Discuss the ways in which law is changed and assess whether the law responds adequately to changes in technology and changes in - Essay Example

Download file to see previous pages It draws on the dominant morals, ethics and values to establish rules that are consolidated into law. Changes in Common Law comes with changes in the dominant culture of England at any point in time. Equity automatically developed after the Crown appointed a distinct unit of courts to handle cases based on the tradition of pardons that was established by in cases. Equity therefore changes with the changes in the dominance practices in the society. Aside Common Law and Equity which forms the basis of law in the UK, there are statutes that are created by Parliament as well as various units with powers arising from delegated legislation. Statutes are changed as and when a bill is presented before parliament and relevant bodies and changed as appropriate. Aside the British parliament, there are also various statutes that are created from the European Union as well as other international bodies that the country is signatory to like the United Nations. Statutes are interpreted by the Judiciary who are empowered as an autonomous body to do so. This is discharged through the various courts. The decisions of a court serves as precedence for other cases that may be presented to courts at its level or with jurisdictions below it. This is known as judicial precedents. Judicial precedents also change when the case at hand is decided in a manner that is quite different from the previous ruling. It can be pointed out that although the Common Law and Equity forms the broad framework within which the law is applied, Statutes are rules that are made and changed from time to time to ensure that the courts get a specific basis for the handling of cases. Changes in Law Rules are converted to laws when they are written down and backed by authority. Laws are created through bills which are discussed before parliament or an appropriate body, accepted, signed into law and enforced. In the UK today, Law is made by parliament – that is the House of Commons and the House of Lords. This therefore means that if a law is to be changed, it needs to go through the House of Lords and the House of Commons before it can be accepted as changed. A change in law can be prompted by a member of parliament, a Royal Commission set up to examine a certain law or situation in the society, a national emergency, the Law Commission or the party manifesto of the ruling government. All these outlets can potentially cause parliament to consider changing an existing statute to reflect situations that exist in the society at a given point in time. In this sense there are three main types of bills, there are the public bills, which affect the general public, the public members' bill which are put forward by an individual member of parliament. There is also a private bill which is a bill meant to create a law that affects a small interest group in the United Kingdom. After a proposition for a new law is raised before parliament, the relevant government department publishes a Green Paper that outlines the elements of the Bill and engage various interest groups in a consensus building process. When the inputs for all interest groups are taken, the civil servants in the Government department summarizes the advice and comments and present them to the Minister in question. The Minister examines the comments and publishes a White Paper that contains the main ideas of the ...Download file to see next pagesRead More