Exercise 5. Choose the incorrect word or phrase and correct it.

a. Do you think we can get Karen takes us to San Diego?

b. We will have to get someone fixing the phone right away.

c. I’ll get that John should get the wiring for me.

d. We couldn’t get him sign the agreement.

Different types of law

Since the law does cover such a wide variety of matters it can be helpful to divide it into different categories. The first distinction is that between international and national (municipal) law; national law can then be classified into public and private law; finally these classifications can be sub-divided into a number of different categories. These divisions are explained below.

International and national law

International law is concerned with disputes between nations; much of this law comes from treaties which have been agreed by the governments of the countries. National law is the law which applies within a country: each country will have its own national law and there are often wide differences between the law of individual countries. This can be shown by the fact that Scotland has its own law and legal system which are quite separate from the law and legal system which operate in England and Wales. For example, while serious criminal cases are tried by jury in both systems, the Scottish jury has 15 members and the decision can be made by a simple majority of eight to seven. In contrast the jury in England and Wales has 12 members, at least 10 of whom must agree on the decision.

Public and private law

Within national law there is usually a clear distinction between public and private law. Public law involves the State or government in some way, while private law is concerned with disputes between private individuals or businesses. Both public and private law can be sub-divided into different categories.

Public law

There are four three main types of law in this category. These are:

* criminal law

* constitutional law

* administrative law

Criminal law

This sets out the types of behaviour which are forbidden at risk of punishment. A person whocommits a crime is said to have offended against the State, and so the State has the right to prosecute them. This is so even though there is often an individual victim of a crime as well. For example, if a defendant commits the crime of burglary by breaking into a house and stealing, the State prosecutes the defendant for that burglary, although it is also possible for the victim to bring a private prosecutionif the State does not take proceedings. However, if there is a private prosecution, the State still has the right to intervene and take over the matter. At the end of the case, if the defendant is found guilty, the court will punish the defendant for the offence, because he or she has broken the criminal law set down by the State. The victim will not necessarily be given any compensation, since the case is not viewed as a dispute between the burglar and the householder. However, the criminal courts have the power to order that the offender pays the victim compensation and can make such an order, as well as punishing the offender.

Constitutional law

This controls the method of government and any disputes which arise over such matters as who is entitled to vote in an election, or who is allowed to become a Member of Parliament, or whether an election was carried out by the correct procedure.

Administrative law

This controls how ministers of State or other public bodies such as local councils should operate. An important part of this is the right to judicial review of certain decisions.

Private law

This is usually called civil law and has many different branches. The main ones are contract, tort, family law, law of succession, company law and employment law. It is sensible to have some ideas of what types of dispute may be involved in these areas of law, so look at the following situations.

· The family complain that their package holiday did not match what was promised by the tour operator and that they were put into a lower grade hotel than the one they had paid for.

· A woman has bought a new car and discovers the engine is faulty.

All these situations come under the law of contract. There are, of course, many other situations in which contracts can be involved.

Now look at the next list of situations; they are also civil matters, but of a different type.

· A child passenger in a car is injured in a collision (the tort of negligence)

· A family complain that their health is being affected by the noise and dust from a factory which has just been built near their house (the tort of nuisance)

· A woman is injured by faulty machinery at work (the tort of negligence, but may also involve occupiers’ liability and/or employer’s duty under health and safety regulations).

All these cases come under the law of tort. A tort occurs where the civil law holds that, even though there is no contract between them, one person owes a legal responsibility of some kind to another person, and there has been a breach of that responsibility. There are many different types of tort, and the above examples demonstrate only some of them. Many cases arise from road traffic crashes, since drivers owe a duty of care to anyone who might be injured by their negligent driving.

Other divisions of private (civil) law concentrate on particular topics. Family law covers such matters as whether a marriage is valid, what the rules are for divorce and who should have the day-to-day care of any children of the family. The law of succession is concerned both with regulating who inherits property when a person dies without making a will, and also what the rules are for making a valid will. Company law is very important in the business world: it regulates how a company should be formed, sets out formal rules for running companies, and deals with the rights and duties of shareholders and directors. Employment law covers all aspects of employment, from the original formation of a contract of employment to situations of redundancy or unfair dismissal. As well as these areas of private law, there are also laws relating to land, to copyright and patents, to marine law and many other topics, so it can be seen that civil law covers a wide variety of situations.

It is important to realize that civil law is very different from criminal law. Criminal law is part of public law while civil law is the separate category of private law. The reason that criminal law is part of public law is that crime is regarded as an action against the state and society as a whole. Civil law is called private law because the issues it deals with are between two individuals. The two types of law have different aims and are dealt with in different courts.

Date: 2016-01-14; view: 1223