Laws_Are_Made_and_Classified_in_a_Number_of_Ways.

“Laws are made and classified in a number of ways. Do you agree with this statement'” INTRODUCTION This essay will explain the different ways in which laws are made and classified in the UK. It will show that the UK has a common law legal system that has evolved through many centuries to cover every aspect of daily life in our society. It will discuss the role that the constitution has on the setting of rules and principles for the creations of laws, and the many ways that laws are created and classified. THE WAY LAWS ARE MADE The UK has an unwritten constitution, which determines the way that the state is governed and set the basic principles, rights, responsibilities and freedoms for all citizens. The constitution also implements a balance of power between the main institutions of the state (the Government, the Parliament and the Judiciary), ensuring that no person possesses absolute control of the country. There are many ways in which laws are created, one of them is through Acts of Parliament, sometimes known as legislations, the UK Parliament is the highest source of law and has the right to make any law it chooses, a law made by the UK Parliament can only be override by the UK Parliament. The House of Lords and the House of Commons make the UK Parliament. All acts Parliament start as a bill, which can be: Public bill (presented by government ministers to change the general law of the country), Private members bill (presented by individual back bench MPs) or Private bill (presented by a local authority or public body). A bill must go through different steps before it becomes a law. This steps enable the proposed bill to be discussed and to be taken into detail consideration by both of UK Houses of Parliament, once they have reached an agreement the bill will become an Act of Parliament after receiving royal assent. The Acts will become laws on their date of initiation. The UK Parliament can also give power to another body or person to create a law, this is called a subordinate legislation, the reason for this could be insufficient Parliament time for the amount and detail of new laws needed, or laws that need technical expertise or local knowledge. Occasionally the wording of an act is not very clear due to lacking time for mending it, in this cases the courts will implement their constitutional role and define what parliament intended. Common law had its beginnings during the time of William the Conqueror. When trying to establish a more centralized government his representatives resolved local disputes by using the laws of the area, the more sensible laws where then used throughout the land, in this way law became common throughout. Nowadays common law is called case law as it comes from the decisions that judges make in court and are used later on as guidelines for cases with similar particulars. Conventions are not laws but are principles, rules or practices that have been followed and established for many years because they seem to be the right way of doing something, an example of this is that the Prime Minister of the UK cannot stay in office without the support of the majority of the seats of the House of Common. More recent sources of law are the European Union (EU) and the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). The first one emphasizes in matters such as trade and the freedom of movement of workers between the EU members. And the (ECHR) main role is protecting the basic rights of individuals e.g., the right of life. They both create laws in different ways. CLASSIFICATION OF LAW Law can be divided into civil law and criminal law, civil law is brought to settle disputes between private individuals, the case is brought by a claimant and only has to be proven on the balance of probabilities, the party at fault usually is made to pay compensation or comply with a suitable remedy. Criminal law on the other hand protects society in general, is brought by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) or the state, has to be proven beyond reasonable doubt and if found guilty the defendant will be punished by the state. Other ways of classifying the law are public or private law. As its name indicates public law involves the state or government. Constitutional law, Administrative law and Criminal law all fall into this category. Public law covers laws that help with the functioning of society and its found in areas such as work, education and every day life. Some examples of law that fall into this category are employment law and the law of succession. CONCLUSION As can be seen laws are made and classified in the UK in many number of ways and they come from different sources. This is to protect the rights of individuals and to preserve society as a whole, also to address a balance between the rights and responsibilities of individuals. 840 Words. REFERENCE LIST Goodey, J.A., Howells, C. and Zambellas, A. (2008) Starting with Law, Milton Keynes, The Open University. Wikipedia (2008) Constitutional Convention (political Custom), http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constitutional_convention_(political_custom) (Accessed 28 September 2011).