LAND LAW 1-

LAW 2003
AND LAW
2004
LECTURER: MS. SHANICE N. TROWERS,
FACULTY OF LAW
ATTORNEY-AT-LAW
EMAIL: SHANICE.TROWERS@UTECH.EDU.JM
OVERVIEW OF
LAW
 IN YOUR OWN WORDS, DEFINE
WHAT LAW MEANS TO YOU?
OVERVIEW
OF LAW
IN YOUR OWN WORDS,
DESCRIBE WHAT YOU BELIEVE
CAN HAPPEN IF YOU BREAK
THE LAW?
OVERVIEW OF LAW

 DESCRIBEWHAT YOU
THINK WOULD HAPPEN
IF THE WORLD HAD NO
LAW?
VIDEO-WHAT
WOULD THE
WORLD BE
WITHOUT
LAWS?
INTRODUCTION TO KEY LEGAL CONCEPTS

 What is law?
 Law has been defined as a set of rules, of one kind or another, which carry sanctions and are intended to
guide the activities of society and its members.

 Breakdown of the definition:

- Rules: are commands regulating behaviour; rules tell us what we can and cannot do.

- Creation of law: Parliament is responsible for creating most laws and it may delegate its law making
responsibility to other bodies (delegated legislation). The courts also in handing down judgments
which are subsequently followed by other courts also create laws, this is what called the doctrine of
binding precedents. Rules are also meant to regulate relationships.

- Jurisdiction: The law of any country is binding only within its territory.

- Enforcement: Laws are enforced by a relevant party initiating proceedings in a competent court.
 INTRODUCTION TO KEY LEGAL
CONCEPTS

 COMMON LAW:
 Common law (also known as judicial precedent, judge-made law, or case law) is the body of law created by judges and
similar quasi-judicial tribunals by virtue of being stated in written opinions. The defining characteristic of common law is
that it arises as precedent.
 Common law courts look to the past decisions of courts to synthesize the legal principles of past cases. If a court finds that
a similar dispute to the present one has been resolved in the past, the court is generally bound to follow the reasoning used
in the prior decision.
 If, however, the court finds that the current dispute is fundamentally distinct from all previous cases (a "matter of first
impression"), and legislative statutes are either silent or ambiguous on the question, judges have the authority and duty to
resolve the issue.
 The opinion that a common law judge gives agglomerates with past decisions as precedent to bind future judges and
litigants.
INTRODUCTION TO KEY LEGAL
CONCEPTS

 PRECEDENT/STARE DECISIS:
 Precedent or stare decisis is a principle or rule established in a previous legal case
relevant to a court or other tribunal when deciding subsequent cases with similar
issues or facts.
 ADVANTAGES OF PRECEDENT

 ADVANTAGES
 There is certainty in the law. By looking at existing precedents it is possible to forecast what a decision will be and plan accordingly.

 There is uniformity in the law. Similar cases will be treated in the same way. This is important to give the system a sense of justice
and to make the system acceptable to the public.

 Judicial precedent is flexible. There are a number of ways to avoid precedents and this enables the system to change and to adapt to
new situations.

 Judicial precedent is practical in nature. It is based on real facts, unlike legislation.

 Judicial precedent is detailed. There is a wealth of cases to which to refer.

DISADVANTAGES OF PRECEDENT

 DISADVANTAGES
 Difficulties can arise in deciding what the ratio decidendi is, particularly if there are a
number of reasons.

 There may be a considerable wait for a case to come to court for a point to be
decided.

 Cases can easily be distinguished on their facts to avoid following an inconvenient

precedent.

 There is far too much case law and it is too complex.

INTRODUCTION TO KEY LEGAL CONCEPTS

 EQUITY:
 Equity is the particular body of law, developed in the English Court of Chancery with the general purpose of
providing legal remedies for cases wherein the common law is inflexible and cannot fairly resolve the
disputed legal matter.
 Conceptually, equity was part of the historical origins of the system of common law of England, yet is a
field of law separate from common law, because equity has its own unique rules and principles, and was
administered by courts of equity.
 INTRODUCTION TO KEY LEGAL
CONCEPTS
 Legislatures/Legislation/Statute:
 A legislature, in whatever form, whether called Parliament, Legislative Assembly, Diet (as in Europe
and Japan), or Congress, is common to all world legal systems. It is a body of representatives assembled
to create legislation, usually public law (such as criminal) or regulatory law (such as taxation and
environmental protection).
 The legislation is in the form of a statute or act of the legislature – a legal document from the
government commanding or prohibiting something. This is always a written law, and it applies only to
the geographical territory of the legislature that enacts it. These public regulations are concerned with the
relationship between the state and its citizens, in the public interest. Today all legal systems use
legislatures as the main source of this public law.
 INTRODUCTION TO KEY LEGAL CONCEPTS

 What is a Legal System?

