متون حقوقی - شماره ۱

The English legal system has two types of law :

a)   Common law : the basic principles of law as applied in past cases, (case law) where parliament has not made any special rulings or acts.

b)    Statute law : specific laws passed as acts of parliament. Statute law takes priority over common law so far as it covers the case being heard.

The system gives lot of power to judges. They, however, are always bound by the decisions of more important courts than their own.

They most apply the law in the same way and adopt the higher court’s reasoning is their own consideration of the case.

Civil and criminal

There is another two-way division of English law into civil law and criminal law.