard for acceptable (and unacceptable) behaviors

• At its most basic, the law is about mitigating conflict. When creating laws,
societies reckon with what drives conflict. Some things – like murder and theft-
are obvious and have been included in laws stretching back to ancient times.
However, as time goes on and societies change, what’s considered acceptable
changes, too. Legal systems adapt so they can provide clarity and context for
unacceptable actions. They also offer guidelines for appropriate consequences.

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2 .Laws provide access to justice

• If it’s against the law to punch someone in the face, someone who
gets punched can do something about it other than simply swinging
back. In a perfect world, justice is equal. It doesn’t matter who got
punched or who did the punching. What matters is that the law
against punching was broken. Everyone in a society – and not just a
privileged few – must have equal access to justice through the law.

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3 Laws keep everyone safe

• Laws don’t only respond to injustices and harm. They work to prevent them.
Food safety laws are a prime example. In the past, the food industry was
extremely unregulated. In the 18th and 19th centuries, American food producers
went to extreme measures in their quest for profit. They watered down milk and
stirred in materials like chalk for color. They mixed dirt into coffee, tea, and
spices and added lead to beer and wine. In 1906, President Roosevelt and
Congress passed the Pure Food and Drug Act, as well as the Meat Inspection Act.
This marked the beginning of modern food safety and monitoring. Today, food
safety laws protect the public from potentially-fatal food poisoning.

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4 Laws protect the most vulnerable in society

• Many laws are specifically designed to protect certain groups of people.

EX - Laws like the Civil Rights Act (the United States) and the Sex
Discrimination Act (Australia) make it illegal to discriminate.

These types of laws protect what’s known as “negative rights,” which is the
right to be free from something, like discrimination. Anyone can be
discriminated against, but as history shows, certain people are more at risk.
Laws designed to prevent discrimination based on race, sex, gender, religion,
and more protect these groups and give them better access to justice.
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5. Laws offers people a variety of career options

• As a career, law is varied and versatile. Because there are so many

different areas of law, there are hundreds of job options. Lawyers can
specialize in everything from contracts to immigration to criminal law.
A person can also become a professor of law, while there are also jobs
for paralegals, consultants, and researchers. The legal system is big, so
there is room for all kinds of skills and expertise.

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6 Laws are important to maintain peace

• Earlier in this article, we touched on how law is essentially about

mitigating conflict. That makes law essential to maintaining peace.
This is because injustice fuels conflict. If destructive behaviors are
allowed to flourish without remedy, people will suffer and become
dissatisfied with their government. If justice is applied unequally, this
also fans the flames of conflict. For the sake of peace, societies need
to strengthen their rule of law and ensure that it’s fair.

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8 Laws are important for social progress

• We’ve discussed how legal systems should adapt and evolve with the times. If laws
remained stagnant, so would societies. Throughout history, law has been employed
as a tool for social change. It was laws that made slavery, segregation, and
apartheid illegal. Laws prevent people from getting fired from their jobs because of
who they marry or because of a disability. The concept of law as a mechanism for
social change is complicated because if the majority of a community doesn’t agree
with the law, it’s likely that the law won’t be enforced. However, having a law on
the books gives people more power than if the law didn’t exist at all. It’s an
important step (though not necessarily the final step) to real social change.

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9 Laws make human rights a reality

• Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor once said, “I firmly believe in the rule
of law as the foundation for all our basic rights.” Basic rights are the human
rights that everyone is entitled to. This includes the right to life, the right to
marry, the right to be free from discrimination, and more. These are listed in
the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, but that document is not legally
binding. To make human rights a reality, they have to be protected through
laws. Without law, human rights would be an abstract concept. If you would
like to learn more about human rights, consider studying a masters.

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The English legal system
The United Kingdom is divided into three main jurisdictions (or self-contained legal systems):

• England and Wales,

• Scotland,
• Northern Ireland.

