Impacts of UKs European Union Membership on English Legal System - Essay Example

IMPACTS OF UK’S EUROPEAN UNION MEMBERSHIP ON ENGLISH LEGAL SYSTEM IMPACTS OF UK’S EUROPEAN UNION MEMBERSHIP ON ENGLISH LEGAL SYSTEM Introduction The United Kingdom’s legal environment is comprised of three systems including English law, Northern Ireland law, and Scots law. England and Wales are under the English law whereas the Northern Ireland law applies in the Northern Ireland. Both these legal systems are based on common-law principles. In contrast, the Scots law is based on civil-law principles and applied in Scotland. The United Kingdom does not maintain a single legal system because UK was formed by the unification of previously independent countries. The Supreme Court of the United Kingdom, the highest court in the country, came into force in 2009 by replacing the Appellate Committee of the House of Lords. Legislation, common law, European Union law, and the European Convention on Human Rights constitute the four principal sources of law in the United Kingdom. Legislation is created by a legislature, and the Acts of Parliament represent the major pieces of legislation in the land. UK parliament is the only authoritative body to pass laws that apply in all the four countries. As Davies states, the European Union law has a great influence on the UK, and even takes precedence over the UK law since United Kingdom is a member state of the European Union1. This paper will evaluate how UK’s membership of the EU impacts the character of the English legal system and the UK law. EU influence on English legal system and UK law While analyzing the EU influence on the English legal system and the UK law, it is better to focus primarily on the European Convention on Human Rights. United Kingdom is a signatory to the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR); and The Human Rights Act 1988, which was enforced in October 2000, requires all UK courts to protect the rights specified in the ECHR2. It clearly indicates the UK courts’ obligation to comply with the human rights requirements identified by ECHR. In other words, UK courts cannot follow any other law in the protection of human rights that would contravene ECHR provisions on human rights. It is a difficult task to measure the accurate influence of EU laws on the UK legal system due to several reasons. According to The House of Commons Library, “there is no totally accurate, rational or useful way of calculating the percentage of national laws based on or influenced by the EU”3. However, the House of Commons Library stated that any measure of EU influence between 15% and 50% could be justified4. The extent of the EU influence on the UK legal spectrum may vary in accordance with the particular law considered for analysis. Acts enforced by the UK Parliament, rules and regulations developed by regulators, and regulations framed by the EU constitute the UK law. The following diagram provides a detailed view of the proportion of the UK law which was influenced by EU regulations. 5 From the figure, it is clear that Acts put in place by the UK Parliament with EU influence make up 14% of the UK law during the 1980-2009 period when regulations initiated by legislators with EU influence also account for 14% over the 1997-2009 period. The figure also indicates that EU initiated regulations in UK account for 53% in 2009. In the view of some politicians, the percentage is much higher. Viviane Reding, one of the EU Commissioners, claims that 70% of the UK laws are now influenced by the European Union6. According to the view of the European Parliament, a significant percent of the laws followed by the House of Commons and House of Lords are EU laws, and they are considered national laws by the member states’ national parliaments. It is important to remember that the EU policies are formed by the EU parliament which is comprised of the representatives from the member states. Therefore EU laws that come from Brussels should not be considered like laws that are formed by some distant imperial rulers for their colonies. Today many people consider EU legislation as a bureaucratic system that eliminates national identity. Although UK cannot simply ignore EU legislation, it can challenge the legal policies and provisions developed by the EU Parliament7. If the UK has any doubt regarding the legitimacy of enforcing a particular piece of EU legislation in the country, the UK national courts can suspend the domestic measures that implement the legislation. Sometimes the UK government may be required to amend the Treaty that becomes an obstacle to the enforcement of an EU legislation. Under such circumstances, the UK government will be compelled to make the amendment required by an Act of Parliament or by an Order of the Privy Council. According to a BBC report, the impact of the EU legislation on the UK domestic law will vary in accordance with the form it takes and the way the national government chooses to implement it8. The report also suggests that the country’s central government must constantly interact with its permanent representatives in Brussels to make sure that the legislation being planned is in line with UK’s national interests9. As a powerful member of the EU, the UK government can prevent the framing of EU laws that would hurt the national interests to some extent. While evaluating how the UK’s membership of EU affects the country’s legal environment, it seems that the membership provides the country with several merits and some demerits. Actually the EU laws are made to support the objectives identified in the EC Treaty such as promoting the establishment of a free market between the EU member states or enhancing the long term sustainability of the environment10. It is important to note that EU laws give emphasis to common laws like human rights and food and safety whereas most of the criminal laws can be national. Hence the EU legislation does not limit the powers of the UK legal system to a great extent. Referring to the words of Davies, since the UK government is a member of the EU, it is specifically vital for the country to meet the Commission’s timelines for execution. Failure to implement the Commission’s directives within the stipulated time would lead to possible actions against the government11. Therefore the government departments would approach the project implementation more seriously, and the situation in turn may increase the operational efficiency of the UK legal spectrum. The EC may bring infraction proceedings before the ECJ under Article 226 of the Treaty. According to the BBC report, UK has a strong record in this regard as the recent reports available indicate that UK was the only member state of EU in 2007 “to