There are two types of legal system: civil, and criminal.<\/p>\n
In a civil case, the burden of proof falls on the claimant, and must be proven on the balance of probabilities: is it more likely that the claimant is telling the truth?\u00a0 In a criminal case, the burden falls on the prosecution, and must be proven beyond reasonable doubt: the defendant must be acquitted if there is an explainable doubt.<\/p>\n
It is possible for a single offence to have both criminal and civil proceedings. For example,\u00a0OJ Simpson was taken to criminal court over murder, but acquitted since the evidence was not sufficient. He was taken to civil court by the relatives of the victims and found liable, since the necessary proof was less.<\/p>\n
Before 1066, there was no centralised law, which was a primary cause of what William saw as chaos and anarchy.\u00a0 William sent judges out around England to rule on disputes, who would then return to London and discuss the rulings they\u2019d made. The law of England was therefore made \u201ccommon\u201d over dinners at Grays Inn, Lincoln\u2019s Inn, and Inner and Middle Temple. This led to equity of disputes, and robustness.<\/p>\n
Common law<\/strong> is very rigid and sometimes unfair. If someone was unhappy with a decision, they would need to petition the king.\u00a0 In response to this rigidity, equity law<\/strong> developed to ensure fairness; for example, trust funds and co-habitation.<\/p>\n A trust fund is a contract between a father and a bank to pay the son a fixed sum when he is age 21. However, if the father dies the bank could refuse to pay, since they have no contract with the son. Common law dictates that there is privacy in the contract, but this is not necessarily fair. Equity rules that the son is included in the contract as a beneficiary in the trust.<\/span><\/p>\n Common law and Equity are now included in one court.<\/p>\n Legislation<\/strong> overrules common law and equity \u2013 it is supreme and sovereign. Parliament can make and unmake any law with a majority decision \u2013 it is impossible to define any law as unrepealable in the UK (many other Western countries have two layers of law: normal state or federal law passed by a congress; and constitutional law which cannot easily be changed).\u00a0 Laws defined by legislation must be enacted in the courts, with two exceptions:<\/p>\n There is therefore a mechanism to allow the courts to make a declaration of incompatibility if other law conflicts. This is not a direct repeal, it just points out to parliament that there is a conflict \u2013 the defendant must still go to the European Court of Human Rights.<\/p>\n An example of the European Communities Act 1992:<\/span> Parliament has the power to enable other bodies to make legislation \u2013 this is delegated legislation<\/strong>.\u00a0 Examples include regulations made by local councils or ministers.\u00a0 Parliament can remove these powers at any time.<\/p>\n Law is often set by precedent \u2013 that is, the rulings in one case can be applied to another. Directly applicable cases are binding; to decide whether previous cases apply we must separate the judgement into two areas:<\/p>\n Only the first of these is relevant when considering precedent.<\/p>\n There are four institutions responsible for EU Law:<\/p>\n The primary sources of EU law are the treaties; the Treaty of Rome in 1967 formed the economic union of six countries, and this has been amended by subsequent Treaties\u00a0 (Paris, Maastricht, and so on).<\/p>\n The secondary sources of EU law are directives, which are passed by the bodies above.\u00a0 In addition to these directives, which must be incorporated into each country’s law, bodies are able issue regulations (which do not require as much action as directives, but are still mandatory) or recommendations (which are not actually law).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" There are two types of legal system: civil, and criminal. Civil law governs occasions when two individuals have a dispute, and go before a judge to resolve the dispute. The judge rules either on precedent or by developing principles.\u00a0 The defendant, if found liable, must pay damages to the clamant \u2013 not as a form … <\/p>\n\n
\nOne aspect of the European Union is free trade. There was a problem with Spanish fishermen fishing off of the coast of Cornwall; parliament passed a law that only those with a British-owned boat were allowed to fish off of Cornwall. This however clashes with EU law, and the UK courts were therefore forced to choose between UK and EU law.<\/span><\/p>\nPrecedent<\/h3>\n
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EU Law<\/h3>\n
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