Each jurisdiction has its own laws, court system, lawyers and judges. However:

Laws that apply in one jurisdiction, particularly if they are derived from legislation (Acts of Parliament and Statutory Instruments)

may apply equally, or very similarly, in other jurisdictions.

While the courts in each jurisdiction can decide cases differently from those in other jurisdictions, the final appeal for all of them

goes to the UK Supreme Court.

Moreover, the process of devolution has resulted in variations between the laws of Wales and those of England, and even as

between different regions in England. Acts of Parliament can take effect differently, or at different times, in different parts of the

jurisdiction of England and Wales.

This article is mainly about the legal system of England and Wales, though there may be similarities with other jurisdictions.
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CIVIL LAW
Civil law may be defined in opposition to three alternatives.

1. Civil as opposed to criminal law.

2. Civil in the sense of secular law, as opposed to ecclesiastical or other forms of religious law.

3. Civil law as a legal system, based on a code of laws (such as the Code Napoleon developed in France), as

opposed to the common law system, based on the doctrine of precedent.

The meaning thus depends on the context. A criminal case may be decided in a civil court if that court is a secular

rather than a religious one or is the court of a continental legal system, such as that of France. But a civil court in the

first sense, such as the Chancery Division of the High Court, is not going to hold a murder trial; instead, such a case

would be heard in a criminal court, eg the Crown Court.

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Some types of civil law
Contract

• The law of contract is concerned with the formation and interpretation (or
‘construction’) of written or oral agreements between companies or
individuals. A contract does not have to be written down to be a binding
contract. Disputes over contracts may concern whether or not a contract
ever came into existence, what its various terms and conditions actually
meant, whether one party has broken (‘breached’) the contract and, if so,
what remedy (such as damages, an injunction or specific performance)
should be ordered.
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Tort

• A tort is a legal wrong. A claim based on a tort usually requires the

claimant to establish that the defendant owed a ‘duty of care’ and that
they broke that duty. Classic types of claim in tort are those based on
negligence, nuisance, defamation, misuse of private information, etc.
Sometimes a claim may involve both contract and tort, but a claim based
in tort does not require there to be any contract between the parties,
simply that one of them owed the other a duty. Such a duty may have
been developed either at common law or under a statute.
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Company law

• Company law is concerned with the formation and regulation of companies and
corporations, which are separate legal persons from the individuals who own
them (usually by acquiring shares in the capital value of the company), known
as ‘members’, and those who manage and direct their activities, known as
‘directors’. When a company’s debts exceed its income and capital it becomes
insolvent, and may be put into administration or, eventually, wound up
altogether. There may be claims by different classes of creditor and regulatory
proceedings may be taken against the directors. Company law covers all these
matters.
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Revenue law

• Revenue law deals with disputes over the assessment of taxes and
duties levied on organisations and individuals by the government.
Types of tax include income tax, corporation tax, capital gains tax,
inheritance tax, VAT etc are all covered. Revenue law is so called after
the Inland Revenue department, now merged with Customs and
Excise (responsible for levying duties such as import duty, excise duty
etc) to form Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC).

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Intellectual property law

• IP law as it is often called is concerned with rights and duties relating to patents, designs,
copyright and trade marks. Patents protect scientific inventions which often have an industrial or
commercial value. Design rights protect the commercial value of a product’s design. Copyright is
concerned with artistic works, whether written, composed or created in some other artistic way
(thus a painting or illustration would generally be protected by copyright rather than a design
right). Trade marks protect the identity and reputation of businesses. Claims for ‘passing off’
(where a business passes itself or its products off as being those of another business) are also
considered part of intellectual property law. Some intellectual property rights have to be
registered before they can be enforced but others do not. Disputes may arise over whether a
person was entitled to register the right and whether such registration was valid.

