The document discusses the impact of European Union (EU) law on the legal system of the United Kingdom (UK). It outlines the various sources of EU law, including primary legislation, secondary legislation, general principles of law, and international agreements between EU member states. The UK joined the EU in 1973 and is bound by EU treaties to follow many EU laws, even if they conflict with UK interests. As a result, approximately 75% of UK laws are now similar to or influenced by EU laws. While the UK maintains sovereignty over some areas like criminal law, EU laws primarily govern UK trade, economic development, and human rights policies.

1. Impact of the different sources of EU law to the law of the UK
Student Name:
University:
Course:
Date:

2. Introduction:
The laws of the European Union influence the English legislative law system. The
UK law system basically comprises of many components. This is because they are
members of the European Union from 1973. But it should be noted that the UK laws are
Sovereign even though the EU heavily influences them. They EU laws primarily govern
the Business, Development of Economic principles and Human rights policy of the
European Union. (Alter, 2000). In order to fully understand the UK judicial system it is
imperative to understand the EU judicial system. The primary legislation, secondary
legislation, general principle of law and supplementary laws are part of EU. The Article
177 of the Rome treaty and European Commission act of 1972 play an important role in
the impact of EU on British legal system. This analysis is done in order to show the exact
aspects of impact the European Union laws has on the United Kingdom laws and where
they differ. The roots of the European laws are also analyzed in this analysis.
English Legal system General Hierarchical Design
Fundamentally the English legal system refers to whole of the United Kingdom.
Some rules of Great Britain vary between Wales and Britain. The sources of law of the
English legal system are developed from
 Parliament of Britain: According to the Legal system, the Parliament defines the
tone of the laws in the nation.
 Courts: there is a belief in the UK system that the courts existing way before the
parliaments so they use the judges of the court to define the laws
 Parliament Sovereignty
 Rule of law

3.  Separation of Powers doctrine.
 European Union: This is an international union that fundamentally makes UK
follow the rules because of the treaties signed between the member countries.
 Council of Europe: This is also an international union that covers the human
rights aspect of the nations (Huxley-Binns & Martin, 2014)
Many of the current laws of the English legal system are drawn from the European
Union. The European union has considerable influence on the legal system of United
Kingdom.
History and Sources of European Union
The European Union has existed around 20 years prior to the UK joining it. It
started to gain popularity after the Second World War. The countries in Europe wanted a
system that will protect and aid in each other’s growth.
The sources of the European Union laws are
 Primary Legislation
 Secondary legislation
 General Principles of law
 International Agreement between the member countries.
 And the conventions between the member states (European Commission, 2012)
History of United Kingdome joining EU
United Kingdom became the member of the European Union in January 1st
1973.
UK became a part of the European Union by signing the Treaty of Rome. Many of the
laws of UK are directed from the conditions dictated by the EU (Horspool & Humphrey,
2012). In order to comprehend the English Judicial system it is imperative to have a

4. fundamental understanding of the EU legal system. One of the major reasons for UK to
join the EU is to increase free flow of trade commodities between the member nations.
The member nations have relaxed rules when it comes to defining trade rules between the
countries. Another major reason is having political allies in the European Union will
benefit the security and developing of allies owing to the numerous benefits UK receives
as a member of the EU it is expected that UK will continue to adhere to the terms of the
EU in future as well (Springford & Tilford 2013)
Primary legislation
Important treaties govern the primary legislation. The names of the important treaties
are European Steal and coal commission 1951, treaty of Rome 1957, Brussles treaty
1965, Single European act 1986 and many more treaties were signed the latest treaty was
the Treaty of Lisbon signed in 2007 (Craig& de Búrca, 2011). As stated earlier the initial
number of countries who formed the EU was six. As and when the countries new
countries joined some amendments were made. (European Commisiion, 2012) This
primary legislation is an important factor in the hierarchical design.
Secondary Legislation
The secondary legislative laws that govern the laws of the European Union are the
agreements and acts signed between the member countries to reach a particular objective.
This act of signing is known as the unilateral agreement or acts. There are two categories
of these acts they are the ones that are in the article 288 of the treaty or those that are not
mentioned in the articles. This actually functions as a regulatory body that recommends
the guidelines. In this system the agreements that are signed between the non-member

