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Public Law
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PUBLIC LAW I
Table of Contents
Origins of the common law.......................................................................................................................2
Case law...................................................................................................................................................6
Public law: Equity...................................................................................................................................10
Primary & secondary legislation.............................................................................................................13
Rules of statutory interpretation.............................................................................................................15
Introduction to Human Rights.................................................................................................................16
Sources of European Union Law..............................................................................................................20
The criminal courts.................................................................................................................................22
The Civil Courts.......................................................................................................................................25
Statutory judicial bodies and tribunals....................................................................................................27
The Senior Courts....................................................................................................................................30
Theft Act 1968........................................................................................................................................34
Mental Health Act 1983..........................................................................................................................35
Introduction to UK constitution – the UK state........................................................................................36
Introduction to UK constitution: UK constitutional history......................................................................38
Characteristics of UK constitution...........................................................................................................41
Introduction to constitutional conventions..............................................................................................44
The UK constitution: Parliament.............................................................................................................46
The Executive..........................................................................................................................................49
The Judiciary...........................................................................................................................................52
Devolution..............................................................................................................................................54
The Monarch..........................................................................................................................................57
Responsible government.........................................................................................................................59
The PM, Cabinet, and CMR.....................................................................................................................59
Individual Ministerial Responsibility (IMR)..............................................................................................62
Ministerial Code.....................................................................................................................................64
The Civil Service......................................................................................................................................68
Who is who in Parliament.......................................................................................................................70
Workings of Parliament..........................................................................................................................74
The institution of Parliament..................................................................................................................77
Parliamentary legitimacy and privilege..................................................................................................77
Parliamentary scrutiny...........................................................................................................................82
Passage of legislation.............................................................................................................................85
Separation of powers..............................................................................................................................89
,Overview................................................................................................................................................89
SOP: the Executive..................................................................................................................................91
SOP: independence of the judiciary.........................................................................................................95
SOP: Law-making....................................................................................................................................98
Judicial scrutiny of the Executive...........................................................................................................101
Rule of law............................................................................................................................................105
Rule of law – overview..........................................................................................................................105
The rule of law – tensions.....................................................................................................................111
Rule of law – limits on executive power................................................................................................115
The royal prerogative – overview..........................................................................................................119
Control of the prerogative – legality.....................................................................................................123
GCHQ and substantive review...............................................................................................................127
Control of the prerogative post-GCHQ...................................................................................................130
The UK constitution: Parliamentary sovereignty – historical background and theory............................134
Limitations on parliamentary sovereignty.............................................................................................138
The EU and parliamentary sovereignty.................................................................................................141
Impact of HRA 1998 on parliamentary sovereignty...............................................................................145
Parliamentary sovereignty and the common law..................................................................................148
Intro to EU law – sources, enforcement & supremacy............................................................................154
Brexit and the EUWA............................................................................................................................160
Origins of the common law
Summary
- Current legal system of England and Wales is result of many centuries of evolution and
development
- Common law emerged as part of centralising influence of the monarch in the medieval period
- Common law gradually supplanted locally based and administered customary law
- Legal remedies now available, such as damages, have evolved from earlier forms of relief
- Rigidity of common law processes caused problems which contributed to emergence of law of
equity
What is law?
- Law is the system of rules which a particular country / community recognises as regulating the
actions of its members
o Which it may enforce by the imposition of penalties
Legal evolution
- There are many functions that the play plays
o Maintains the peace and safety in society
o Regulates relationships between individuals and other legal entities
o Protects human rights and liberties
o Ensures smooth running of economic and political activities
, - As a body of rules designed to promote orderly conduct of society, law must reflect the wishes /
tolerance of broad majority of the population
o In order to be credible and enforceable
- Must develop in line with societal changes in order to remain relevant to those living under the
‘rule of law’
- Although development looks to the future, the historical development of English legal system is not
a subject that is relevant only to historians
o Law that we have today is a by-product of a long history of legal development
Stages of legal development
- Development of law in England and Wales can be broadly divided into the following periods:
o Pre-1066 (Norman Conquest)
Locally based systems and customs of Anglo-Saxon society
o 1066-1485
Formation of common law and its imposition over and above local systems and
customs
o 1485-1870s
Development of equity
2 separate legal systems coexist
o 1870s-present
Joint jurisdiction for common law and equity
Massive development in statute law
Growth of governmental and administrative bodies
Influence of EU law (post 1973)
The monarch as the source of justice
- Today’s legal system has its origins in the king’s and queen’s courts
o Following Norman conquest, it gradually became possible to dispense a more centralised
form of justice
With King as central figure
- In Norman period, Curia Regis (king’s council) played the role of an itinerant court
o Allowing monarch to exercise his personal power (high justice) in most important of cases
o Prototype central court existed alongside local courts (in shires and hundreds) that had
been a feature of Anglo-Saxon period
o King was aided in administration of justice by a group of semi-professional skilled clerics
who were part of royal entourage
These clerics eventually took on function of deciding disputes themselves
Because autonomous from King and established themselves at Westminster
Establishment of a fixed King’s Court was required by Magna Carta in 1215
King’s Council gradually developed and different branches of court evolved to deal
with different types of disputes
The 3 courts
- 3 courts developed from the King’s Council
o First was Court of Exchequer
Dealing with royal finances
o Second was Court of Common Please
Dealing with ownership and possession of land
o Third was Court of King’s Bench
Dealing with serious criminal matters
- These 3 courts remained until Judicature Act 1873
, - To make provision for administration of law outside London, royal justices were dispatched to
provinces with a royal commission to hold assizes (sittings) of the royal courts
o Initially the assize courts had jurisdiction only over criminal matters
Later extended to civil matters
o Assize courts continued until enactment of Courts Act 1971
- An appeal court also emerged in form of Court of Exchequer Chamber
o Abolished in 1875 when its jurisdiction was transferred to new Court of Appeal
The common law
- Over time, the king’s courts became essential to resolution of disputes between citizens
o Law which the king’s judges applied was based upon common customs of the country
Hence the term common law
- Process was most notable following calling of first assizes by king Henry II (1154-89)
o To deal with legacy of a lengthy civil war involving his predecessor King Stephen
o Re-establishment of royal power provided opportunity to apply the law of the king’s courts
countrywide
- Effectiveness of new system depended upon growth of king’s courts and their eventual ascendancy
over local courts
o Process did not come about easily
o Expansion of king’s courts was resisted by local barons who saw it as a threat to their power
Which was often exercised through local courts
o Nevertheless, growth of new system continued
Was firmly in place and recognised as supreme over local courts by the time of reign
of Edward I (1272-1307)
Common law – meaning
- Important to be aware of different meaning of term common law and to identify which meaning
the term bears in particular context in which it is used
- Term common law may be used:
o In the historical sense
To distinguish the law as applied by the king’s judges as opposed to law as applied by
local customary courts
o To distinguish the law as applied by king’s courts as opposed to ruled of Equity
A system developed by separate Court of Chancery
o To distinguish case law from statute law
Case law: law as developed by judges through system of precedent
o To identify law as applied by common law countries as opposed to law applied by civil law
countries where law is based on Roman law
The writ system
- Common law which was developed by king’s courts was a procedural system
o There was no automatic right of access to king’s courts
o To be able to pursue a claim, claimant had to purchase a writ from the chancellor before an
action could be brought before the courts
- A writ was a document with a royal seal that constituted a royal demand for the defendant to
appear before the court
o Contained the foundation of the complaint, with a different form of writ being used for each
ground of complaint / form of action
- Writ system soon became rigid
o Forms of these writs became fixed and only Parliament could allow a new type of writ to be
issued
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