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Family law and the Court of Protection

• Family law is concerned with marriage and divorce, children, and matrimonial finance. Some
issues involving children are described as private law cases, because they only involve private
individuals (usually the parents or guardians) but other disputes, such as care proceedings
involving the local authority and other parties, are described as public law cases.

• Cases involving children may relate to medical treatment for which, by virtue of their age, or
lack of capacity, they are unable to provide consent. Similar cases involving adults lacking
capacity are dealt with by the Court of Protection, which also deals with administrative
issues such as where an adult lacking capacity should live and decisions about their financial
affairs.

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Media and communications law

• Media law deals with disputes over the regulation of and the content
published or broadcast by media organisations and individuals (such as
journalists) who generate that content. Information law is concerned with
rights (such as Freedom of Information) and duties (such as data protection)
relating to information. Communications law includes telecommunications,
the internet and social media, though there is considerable overlap with
media and information law. They are all among the types of business dealt
with by the Media and Communications List in the Queen’s Bench Division.

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Common law and Equity

• The common law was historically administered in the king’s courts, and equity
developed as a separate system of mainly discretionary remedies administered
by the Lord Chancellor, often as a way of ameliorating the injustice done by
inflexible rules of the common law. Equitable concepts such as trusts are now
generally dealt with as part of the business of the Chancery Division in the High
Court, but since the Judicature Acts of 1873-75, when the systems of law and
equity were fused, they have no longer been treated as separate jurisdictions
and both legal and equitable remedies can be provided in all the courts.

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Legal rules, principles & procedures to ensure
that people who engage in business do so in a
proper manner. Transactions are entered into in
a fair and just manner.

Commercial law or business law is the body of law

which governs business and commerce and is
often considered to be a branch of civil law and
deals both with issues of private law and public
law.

Commercial law regulates corporate contracts,

hiring practices, and the manufacture and sales
of consumer goods.

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Business
law

Accordingly, the law maintains a ‘balance’ between the

interests of all persons and business organizations and
provides a mechanism for ‘transparency’ and ‘checks &
balances’ to promote fairness, equity and consistency
in the application of the law.

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Importance of Business Law

1. Legal Agreements and Contracts

• Legal contracts are necessary for a firm to operate smoothly. It’s critical
to respect legal restrictions. Professionals with a thorough
understanding of this subject assist the organization in drafting legal
agreements that are more useful and free from flaws. Every company
has an internal legal team, and one can join the team by understanding
this.
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2. Understanding of Business Rules

• One can manage the business more effectively by avoiding unneeded

legal troubles by being aware of business laws and regulations. With
this understanding, it would be simpler to comprehend any
organization’s legal terms and conditions. A degree in business law
will assist you in running your company legally if you own your own
business. With the correct information, handling any legal scenario
will also be simple.

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3. Take Charge of Your Own

• With an understanding of business law, you can manage your company

and develop ideas while staying within the law without constantly
communicating with the legal team. Developing better
business strategies, staff policies, and decision-making abilities is
possible. Better business and staff policies, financial strategies, and
decision-making abilities can all be developed. To manage its finances
and position in the market, a firm must make numerous legal
judgments. This enables one to make the best choices.
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4. Compensation Concerns

• It is crucial to managing various compensation concerns in an

organization. Companies can get assistance from a qualified business
attorney in Santa Rosa in resolving disputes with pay and salary
administration. The attorney has to take all reasonable steps to
prevent any violations of the compensation and benefits laws by the
client. If there are any differences, the results could be deadly.

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5. Protect Shareholder Rights

• When it comes to defending the rights of a company’s shareholders, business

law is essential. Its experts can handle conflicts involving minority shareholders,
constitutional provisions, arbitration settlements, and other matters.

6. Business Formation

• The law of business serves as the cornerstone for each enterprise. Numerous
legal procedures, leases, and permits are involved in starting a business. A
business law attorney is knowledgeable about all the pertinent laws and can
assist the company in successfully establishing its operations.

