Introduction to Law:
Sources of Law,
Law and Ethics,
Learning Objectives
This chapter provides an overview of some
of the concepts and principles which form
the background to the topics covered in the
rest of the course.
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How is the course structured?
setting the scene
◦ getting to grips with key legal sources –
reading and understanding cases; reading and
interpreting statutes, reading academic
literature
◦ describing some basic characteristics of the
legal system (eg. courts)
Course Learning Outcomes
That is, By the end of the course, you
should be able to …
Course Learning Outcomes
1. demonstrate knowledge and
understanding of some of the
fundamental principles and institutions
of the legal system of England and Wales
Course Learning Outcomes
2. demonstrate knowledge and
understanding of a variety of roles
played by law in society
Course Learning Outcomes
3. identify, retrieve and discriminate among
sources of law and sources of
information relevant to law
Course Learning Outcomes
4. synthesise and analyse a variety of
information sources to develop further
knowledge, construct arguments and
draw conclusions supported by
appropriate authority
FUNCTIONS, FEATURES,
VARIETIES, CHARACTERISTICS
Functions of legal language
◦ to establish rights and obligations
◦ to distribute information
◦ to enable communication within the legal
profession
Legal Foundations
10
Learning outcome
Distinguish between law and other social
rules and conventions
Explain the difference between public and
private law
Distinguish between civil law and criminal
law
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Universal features of legal language
extreme precision
obscurity, ambiguity
archaism (structures and vocabulary)
Universal features of legal language
formalism, ritualism, ceremonialism
wordiness, redundancy
lengthy and complex sentences
(embeddings)
impersonal constructions (passive)
terms of art, technical terminology
CHARACTERISTICS OF LEGAL ENGLISH
common words with specialist meaning
old or middle English words
Latin words and phrases
words of French origin
terms of art
CHARACTERISTICS OF LEGAL ENGLISH
argot
formal words
words and expressions with flexible
meaning
extreme precision
many words where one will do
What is Law?
Categories of Law
Sources of Law
Brief Comparison of England and the U.S.
16
English Common Law
U.S.
Constitution
State #1 State #2
Constitution Constitution
Federal Congress Executiv
Courts e Branch
Agencies
State Stat Stat State Stat Stat
Courts e e Courts e e
Leg Exec Leg Exec
Agencies
Agencies
Individual or Business 118-2 17
Types of Law- Type
Criminal
Civil
Administrative (Quasi Civil)
118-2 18
Why do we need law?
to provide a governmental structure and
legislative procedures: constitutional law
to provide public services and to raise
taxes to pay for them: administrative and
revenue law;
to regulate and promote the economy:
administrative, civil and criminal law are all
involved
19
Why do we need law?
to promote public order and preserve national
security: criminal law
to give individual members personal rights and
duties in relation to others and to enable
personal enforcement of these rights: the civil
law
to give legal validity to approved relationships
and transactions between members of the
society
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The purpose & function of law?
To enforce morality
Maintains social control
Protects public order
To resolve disputes
Protects certainty of systems
Brings out justice in society
To protect citizens´ from the government
(e.g. Bill of Rights)
21
The purpose & function of law? (cont.)
To protect minorities from majorities
Setting standards of conduct behavior
To structure the government
(e.g. Constitution)
To resolve disputes peacefully, civilized
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Defining the Law
Some law is “black letter”
Most law is very ambiguous and hard to
pin down
◦ Court interpretations of statutes –
“precedent”
◦ Ethical interpretations
◦ Tradition and practice of police, courts and
agencies
◦ Case law or “common law”
118-2 23
Jurisprudence, or “What is Law?”
“Law is what the sovereign says it is.”
Decisions stand, regardless of morality.
“An unjust law is no law at all and need
not be obeyed.”
Laws must have a good moral basis.
“Enforcement of the law is more important
than the law itself.”
Enforcers determine if the law is applied
in a fair and consistent way.
