Business Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 4

Business - Essay Example They both provide the English legal system necessary tools for the correct and fair application of law. They are flexible yet rigid so as to ensure consistency of approach and certainty of law.1 Statutory Interpretation Parliament has the power to enact laws. The law making is subject to a long and complicated process. Courts in England and Wales have the power to interpret these laws (statutes) made by the Parliament whenever cases involving the respective statutes appear before them during the course of judicial proceedings. The judges/courts will explain how the relevant law is applicable in practice to the problems the courts are seized of during the course of litigation process. The meanings of the words appearing in the statutes of Parliament are interpretable by the judges in accordance with Statutory rules and Common law rules. Statutory method consists of Interpretation Act 1978 and Internal or Intrinsic aids while Common law method consists of literal rule by which courts r ender plain meaning to the words irrespective of result, golden rule by which courts adopt the meaning of the words more appealing to common sense in the case of more than one meaning being attributed to the word in question, mischief rule by which the judge has to interpret in the light of knowledge if the law has a defect or mischief , ejusdem generic rule which requires words must be interpreted as a person or thing belonging to the same class or genus, expressio unius est exclusion alterius rule which means that in case of a rule mentioning one or more things, other should be excluded oscitus a soccis rule which requires to follow the contextual meaning of a word in question. Further there are presumptions and use of extrinsic material. The presumptions entail that courts can a make various assumptions such as act not with retrospective effect, not binding the crown, not altering the common law, restricting personal liberty and creating criminal liability. The extrinsic material s serve as sources of information. They are International Conventions and Treaties, Law Commission Reports and Hansard proceedings which once had not been allowed to be used for statutory interpretation2. Judicial precedent Judicial precedent is common law system by which a precedent serves as an authority, principle or rule established in a litigation formerly decided. This becomes a binding or persuasive precedent for lower courts or tribunal to be followed in deciding future cases with similar facts or issues. The precedent appears in various forms. They are precedent in action that refers to the judge’s speech in a judgement, European Court of Justice (ECJ) since all the English courts are bound by the ECJ concerning European law with effect from 1973, The Supreme Court (formerly House of Lords) as this is the highest domestic court of appeal serving as the judicial authority which the House of Lords enjoyed formerly. Court of appeal whose decisions are binding on the Hig h Court and whose decisions are bound to the Supreme Court, Divisional Courts who are bound by the decisions of Supreme Court and Court of Appeal and High Court which is bound by the decisions of Supreme Court, the Court of Appeal and Divisional Court and not by another High court judge. 3 It would be clear therefore judiciary’s function is not to simply apply the laws but to interpret them and establish binding precedents. It is because there are difficulties in drafting out legislation and there are chances of unintended meanings and ambiguities creeping in the statutes. In many cases, the Parliament’s intent will be very clear in which case it will facilitate Court’s interpretation in an unambiguous manner. Courts are enabled to