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What are the Functions of Business Law?
• It also regulates workplace safety, overtime policies, and minimum wage laws.

• It aims to lessen the industry’s adverse effects on the natural world and the environment. It tries to control the use of

chemicals, air and water pollution, pesticides, and other things.

• It governs the procedure for forming a company and rules for selling corporate entities.

• Additionally, it covers rights delegation, contract drafting, task delegation, breach of contract, transactions, contracts,

and fines for contract violations.

• Generally, business law governs partnerships, corporations, sole proprietorships, liability firms, and partnerships.

• It explains the business and actual estate-related laws.

• It examines the overall impact of computer technology on other business domains.

• Includes laws governing securities governance and bankruptcy.

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Introduction: To understand the legal system,
you first need to know
Legal System something about the context in
which this legal system is
operating: the CONSTITUTION.
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 A set of rules which details a country’s system of
government
What is a It can be a written document or cannot be found
Constitution? written down in one document: unwritten
constitution.
Constitutions essentially set out broad principles
concerning who makes law and how
Allocate power between the main institutions of the
state – government, Parliament & judiciary
Indicate the basic values on which the country should
expect to be governed:
Example: citizens should not be punished unless they
have broken the law, certain rights and freedoms
should be guaranteed, and state prevented from
overriding them.

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35
36
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Unwritten •Unwritten means: cannot be found written down in one
Constitution document
•What are the documents?
Acts of Parliament
Judicial decisions
Conventions (not law, but are long-established traditions
which tend to be followed)
Example:
Queen does not refuse to give her consent to Acts of
Parliament;
Judges do not undertake activities associated with a
political party;
Speaker of the House of Commons does his or her job
impartially

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Principles 1. Separation of powers
Underlying •State power can be divided into three: executive,
The British legislative and judicial.
Constitution Executive: Government and its servants (police and
civil servants)
Legislative power is Parliament
Judicial authority is exercised by judges

•Three types of power should not be concentrated in

the hands of one person or group,
•Since this would give them absolute control, with
no one to check that the power was exercised for
the good of the country.
•Each type of power should be exercised by a
different body, so that they can each keep an eye
on the other (check and balance)
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Principles 2. Supremacy of Parliament (Parliamentary Sovereignty)
Underlying
The British •Parliament is the highest source of English law; so long as
Constitution a law has been passed according to the rules of
parliamentary procedure, it must be applied by the
courts.

•Dicey (legal Philosopher) : Parliament has ‘the right to

make or unmake any law whatever; and, further, that no
person or body is recognized by the law of England as
having a right to override or set aside the legislation of
Parliament’.

•The reasoning behind this approach is that Parliament, is

democratically elected.

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Principles 2. Supremacy of Parliament continued..
Underlying Powers Curtailed
The British •The new Scottish Parliament, created by the Scotland Act
Constitution 1998, can make laws affecting Scotland on health,
education, local government, criminal justice etc.

•The Northern Ireland Act 1998 similarly gives the Northern

Ireland Assembly power to make legislation for Northern
Ireland on health etc.

The Welsh Assembly have the power to make delegated

legislation

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Principles 3. Rule of Law
Underlying No person must suffer punishment or pay damages for any
The British conduct not expressly forbidden by the law as
Constitution determined trough the courts”
Professor:
A. B. Dicey

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Sources of
Law

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Historical Background
•Before the Norman conquest, different areas of England were governed by
different systems of law based largely on local custom.
•The king had little control over the country, and there was no effective central
government
•William the Conqueror gained the English throne in 1066, he began to
standardize the law.
•Representatives of the king were sent out to the countryside to check local
administration, and were given the job of adjudicating in local disputes,
according to local law.
•When these ‘itinerant justices’ returned to Westminster, they discussed the
various customs of different parts of the country and, by a process of sifting,
rejecting unreasonable ones and accepted those that seemed rational, to form
a consistent body of rules.
•During this process – which went on for around two centuries – the principle of
stare decisis (‘let the decision stand’) grew up. Whenever a new problem of law
came to be decided, the decision formed a rule to be followed in all similar
cases, making the law more predictable.
•As a result in 1250, a ‘common law’ had been produced, that ruled the whole
country. It would be applied consistently and could be used to predict what the
courts might decide in a particular case. It contained many of what are now
basic points of English law 45
• The principles behind this ‘common law’ are still used
today in creating case law
Case law
• From the basic idea of stare decisis, a hierarchy of
precedent grew up, in line with the hierarchy of the
modern court system