118-2 24
What is Law?
Law may be defined as a body of rules,
created by the state, binding within its
jurisdiction and enforced with the
authority of the state through the use of
sanctions
A set of rules and procedures usually
intended to regulate some aspect of
society
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What is Law?
Law provides rules
It tells us what we can and cannot do
Therefore, it is important for a
businessperson to know the rules which
apply to them
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What is Law? (cont.)
Different countries have different forms of
law and social order
In this module, we shall be looking at some
of the principles of English Law
However, many of these principles can be
found in other legal systems
◦ even if the details are different
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Categories of Law
Law is a very large field, and it is common to
divide it into categories
common law and civil law
private law and public law
civil law and criminal law
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Common Law and Civil Law
A legal system is the way the law is
structured and operated in a country
◦ England and Bosnia have different legal systems
Common Law and Civil Law are terms
used to describe legal systems
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Common Law
Common Law is used to describe legal
systems based on the English legal system
These are usually countries which were
once part of the British Empire
◦ eg: America, Australia, New Zealand
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Civil Law
Civil Law is used to describe legal systems
which are based on old Roman Law (from
the Roman Empire in what is now Italy)
eg: France, Germany
Paraguay is usually classified as a civil law
system and it is based on Roman Law
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Common Law v. Civil Law
Common Law Civil Law
Case law and the Consists of a legal code
courts are most of general principles
important source of law which is the source of
law
32
Common Law v. Civil Law
Below: A world map showing countries today that have a civil law system (light blue), countries that
have a common law system (green), and countries that have both (orange).
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Applying the Law
• Begin with black letter law
• Evaluate the moral situation
• Apply the moral pressure against the strength of
the law
1) The less clear the black letter law, the more
likely moral standard determines outcome.
2) The stronger the moral conviction the more
likely moral standard determines outcome.
118-2 34
Private Law and Public Law
Private Law and Public Law are concerned
with relationships
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Private Law
Private Law deals with the relationships
between ordinary people in everyday
transactions
That includes you and me, as well as
businesses and companies
Private Law includes the law of contract
and the law of tort
36
Private Law
Individual Individual
Law regulates relationship
between them
Examples
Contract and tort issues, employment
and company law, land, and equity and
trusts matters.
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Public Law
Public Law deals with the relationships
between government organisations and
ordinary citizens
◦ also between different government
organisations
Public Law includes constitutional law,
administrative law, and criminal law
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Public Law
State State Bodies
Individual
Law regulates relationship
between them
Examples
Human rights matters, immigration and
citizenship, criminal law, planning law,
licensing law.
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Civil Law and Criminal Law
In this category, “civil law” has a different
meaning from the Common Law and Civil
Law category
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Civil Law
In this category, civil law deals with the
relationships between individual citizens
Its purpose is to settle arguments between
individuals
It helps people to find remedies
◦ it doesn’t really punish people
Civil Law includes all Private Law and some
Public Law
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Criminal Law v. Civil Law
A very important difference between
criminal law and civil law relates to court
cases
In a criminal case, the prosecutors (ie the
State) must prove their case beyond
reasonable doubt
In a civil case, the parties only have to
prove their case on the balance of
probabilities
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Sources of Law English Law
Common Law system
Sources of Law
◦ European Union
◦ Domestic Legislation
◦ Case Law
Case Law important in developing and
explaining the law.
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English Legal System
1. Introductory remarks
English Legal System covers the law making
machinery and the rules governing it,
It covers people involved in decision-making
and operation of the system
English Legal System refers to England and
Wales. Scotland and Northern Ireland have
separate legal systems.
English Legal system
Cownie and Bradney define legal system as a
system constructed around the resolution of
legal disputes:
'Legal systems are there to determine what
will happen when people have disputes. Legal
rules are also there so people can order
their lives in such a way as to avoid such
disputes' English Legal System in Context
