2. U.K. Laws
Where do Laws come from?
Our main source of Law comes from Parliament.
This is known as Statute Law. Have a look at the
following clip to understand how laws are made:
http://www.parliament.uk/education/online-
resources/parliament-explained/the-commons-and-
lords/
Judges also make law through the decisions they make,
this is known as Common Law. Eg. Our current law on
Murder has been built up over 500 years of judges
decisions. It has not come from Parliament
They are both types of Law – they must be obeyed.
3. U.K. Laws
What are the main types of Law?
There are offences of criminal law which can lead
to fines or imprisonment and are investigated by
the police.
Civil law is when an individual takes action
through the courts to determine responsibilities
or to seek damages.
Can you think of an example of a criminal case and
a civil case?
4. • So, now we know where Laws come from why is
it that we respect them?
• Do we respect laws because we want to avoid the
punishments induced for non compliance; or do
we obey laws because of an innate sense of
morality?
Discuss…
What rules have you broken?
Did you get sanctioned?
Was the sanction suitable?
Do we break rules if we think we can ‘get away with
it’?
Do laws protect our liberties?
Discussion - Why respect laws?
5. Civil liberties
Civil liberties are freedoms which protect
individuals from state abuse or government
power.
Civil liberties set limits for government so that it
cannot abuse its power and interfere with the
lives of its citizens
In this country we enjoy certain rights such as
freedom of assembly, freedom of religion,
freedom of speech, the right to due process, to a
fair trial, to own property and to privacy.
6. The Human Rights Act
1. Right to Life These are some of the rights written
2. Prohibition of torture in the Human Rights Act
3. Prohibition of slavery and DISCUSSION
forced labour • Do you think all these apply in
4. Right to liberty and security modern Britain?
5. Right to a fair trial • Do you think Human Rights
6. No punishment without law should apply to all, including
prisoners?
7. Right to respect for private and
family life
8. Freedom of thought, conscience
and religion • Last week 3 men who have been
9. Freedom of expression given whole life tariffs (rest of
their natural life in prison) were
10. Freedom of assembly and challenging their sentence saying
association it amounted to “inhumane
11. Right to marry treatment”
• http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-
20433191
7. Does the law protect or restrict?
Task: with a partner think of arguments for and
against the following:
CCTV cameras - the U.K has more surveillance
equipment than the whole of Europe put
together!
ASBOs – Anti Social Behaviour Orders restrict
movements and control offenders.
Mosquito Repellers (low level sonic devices
that only affect young people)
Should the government be able to restrict
our movements? In what circumstances
should this be allowed?
8. The Effects of Crime
Crime effects many people, not just the victims.
There has been a recent move towards
‘restorative justice’ which forces offenders to
confront the crimes they have committed by
meeting their victims. There was a recent
suggestion that knife crime offenders should visit
A&E wards to consider the effects of their actions.
What do you think about this?
BBC News knife victims visited in A&E_files