• A judge must follow decisions made in courts which are

higher up the hierarchy than his or her court.

• The body of decisions made by the higher courts, which

the lower ones must respect, is known as case law.

• STARE DECISIS - a Latin term that means “let the decision

stand” or “to stand by things decided”

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 Judicial Precedent – the method of following
the decision made from a case
In deciding a case, there are two basic tasks:
Case law 1.What are the facts
2.How the law applies to those facts
It is the second task that can make case law,
and the idea is that once a decision has
been made on how the law applies to a
particular set of facts, similar facts in later
cases should be treated in the same way

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•Judgement

•The judges listen to the evidence and

the legal argument and then prepare a
written decision as to which party wins,
based on what they believe the facts
were, and how the law applies to them.
This decision is known as the judgment.
•Judgement has 2 parts:
1.The explanation of the legal principles
on which the decision is made is called
the ratio decidendi ‘reason for
deciding’.
•It is this part of the judgment, known as
binding precedent, which forms case law.

2. All the parts of the judgment which do

not form part of the ratio decidendi of
the case are called obiter dicta – ‘things
said by the way’.
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•These are often discussions of hypothetical situations: for
example, the judge might say ‘Jones did this, but if she had
done that, my decision would have been . . .’.

•None of the obiter dicta forms part of the case law, though
judges in later cases may be influenced by it, and it is said
to be a persuasive precedent.

•In deciding a case, a judge must follow any decision that has
been made by a higher court in a case with similar facts.

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Act of parliament

Another term for Act of Parliament is

statues.
Statutes are made by Parliament
Which consists of the House of
Commons, the House of Lords and the
Monarch.
In Britain, Parliament is sovereign,
which has traditionally meant that the
law it makes takes precedence over
law originating from any other source

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 Act of
parliament
Understanding the UK Parliament
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RAMbIz3Y2JA

Answer the following questions:

1.What are the 3 elements of the
parliament?
2.State 2 primary duties of the
parliament
3.State 2 primary duties of the house of
commons?
4.How are lords appointed?
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1. What are the 3 elements of the parliament?
the House of Commons- first chamber
the House of Lords- second chamber
The monarch
2. State 2 primary duties of the parliament
•Check and challenge the work of the Government (scrutiny)
•Make and change laws (legislation)
•Debate the important issues of the day (debating)
•Check and approve Government spending (budget/taxes)
3. State 2 primary duties of the house of commons?
•Debates on issues
•Proposes laws and amend the existing
•Challenges the government work
4. How are lords appointed?
Lord are selected based on their experience and knowledge and hold
government to account by using their expertise to look at laws and issues in
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details
•The Parliament of the UK had 3 roles.
1.Debate and pass legislation
2.Scrutinize the work and role of the government
3.Provide a mechanism for the government to raise taxes.
•The UK Parliament consists of 2 houses and broadly speaking any
decision made in one of the houses must be approved by the
other.

•The House of Commons is made up of elected members (MPs) and

the party that holds a majority of seats usually forms the
government. This is where the majority of debate on big political
issues takes place and from this the proposal of new laws.

