F4 商法和经济法

一. Law and legal system

1. Law is a formal mechanism of social control;

2. The distinction between criminal liability and civil liability is central to the English legal system;

3. In criminal cases, the state prosecutes the wrongdoer;

4. Civil law exists to regulate disputes over the rights and obligations of persons dealing with each other and seeks to compensate injured parties;

5. The civil court structure comprises the following: Magistrates’ Court, County Courts, The Crown Court, The High Court, The Court of Appeal, The Supreme Court;

6. The criminal court structure comprises the following: Magistrates’ Court, County Courts, The Divisional Court of QBD, The Court of Appeal, The Supreme Court;

二. Source of law

1. The first legal source of law, consisting of decisions made in the courts, is case law, which is judge-made law based on the underlying principle of consistency. Once a legal principal is decided by an appropriate court it is a judicial precedent;

2. Statements made by judges can be classified as ratio decidendi or obiter dicta;

3. The second major source of law is legislation. This is also known as statute law and may take the form of Acts of Parliament or delegated legislation under the Acts;

4. Legislation must be interpreted correctly before judges can apply it fairly. The literal, golden and mischief rules and interpretation developed over time. Nowadays a purposive approach is taken;

5. The Human Rights Act 1998 is a key example of the influence of International law in the UK;

6. The Human Rights Act 1998 incorporates the European Convention on Human Rights into UK domestic law;

7. The impact of the legislation is pervasive in many areas of UK law;

8. The Act has had an impact on new legislation, statutory interpretation and the common law.