The English Legal System and Business Law - Essay Example

When dealing with a legal system the first thing to remember is the rule of law; classical perception and understanding of the British’s unwritten traditional constitution majorly relied on three pillars namely the rule of law, parliamentary sovereignty, and the separation of powers (Busch 27). The House of Commons, the Crown, and the House of Lords can enact limitless laws being that the UK parliament is composed of the three groups, the House of Commons and the House of Lords (Marsden 10).

Each arm of government is bestowed with specified responsibility independent of the other arms of government. However, the different arms of the British government are described as the executive, legislative, and judiciary. In addition, the direct functionalities of the arms of government include making laws, executing laws, and maintenance of laws (Marsden 32). The advantage of the distributed responsibility as showcased above is that; it enables the government to stay healthy and operate in a democratic manner due to the checks and balances performed by different arms of government (Kiikeri 41).

Through the power-sharing strategy, there is a possibility of the different arms of the UK government reconsidering power balancing so that the executive is not given too much power. People perceive the rule of law to be an illusion that would be difficult to pin down; however, there is a myriad classic interpretation of the contents of rule of law which is a hint to its essential nature that people can imagine within the society (Busch 76). Why should I obey the law? The International Bar Association’s ‘Rule of Law Resolution’ (2005) states that: ‘The Rule of Law is the foundation of civilized society.

It sets up a transparent process reachable and alike for all. It ascertains devotion to doctrines that both protects and liberates (Kiikeri 66).’ It is perceived that people do not always obey the law, however, maintaining life in the modern world calls for the willingness of people and citizens to observe the law at all times regardless of the decision of their rivals, which often differs in perception.

The rule of law is concerned with the relationship between individuals as well as the state. However, the rule of law also focuses on the processes of law enforcement and administration. In the UK, the principal theme derived from the concept of rule of law indicates that the law should not be administered ruthlessly or recklessly by the people in power; everybody should be equal before the law including those in power (Kiikeri 105). A system should be put in place to interpret and apply the law equally to all citizens.

European Union Law

The European Court of Justice (ECJ)

The European law was founded in 1957 and is currently governing 25 states with two new member countries, Romania and Bulgaria, which joined in January 2007. The US as a country joined the European Union in 1973, and since then they have incorporated the EU laws into their national laws. Having given more priorities to the EU laws, the UK parliament no longer has the jurisdiction to be the supreme lawmaker with limitations to sovereignty (Kiikeri 110).

The law council is the main decision-making body consisting of one member (minister) from every member country with authorization of committing their state to the legislative proposal (Smits 29).

The European Commission

The Commission is composed of 25 Commissioners, each from the Member States, allotted for a five-year term of office.  The Commission should direct EU policy and derive legislative suggestions before the Council for deliberation (Busch 68). The ECJ which is based in Luxembourg has 25 judges derived from the member state with 8 Advocates on general portfolios.  The Advocates are supposed to prepare an independent and impartial legal view of the case presented to ECJ for affirmation and consequently consideration.  The main purpose of the European Court of Justice is to guarantee that the Rome Statute of 1957 is interpreted and applied to the letter by the member states (Smits 153). The ECJ is mandated to perform within a wide jurisdiction over EU law and should be able to follow up cases brought by any member state within the EU institutions. For instance, any appeal from the House of Lords (Marsden 102).

Conclusion

Many questions are often raised as to why people should obey the rule of law. However, people tend to take the existence of law-making, interpretation, and application of the law for granted hence calling for the government unit responsible for maintaining law and order to take control. The creation of supreme courts within the constitution of the UK will visibly and practically strengthen the constitutional link between the judiciary and the legislature. The process would create a separate portfolio for judges and completely take them out of the House of Lords.

In order to align the English legal system in a more understandable way, it is adept to grab an understanding of the rule of law and define a few terms that are useful in the process of clarification, for instance, the parliamentary sovereignty, which signifies the legislative supremacy of the UK parliament.