•House of Lords is made up mainly of those appointed by the Queen

but there are members internally elected and a small number from
the Church. The Lords has a major role in the passing of new
legislation and as advisers on policy and special topics.
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How Are Laws Made?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1K
FGt9M-j28
https://www.parliament.uk/about/how/
role/
Answer the following questions:

1. Before law becomes a law what is it

known as?
2. Explain the stages of the bill in the
parliament
3. Why does the House of commons
have the final say in a Bill?

54
1.Before law becomes a law what is it known as? bill
2. Explain the stages of the bill in the parliament-
i.First reading- The title of the Bill is formally read out. It is then printed and published.
ii.Second reading- The minister (or MP) in charge explains the purpose of the Bill and a debate
on its general principles follows. Provided the Bill survives any vote, it passes to the
Committee stage.
iii.Committee stage- The Bill is discussed in detail by a Standing Committee (20–50 MPs chosen
according to party strengths) or the whole House sitting as a Committee. The Bill is examined
clause by clause and any amendments are voted on
iv.Report stage- The Bill is formally reported to the House and amendments made in Committee
are considered
v.Third reading- The Bill is debated again in general terms. Only minor verbal amendments can
be made. If there is a majority in favour, the Bill proceeds to the other House.
vi.House of lords- The Bill passes through a similar procedure in the Lords. As a non-elected
body, it does not have an absolute right of veto, but it may delay the progress of a Bill.
vii.Royal assent- This is something of a formality as the Queen’s approval is never refused these
days. The Bill is now an Act of Parliament.
3. Why does the House of commons have the final say in a Bill?
All Bills go through both the House of Commons and the House or Lords before receiving the
Royal Assent. Normally, the consent of both Houses is required but the Lords lost its right to
reject legislation under the Parliament Act 1911, and the queen never refuses
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Because the member are elected
Making an Act of Parliament
1. Policy Development
Before the parliamentary legislative
process begins, usually a policy
objective will have been identified by
the Government (election manifesto or
included in an official consultation
document, known as a Green Paper).
Green Paper: puts forward tentative
proposals, which interested parties may
consider and give their views on.
The Green Paper will be followed by a
White Paper, which contains the specific
reform plans.

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57
Making an Act of Parliament Continued..
2. Bill
•Public Bill: affect the whole country
•Private Bill : matters relating to a
particular locality, mainly promoted by
local authorities seeking additional
powers to those granted by general
legislation
•Private member’s Bill: introduced by a
individual MP or private peer without
guaranteed government backing. Is
unlikely to become law unless the
government lends its support.
•Government bill: introduced by a
minister with the backing of the
government and are almost certain to
become law

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First reading: The bill arrives in the Lords. This stage is a
formality where the bill name is read in the chamber
Second reading: The main debate on the purpose and key
areas of the bill. At this stage members discuss any
concerns or specific areas where they think changes may
be needed. There are usually no votes (divisions) at this
stage
Committee stage: Detailed line-by-line scrutiny of the text
with amendments (suggested changes). Members start at
the front of the bill and work through to the end. Votes
may take place to decide whether to make the changes.
Any member may take part and there is no time limit
Report stage: A further opportunity to examine the bill and
make changes. More amendments are debated and further
votes take place to decide whether to make the changes
Third reading: A ‘tidying up’ stage, aiming to close any
loopholes. A final chance for amendments and votes
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Consideration of amendments: If the Lords has made changes to the draft law, it
is sent to the Commons to agree. The Commons may accept the Lords change,
make its own change in its place, or reject it. Any Commons changes are sent
back to the Lords. There may be several rounds of this process, known as ‘ping
pong’Royal Assent: When both Houses have agreed the text, the bill is
approved by the monarch and becomes a law or ‘Act of Parliament’

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 Statutory Interpretation
•Courts find that the implications of a statute for the
case before them are not at all clear.
Example:
A broad term was used, leaving it to the user to
decide what it includes. Where a statute bans
vehicles from the park, courts would have to decide
whether it also prohibited skateboards, bikes or
roller skates.

•The job of the courts is to discover how Parliament

intended the law to apply and put that into
practice.

