Reference to statutory instruments

The most common form of delegated legislation is the statutory instrument. Each statutory instrument is allocated a number, and reference to the instrument is to the year of issue followed by the number so allocated. For example,

S.I. 1968 No. 1911

relates to the Town and Country Planning (Planning Inquiry Commissions) Regulations, 1968.

The printing of Bills, Acts of Parliament and statutory instruments is done by Her Majesty’s Stationery Office. The Statutory Instruments (Production 1730, Sir Edward Coke’s Institutes (1628-41), Sir William Blackstone’s Commentaries (1765), and Sir Michael Foster’s Crown Law (eighteenth century).

The above works and a few other early works, written when law reporting had barely begun, are accepted as books of authority and therefore as an original source of common law.

The modern textbook is not a source of law, and not a book of authority. However, such works may have persuasive authority; counsel may adopt the view of a distinguished academic writer and the court may accept that view of the law. In this way the writer is influencing the law. Works by Cheshire, Dicey, Winfield, Salmond, Williams and Smith and Hogan have often been referred to in this way, particularly on points which are not covered by authority or where there is some doubt about the authority. As Mr. R.J. Walker has commented, “On the whole the persuasive authority of a standard textbook is of considerable weight.”

Similarly, articles in legal journals such as the Criminal Law Review, the Law Quarterly Review and the Cambridge Law Journal have been referred to in the courts.

Classification of Law

Warming-up:

1. What area of law interests you most? Why?

2. Try to classify the following branches of law into Public Law and Private Law: Law of Contract, Constitutional Law, Law of Tort, Criminal Law, Law of Property, Administrative Law, Law of Succession, Family Law. Check your answer after reading the text.

Vocabulary notes:

substantive	матеріальний
wrongdoing	правопорушення
offence	правопорушення, злочин
to punish	покарати
disobedience	непокора
to forbid	забороняти
imprisonment	ув’язнення
penalty (fine)	штраф
discharge	звільнення
prosecution	судове або кримінальне переслідування
to determine	визначати
to enforce	застосовувати
enforceable	забезпечений судовою санкцією, має позовну силу
remedy	засіб захисту права
breach	порушення
property	власність
devolution	перехід до іншої особи(права, майна)
succession	спадкування
prejudice	упередженість, (юр.) шкода, збитки
accused	обвинувачений
incompatible	несумісний

Дата добавления: 2014-12-17