English legal system Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

English legal system - Essay Example As far as a legal system is concerned the major influences that tend to play a part in respect of its development are the changing social, economic and cultural forces that tend to surround the system and are thereby prevailing. An important evaluation in this respect can be drawn from the decision-making processes, structure and organisation of the English legal system, and its relation with the differing social and economic forces that had been prevailing in that period of time. As far as culture and the so called cultural rules are concerned, it can be said with ease that these have played an important role in respect of decision-making, which can be seen from the period of William the Conqueror who introduced the concept of custom based rules and laws. The important thing that needs to be done at this point in time is to define the legal system, and for that a definition of law must also be presented. One vital point that needs to be mentioned here is that the term law and legal system have been used by many writers interchangeably but this can clearly be said to be a flawed concept. Aubert in his text ‘search of law’ (1983) stated the six functions of law to be â€Å"a means of governance; a way of shaping the behaviour of the citizens; a device for distributing resources and burdens in society; a method of safeguarding expectations, a method of dealing with conflicts and contributing to their solution; and an expression of ideals and values† This definition clearly requires the existence of a legal system per se as there would be no point in having such a definition in a non-existent legal system. As far as a comparison of English Legal System and other legal system is concerned it is necessary to differentiate between what is known as the ‘common law’ and ‘civil law’ the formed defines the English Legal System, the ‘adversarial’ and ‘inquisitorial’ process whereby investigation is ma de and the meaning of ‘equity’ and the reason for development of equity. There are number of things which tend to make the English Legal System stand out when compared with other systems, even though these might now only be on paper and not in implementation, these were and had played an important role in respect of the development of the English Legal System. The first and foremost distinguishing factor was the fact that since common law was existent in England, it had been to a maximum level if not totally in control of the judges and existed very little or no interference of legislation and the other fact was that the judges did not specifically take into account the differing jurisprudence. The second distinguishing factor for the English Legal System is that it has been thought to have its basis on common sense and is based on logic. The third distinguishing factor is the fact that the English Legal System is that arguably the system has law in respect of each and every situation, problem that is encountered in the legal system. Another important point that needs to be raised is that statutory interpretation was restricted to the statutes and nothing else that is not looking beyond the statute, however, it has been argued and clear that other sources have been used. The important feature which makes the