Often difficult to ascertain the meaning of a

legislation/statute, therefore court will interpret the
law

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 What is meant by interpreting the law?

“A process by which the courts determine the

meaning of a statutory provision for the purpose
of applying it to the situation before the
courts”
-Sir Rupert Cross
When interpreting the law court will rely on several
sources:
The Interpretation Act 1978
•certain standard definitions of common provisions
are given;
I. The singular includes the plural
II. ‘he’ includes ‘she’
Interpretation sections
•At the end Acts definitions are provided

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Rules of statutory interpretation:
I.Literal rule:
Apply the literal/ plain meaning- if the words of the statute are clear and unambiguous, the court must
give them their ordinary plain meaning, regardless of the result.
Whitely v Chapell (1868)
A statute aimed at preventing electoral malpractice made it an offence to impersonate ‘any person
entitled to vote’ at an election. The accused was acquitted because he impersonated a dead person
and a dead person was clearly not entitled to vote!
London and North Eastern Railway Co v Berriman (1946)
A railway worker was knocked down and killed by a train, and his widow attempted to claim damages.
The relevant statute provided that this was available to employees killed while engaging in ‘relaying or
repairing’ tracks; the dead man had been doing routine maintenance and oiling, which the court held
did not come within the meaning of ‘relaying and repairing.

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II. Golden rule:
Where the words of a statute are capable of two or more meanings, the judge must adopt the interpretation
which produces the least absurd result.

R v Allen (1872)

defendant was charged with the offence of bigamy under s.57 of the Offences Against the Person Act 1861.

The statute states 'whosoever being married shall marry any other person during the lifetime of the former

husband or wife is guilty of an offence'. Under a literal interpretation of this section the offence would be

impossible to commit since civil law will not recognize a second marriage any attempt to marry in such

circumstances would not be recognized as a valid marriage.

Held:

The court applied the golden rule and held that the word 'marry' should be interpreted as 'to go through a

marriage ceremony'. The defendant's conviction was upheld.

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III.I. Mischief Rule

Elliott v Grey (1960)

The Road Traffic Act 1930 provided that it was an offence for an uninsured
car to be ‘used on the road’. The car was on the road, but jacked up, with
its battery removed, but the court held that, as it was nevertheless a hazard
of the type which the statute was designed to prevent, it was covered by
the phrase ‘used on the road’.

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III.II Purposive Approach: takes a more liberal approach to statutory
interpretation than is traditionally associated with the mischief rule.

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IV. Ejusdem generis: General words which follow specific ones are taken to include only things of the
same kind. For example, if an Act used the phrase ‘dogs, cats and other animals’ the phrase ‘and
other animals’ would probably include other domestic animals, but not wild ones.

V. Expressio unius est exclusio alterius: Express mention of one thing implies the exclusion of another.
If an Act specifically mentioned ‘Persian cats’, the term would not include other breeds of cat.
VI. Noscitur a sociis: A word draws meaning from the other words around it. If a statute mentioned
‘cat baskets, toy mice and food’, it would be reasonable to assume that ‘food’ meant cat food, and
dog food was not covered by the relevant provision.

VII. Presumptions
Unless there are clear words to the contrary, the court will make a number of assumptions. Certain
points are implied in all legislation:
Existing rights are not to be interfered with laws which create crimes should be interpreted in favour of
the citizen where there is ambiguity;legislation does not operate retrospectively

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 Delegated Legislation
•There are three main forms of delegated legislation:
•Produced, usually by specific government departments,
but these do not usually need to go through the
process of parliament.

1.Statutory instruments: These are rules, regulations &

orders made by Government minister, national in
effect
2.Bye-laws: Byelaws are effectively local laws to deal
with local issues. They are made by a body, such as a
local authority, using powers granted by an Act of
Parliament, and so are a form of delegated legislation.
Bye-laws have to be approved by central Government/
the consent of the appropriate minister.
3.Orders in Council: These are made by Government in
times of emergency. They are drafted by the relevant
Government department, approved by the Privy
Council and signed by the Queen.

