Essay
(W100/TMA02) A brief look at the way in which law is made and interpreted
- Module
- An introduction to Law
- Institution
- The Open University (OU)
W100 Rules, Rights and Justice (Weaitt, M, 2011).
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W100 Rules, rights and justice: an introduction to lawQuestion 1
a) An Act of Parliament creates a new law or changes an existing law. An Act
is a Bill approved by both the House of Commons and the House of Lords and
formally agreed to by the reigning monarch (known as Royal Assent). Once
implemented, an Act is law and applies to the UK as a whole or to specific ar-
eas of the country.
b) Delegated legislation, normally statutory instruments (SI's), involve Parlia-
ment granting authority to another party to make law, subject to the confines
of the enabling legislation (parent Act). SI's typically originate from the legal
department of the responsible minister, bylaws with local authorities and other
types of delegated legislation by their associated body (e.g. the Law Society
for lawyers).
c) The Supreme Court, as well as being the final court of appeal, plays an im-
portant role in the development of United Kingdom law. As an appeal court,
The Supreme Court cannot consider a case unless a relevant order has been
made in a lower court.
The Supreme Court:
- Is the final court of appeal for all United Kingdom civil cases, and criminal
cases from England, Wales and Northern Ireland
- Hears appeals on arguable points of law of general public importance
- Concentrates on cases of the greatest public and constitutional importance
- Maintains and develops the role of the highest court in the United Kingdom
as a leader in the common law world
d) Statutory interpretation (SI) is the judicial process by which disputes over
the meaning of Acts of Parliament (caused by the limitations of language, as
well as mistakes and omissions during law creation) are resolved. SI involves
using various 'rules' (literal, golden, mischief and purposive) with varying ex-
tents of interpretative latitude and also certain 'presumptions' as to the intent
of Parliament. The golden rule states that if the words used are ambiguous
the court should adopt an interpretation that avoids an absurd result. Lord
Wenslydale stated in Grey v Pearson (1857) HL Cas 61 “the grammatical and
ordinary sense of the words is to be adhered to unless that would lead to
some absurdity…in which case the grammatical and ordinary sense of the
words may be modified” (Lord Wenslydale, 1857, cited p.182). An example of
this was in the case of Adler v George (1964) 1 All ER 628. Mr. Adler was ar-
rested for protesting in Marham Royal Air Force Station, Norfolk. He argued
that he hadn’t been protesting in the vicinity of a prohibited space, he had ac-
tually been within a prohibited space. The golden rule was applied to avoid an
absurdity (p.182).
e) A directive is a source of European Union Law and is a secondary legisla-
tion. When put in place, directives must be implemented within a certain time
limit by each EU member state. This time limit is to provide each EU member
state to bring their domestic law in line with the objectives of the directive. Any
member state who fails to comply, legal action may be initiated against that
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