1. TAYLORS LECTURES
SOURCES OF LAW

2. INTRODUCTION TO SOURCES OF LAW
SOURCES OF LAW IN THE UK
STATUTE
DELEGATED LEGISLATION
CASE LAW
EUROPEAN (EU) LAW
INTERNATIONAL TREATY
CUSTOM
EQUITY

3. Statute A statute is a law that is passed by Parliament.
Parliament can make new laws or revoke old laws. The courts will then apply the law.
There are three types of bills:
Public Bills
Private Members Bills
Private Bills

4. Process for Passing Act of Parliament
The Bill stage
Report stage
First Reading
Third reading
Second Reading
House of Lords
Committee stage
Royal Assent

5. Delegated Legislation
Statutory Instruments – Prepared by government departments
By-laws – made by public bodies, local authorities and national bodies, such as relating to conduct on the railways and in town centres
Orders in Council – made by the Government in times of national emergency

6. Case Law (or “Common Law”)
Effectively Judge-made law, by applying the law in a way that follows decisions in previous cases. These decisions may then bind lower courts. Recent example: Case of ‘M’ relating to the courts not having to be consulted for medical practitioners and family members to agree to withhold life sustaining treatment to terminally ill patient.

7. EU Law Produces new law e.g. GDPR relating to Data Protection
Courts must interpret and apply UK law in a way that avoids conflict with EU law
Enforceable through application to the European Court of Justice

8. )
International Treaty
There are over 14,000 treaties that the UK is party to. These can be accessed via the Government Website UK Treaties Online (UKTO)
Signatories agree to be bound by the terms of the treaty. The subject matters may be wide, for example the Kyoto Agreement on climate

9. Custom
This was based on traditional local practice for interpreting laws. As steps are made for consistency nationwide, this is increasingly less relevant.

10. Equity
This is a specific branch on law which mostly applies to property law. The principle, though, is of ensuring fairness, when the law may not directly specify that, so it may arise in other areas. An example might be somebody being stopped from taking an action that harms somebody else when they have promised not to do so and the other person has acted in reliance upon that.

11. EU and UN Declaration of Human Rights
EU DECLARATION
UN DECLARATION
Binding on EU countries. Law should be applied in accord with this and this can be enforced through the European Court of Human Rights. It may affect non-EU countries seeking to operate in the EU, e.g. Google
Enforced by the UN as an international law