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 BREXIT
1.European travel rules change

2.Duty-free shopping will return

3.The rules change for UK citizens who

want to move to the EU

4.There are new rules for EU citizens in

the UK

5.There'll be a new UK immigration

‘Brexit’ is the name given to the United Kingdom’s departure from the
system
European Union. It is a combination of ‘Britain’ and ‘exit’.

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 Custom
•Its main use is in cases where a traditional local practice –
such as fishermen being allowed to dry their nets on a
particular piece of land, or villagers holding a fair in a
certain place – is being challenged.
•To be regarded as conferring legally enforceable rights, a
custom must fulfill criteria's;
I. Time immemorial
II. Reasonableness
III. Certainty and clarity
IV. Locality
V. Continuity
VI. Exercised as of right
VII. Consistency
VIII. Obligatory
IX. Conformity with statute
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Equity

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EQUITY VS. EQUALITY
• WHAT IS THE DEFINITION OF EQUITY?
Equity, in its simplest terms as it relates to racial and social justice,
means meeting communities where they are and allocating resources
and opportunities as needed to create equal outcomes for all
community members.
• WHAT IS THE DEFINITION OF EQUALITY?
Equality means each individual or group of people is given the same
resources and opportunities, regardless of their circumstances. In social
and racial justice movements, equality can actually increase inequities
in communities as not every group of people needs the same resources
or opportunities allocated to them in order to thrive.

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• Equity recognizes each person has different circumstances and needs, meaning
different groups of people need different resources and opportunities
allocated to them in order to thrive.

• Equality, on the other hand, is giving everyone the exact same resources across
the board, regardless of individual or groups of people’s actual needs or
opportunities/resources already provided to them.
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Equitable Principles

•Equity means to be fair and just

•Developed in the courts to

supplement the common law as over
a period of time the common law
became a very rigid system of law
and in many cases it was impossible
to obtain justice from the courts.

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 The common law failed to keep pace with the needs of an increasingly
complex society.

•The writ system was slow to respond to new types of action. If a suitable
writ was not available, an injured party could not obtain a remedy, no matter
how just his claim.

Why was it •The writ system was very complicated, but trivial mistakes could defeat a
claim.

developed? •Deficiencies in the common law: judges adhered rigidly to the laid-down
rules and procedures.

•Under the common law the main remedy is damages

•Under equity remedies are discretionary: granting an injunction (stop) or

compel a performance.

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 •Promissory estoppel- is the idea that a promise can be

Equitable enforced by the law if, after relying on that promise, the
promisee is injured or suffers a resulting loss

Principles •Employment contracts- All employees have an

cont.– In employment contract with their employer. A contract is

an agreement which includes employment conditions,
rights, responsibilities, duties.

Action/ •Consumer contracts- is a contract made between a

examples merchant seller and a consumer. A “merchant” is any

person who deals in goods of the kind of their
occupation, or has knowledge or skill related to the
goods involved in the transaction.

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Treaties

TREATY, a binding formal

agreement, contract, or other
written instrument that
establishes obligations between
two or more subjects of
international law (primarily states
and international organizations)
Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties
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• The term treaty is used generically to describe a variety of
instruments, including conventions, agreements, arrangements,
protocols, covenants, charters, and acts.

• A treaty is normally negotiated between plenipotentiaries provided by

their respective governments with the “full power” to conclude a
treaty within the scope of their instructions. A country’s signature is
often sufficient to manifest its intention to be bound by the treaty.

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Ex-
• Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
• UN Convention on the Law of the Sea
• Convention to Eliminate All Forms of Discrimination Against Women
• Rome Statute for an International Criminal Court
• International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR)
• Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR)
• Convention on the Rights of the Child

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Thank you
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