This is “the sum of legal rules, legal institutions and machinery which operate within the particular country or jurisdiction”.
There are many types of legal systems.
However, for the purpose of this course we will briefly examine the following legal systems:
 The Common Law Legal System:
 originated in England.
 was imposed upon the Commonwealth Caribbean through the process of colonization.
 describes the substantive and legal rules, techniques and institutions which evolved from the early courts of law in England after
the Norman Conquest and the subsequent ascendance of William, the Conqueror, to the English throne in 1066.
 Rules were promulgate on an ad hoc basis by the common law courts as matters came before them for determination. It is
sometimes called soft or judge-made law.
 Introduction to Key Legal
Concepts (cont’d)

 The Common Law Legal System still applies in Jamaica and most of the Commonwealth Caribbean
Countries.
 Central to continued growth of the common law is the doctrine of judicial precedent and an efficient
system of law reporting.
 Judicial precedent means the process whereby judges follow previously decided cases where the facts
are of sufficient similarity.
 The doctrine of judicial precedent involves an application of the principle of stare decisis ie, to stand by
the decided. In practice, this means that inferior courts are bound to apply the legal principles set down
by superior courts in earlier cases. This provides consistency and predictability in the law.
 INTRODUCTION TO KEY LEGAL
CONCEPTS (cont’d)
 The Civil Law or Roman- Germanic Tradition/ Legal System:
 has its historical base in Continental Europe, with its true origin being founded on the
laws of ancient Rome.
 found primarily in Latin America, parts of Africa, Continental Europe, Japan, Indonesia
etc.
 influences of this legal system may be found in St. Lucia and the Republic of Guyana.
 influenced by the Natural law school of thought which seeks to discover and teach a
fully rational law, based on reason.
 relies primarily on statute in the form of a Code as the ultimate source and technique.
 INTRODUCTION TO KEY LEGAL
CONCEPTS (cont’d)
 Sharia Law is a body of religious law that forms a part of the Islamic tradition.
 It is derived from the religious precepts of Islam and is based on the sacred scriptures of
Islam, particularly the Quran and the Hadith.
 In Arabic, the term sharīah refers to Allah's immutable divine law and is contrasted with fiqh,
which refers to its human scholarly interpretations.
 However, sharia has never been the sole valid legal system in Islam, and has always been
used alongside urf (customary law) from the beginning.
 The manner of its application in modern times has been a subject of dispute between
Muslim fundamentalists and modernists.
 INTRODUCTION TO KEY LEGAL
CONCEPTS (cont’d)
 THE FEDERAL LEGAL SYSTEM
 The US legal system is based on federal law. These are laws enacted by state legislatures and local
laws passed by counties and cities.
 Most rights and freedoms enjoyed by Americans are enshrined in the first ten amendments of the
US Constitution and popularly known as the ‘Bill of Rights’
 American law and the US Constitution apply to everyone in the US, irrespective of citizenship or
immigration status, and even illegal immigrants have most of the same basic legal rights as US
citizens.
 Under the US constitution, each state has the power to establish its own system of criminal and
civil laws, resulting in 50 different state legal systems, each supported by its own laws, prisons,
police forces, and county and city courts.
 There’s a wide variation in state and local laws, making life difficult for people moving between
states. Never assume that the law is the same in different states.
SOURCES
OF ENGLISH
LAW
Sources of law

 What is meant by the term Source of law?

 Sources of law are the origins of laws, the binding
rules that enable any state to govern its territory.
Sources of law

 Basedon the lecture,

can you name two (2)
sources of law?
Sources of Law

 Generally there are primary sources of law and

secondary sources of law.
 Primary sources of law are made by official bodies.
They include inter alia (among others): the
Constitution, Legislation/ Statutes, Case Law and
Treaties.
 Secondary sources of law are background
resources. They explain, interpret and analyze. They
include encyclopedias, law reviews, restatements.
Secondary sources are a good way to start research
and often have citations to primary sources.
Textbooks

 Required Text:

 LLB Learning Texts: land law- Roger Sexton-Oxford University Press, UK

 Outlines of English Law-S.B. Marsh & J Soulsby-Thornes, UK English Law-
Denis Keenan

 Recommended Text:

 Jamaican Land Law: A Dissertation for the Degree of master of Laws-V.B.
Grant (1959)

 Caribbean Law and Legal Systems-Rose-Marie Belle Antoine-Cavendish
Publishing Ltd.

 Business Law-K.R. Abbot & N. Pendlebury-DP Publications, UK-Legal
Dictionary
THE END
ANY QUESTIONS?