see more infractions dismissed than declared”12. However, the EU influence on the UK legal system has some negative impacts too. According to Foster, the major negative effect is that whenever a new EU law is introduced, UK is forced to ensure that its national legislation is consistent with the newly formed EU law13. If it is not, the country’s legal system must take immediate measures to amend the existing legal provisions and thereby abide by the EU legislation. As a result, the UK legal system’s stability is challenged to a large extent, and the country is often compelled to withdraw its stated programs and activities. In other words, the sovereignty of the country is greatly impacted by the influence of the EU laws14. Since the United Kingdom, as a member state, is always needed to maintain a balance between EU legislation and the national legislation, the country often fails to form strong legal policies that would meet the personal interests of the UK in the long term. However, the UK government’s policy to comply with only the minimum requirements of the European directives is better to improve the powers of the UK legal system. The EU legislation also influences the use of judicial precedent by courts in UK. The following section illustrates two such cases. Case studies Flaminio Costa v ENEL [1964] ECR 585 (6/64) was a landmark decision made by the European Court of Justice and it established the supremacy of EU law over the legal framework of its member states including UK15. In this case, Mr. Costa, an Italian citizen and shareholder of an electricity company protested against the nationalization of the Italian electricity sector. Due to the non-payment of his electricity bill in protest, Mr. Costa was sued by the newly established, state owned electricity company, ENEL. He argued that the nationalization implemented was clearly a violation of the Treaty of Rome and the Italian Constitution. The case was then referred to the Italian Constitutional Court and subsequently to the European Court of Justice (ECJ). According to the Italian Constitution Court’s verdict (March 1964), the limitation of sovereignty granted by Italian Constitution for certain international organizations, it did not intend to offend the normal rule of statutory interpretation. As a result, the Treaty of Rome could not be a barrier to the electricity nationalization planned. The case was then referred to the ECJ where the court observed that Costa had no right to challenge the Italian government’s decision because the provisions of the Treaty of Rome had no direct effect. However, the ECJ disagreed with Italian government’s stand on the ground that the citizen of an EU member state can use a point of EC law to oppose a national government in legal proceedings16. The court also ruled that EC law would be of no use unless Costa is able to challenge the national law on the ground of its alleged non-compliance with EC law. The ECJ specifically stated that the Treaty of Rome was an independent source of law, and had a special and original nature. Laws framed by such a treaty could not be superseded by domestic legal policies. Furthermore, in this case ECJ made a major ruling that a court must refer cases that have reached the highest point of appeal in the member states if there is any question regarding the application of EU law. As Slaughter points out, R v Secretary of State for Transport Ex p. Factortame 1990 was another landmark decision made by the ECJ to establish its supremacy over the national law17. In this case, the UK government required a Spanish fishing company to maintain a majority of British owners if it wants to register the ships in the UK. The Spanish company sued against the UK government claiming that the UK had breached the EU law by imposing domestic legal provisions on the firm. The UK High Court and subsequently the House of Lords referred the case to the European Court of Justice to review the legality of the Merchant Shipping Act 1988 which had required the UK fishing vessels to have a 75% UK ownership. The ECJ ruled that the Merchant Shipping Act 1988 was against the provisions of the EU law. To be in compliance with the EU law, the House of Lords supported the supremacy of EU law over UK law because UK is a signatory to the EU treaties. The ECJ also held that the requirements of the MSA 1988 should be disapplied by the UK government if they violated the EU legal provisions18. Another major ruling made by ECJ in this case is that UK shall be liable for damages resulting from any action taken by the EU for the violation of EU law19. These two cases clearly show the influence of EU on the character of the English legal system and UK law as a result of the UK’s membership of the EU. Conclusion From the above discussion, it is clear that the EU membership of the United Kingdom does not impose much unnecessary regulatory burden on the UK. This legislative influence greatly benefits the country to improve its efficiency in terms of legal performance. Statistical data indicate that EU influenced policies and regulations in the United Kingdom account for 53% and this figure clearly reflects the growing influence of EU legislation on its member states like UK. Although UK tries not to go beyond the minimum requirements of the EU legislation, laws that come from Brussels still limit the sovereign power of the United Kingdom. In short, United Kingdom’s membership of the European Union significantly affects the behavior of the English legal system and the UK law. Bibliography BBC News, “Q&A: How UK adopts EU laws”, (21 July 2009) Davies, Karen, Understanding Eu Law (US: Routledge, 2013) EU Constitution (Law E 520), Catalyst, 2014 European Commission, “Application of EU law” Foster, Nigel, EU Law Directions (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012). Groves, Jason, “Britons too ignorant for EU referendum: Top official says debate on Europe is so distorted that people could not make an informed decision”, Daily Mail (11 Feb 2014) Johnson, Philips, “EU: is Britain still a sovereign state?”, The Telegraph (17 Sep 2009). “The Legal System of the United Kingdom”, Charted Institute of Legal Executives Rosas, A., Levits, E & Bot, The Court of Justice and the Construction of Europe: Analyses and Perspectives on Sixty Years of Case-law - La Cour de Justice et la Construction de lEurope: Analyses et Perspectives de Soixante Ans de Jurisprudence (UK: Springer, 2012). Sippitt, Amy, “UK law: What proportion is influenced by the EU?”, Fullfact.org (March 26, 2014) < https://fullfact.org/europe/eu_make_uk_law-29587> Slaughter, Ann-Marie, A New World Order (Princeton University Press, 2009). Sixth form law < http://sixthformlaw.info/02_cases/mod2/cases_ec_law.htm> Read More