Text 4. English law

English law can be divided into Statute Law¹, Common Law and Case Law². Statute Law consists of all laws passed by Parliament. The majority of laws are proposed and drafted by the government in power, any member of the House of Commons or House of Lords can also propose a law. An exception to this is that only a member of the House of Commons may introduce a financial Bill. The laws that are drafted by the government, as the laws proposed by individual members of the House of Commons or House of Lords, must be agreed to by Parliament before they become effective. That means that they must be passed by the elected House of Commons, approved (in most cases) by the House of Lords, and confirmed by the Sovereign.

Common Law consists of principles and rules of conduct based on the ancient customs of the country and recognized by the Courts as Law. Common Law is unwritten, and its principles can be learnt only by intensive study of past court decisions and ancient custom. The Common Law can, however, be changed or developed by statute.

But more important perhaps than either the Statute Law or even the Common Law are decisions of the Courts. Just as the many ancient customs of the land make up the Common Law, the collected decisions of the Courts form English "Case Law". Once Parliament has passed a law, the courts must decide what the words of that law mean. The interpretation of the Courts remains till either a higher Court decides that this interpretation was wrong, or Parliament passes another law and changes it.

So once a Court decided against the government on a question of what a law means – and the Courts may decide that a law as worded means something quite different from what the government intended – the government must accept the decision of the Court. They may, if the Houses agree, pass another law. But that takes a great deal of time and trouble.

Notes:

¹ Statute Law – статутное право, писаный закон

² Case Law – прецедентное право