Historically, the American legal system was based of the British legal system and inherited a lot of its characteristics which are present in the American law up to this day. However, since the United States gained their independence, the judicial system also underwent significant changes. These changes were mostly due to specific events in the history of America as an independent country, such as adding the Bill of Rights to the Constitution. Nowadays, the two legal systems have their original similarities as well as differences, some of which are of major importance. This essay will analyze the main features of the UK law and the differences and similarities between the British and the American law.
The UK law has several distinctive features. The first one is that the law system differs from region to region, as the United Kingdom is comprised of England, Scotland, Wales and North Ireland. Each of these regions has its own law; thus, it is difficult to talk about the UK law as a single system. The next feature is that there is no unified constitution. The constitution of the UK consists of separate acts and documents adopted at different stages which are not joined together. The only unifying factor is the issuing authority, which is the Westminster Parliament. The Parliament is also the body responsible for the legislative process. There are primary and secondary sources of law, the former including legislation and case law, and the latter including experts’ opinions, courts decisions, as well as textbooks (Wilson, 2019). There is a common law which takes its origin in precedents and customs. The civil law includes contract law, tort law, company, revenue, intellectual property law, family law and media and communications (Arheim, 2019). Some of these features distinguish the British law from the American law, and some of them are not unique to the UK.
The law of the United Kingdom and the law of the United States have the same basis due to the history the countries share. One of the similarities is the common law, which the US law is also based on. This system, based on adopting laws taking into consideration customs and precedents, originated in the UK, and it was preserved in the United States as well. The system of precedents is a crucial feature of both the British and the American law, and it is a defining feature of the Anglo-American legal system as a whole (Mousourakis, 2019). Precedents mean that all the legal decisions that are taken have an importance in the following rulings. The common law is the basis of both the British and the American legal systems; thus, this similarity is the most important one.
Compared to the similarities, the differences are not major. One of the differences is that in the UK court system there are courts that tackle minor offences (both criminal and civil), while in the US there is no such type of court. The courts in America are strictly separated, and criminal and civil matters are never dealt with by the same body (Mousourakis, 2019). Another difference is that the UK possesses a Tribunal system, while the US does not. These features do not represent drastic differences, and the overall system is still very similar.
To conclude, over the centuries, the American law has undergone some changes and deviated from the original British system in some ways. There are minor differences such as the court system or the absence or presence of the Tribunal system, however the main similarity, which is the Common law, represents the basis of both the UK and the US law. Thus, the British and the American legal systems are predominantly similar.
References
Arheim, M. T. W. (2019). Anglo-American law: A comparison. Talbot Publishing.
Mousourakis, G. (2019). Comparative law and legal traditions: Historical and contemporary perspectives. Springer nature.
Wilson, G. (2019). English legal system (5th ed.). Pearson UK.