5. countries also has validity (Snyder, 2000). These legislatives also play an important role
in determining the basis of EU law.
General Principle of Law
These general principles of the law are governed by European court of Justice and
Court of First Instances. This is an important body as it fundamentally assesses the
different aspects mentioned in the EU constitution. (Tridimas & Takis, 2006) This
general principle of law plays an important role in developing the EU laws.
Ancillary Factors
Apart from these three the other International Agreement signed between the member
countries and the conventions held by the member countries also determine the EU laws.
These are the five integral aspects of the EU laws. (European Commission, 2012)
Another untold rule is the understanding that exists between the member countries when
dealing with international affairs. This is an unspoken agreement that has tangible
influences on the law making (Altman & Wellman, 2004) These are the aspects that are
governing the EU law and its sources. The implications of the EU law and its sources on
the English legislation system are explained below.
Lisbon Treaty
The Lisbon treaty was signed in 2007 and is the most recent treaty that was signed
between the nations of EU. The exact implication of it is still being analyzed and
observed. After the Lisbon treaty was signed there were three main changes made to the
“legislative acts, regulatory acts and delegated acts.” Owing to this treaty there were
some changes to the UK laws as well. (Bast, 2012) These changes are seen in the English
legal system as well.

6. Human Rights act Implications.
Officially United Kingdom is compliant with all the laws of the convention. The
governing bodies and the public authorities must all follow according to the rules
mandated by the Human rights commission. However United Kingdom unlike other
countries have not agreed to blindly follow all the mandated rules. They have agreed to
follow a dialogue mode and define it one a case-by-case basis. Officially however they
follow the Human rights act of the government. If they deviate for a particular case it
does not mean they will deviate again they will explain the exigent circumstances where
they had to deviate from the rules. They will mediate with the European Union and all the
public authorities are officially instructed to follow the rules of the human rights
convention. If any rules in the Human rights act are not compatible they need to explicitly
declare the incompatible elements (Liberty Org, 2014)
Impact of EU on English legal system
Whatever maybe the recommendation from the EU the according to the UK
judicial system only the parliament can make law. The UK parliament is the sovereign
and does not yield or succumb to any other governing bodies. This law is devised in such
to protect the interests of Britain and its citizens. Parliamentary supremacy is one of the
highlights of the UK constitution (Eleftheriadis, 2009).
For this reason UK cannot simply dismiss the EU laws they are bound by the
treaty agreement. The EU laws are designed and implemented after the member nations
all agree to the policies. Even if it is against the welfare of British citizens the country is
bound to agree to the terms of EU owing to the treaty of Rome. To elucidate further some
aspects like national safety, security, the EU does not cover criminal cases. But matters of

7. trade, free flow of commodities; food safety and commodities safety are all bound by the
EU treaty rules. The trade rules are of paramount importance in the EU laws. The laws
that are devised are rules and agreements that are already accepted by the British
government hence they cannot back out of the EU laws (Jones, 2009) But the signing of
the European Commission act of 1972 had the legal analysts wondering if the country
was still sovereign or not.
European Commission Act of 1972
According to this act signed by the member nations, any ruling in the parliament
of the nation needs to comply with the European community law. They should be
compliant with the community law. If they are not compliant the rules of the individual
nations needs to change in accordance to the EU law. This law is to ensure that peace and
justice prevails in the European continent (GEÇER, 2012)
Impact of 1972 act in UK law
This has caused many of the laws to be amended in accordance with the European unions
act. The Signing of the Lisbon Treaty had also caused some significant changes in the
UK legal system. This has also caused wide spread criticism from the people regarding
the laws as it affects the sovereignty of the individual nations. The article 177 of the
Rome treaty also strengthens the EU
Article 177
According to the Article 177 of the Rome Treaty agreement it is understood that the
European Union rules are to be followed religiously by the nations. The European Union
does not accept any deviation from some of its fundamental rules. According to this
treaty if the country has a deviation they need to change it. If UK law is different from

8. the mandated EU law they need to change the law compliant with the rules of EU. This
aspect of the treaty gives the European Union’s Community laws more weightage over
the individual laws of the nation. This changes in the national laws has also impacted the
domestic laws of UK (Buxbaum, 1968)
Another aspect that is to be considered is the Human rights aspect of the EU law.
Actual Impact of EU law on British Law
According to the legal experts majority of the British laws are similar to the
European Community laws. Some analysts say that around seventy-five percenta of the
laws are similar to the laws of EU. Many legal analysts of Britain say that this is a
worrying trend and feel that UK has lost its sovereignty. There is also some criticism
regarding this UK being a member of EU. In spite of these criticism it is expected that
UK will continue to belong to the EU owing to the numerous benefits they receive.
(Swinford, 2015)
Conclusion.
Britain became a member of the EU by singing the Treaty of Rome in the year 1972. By
the rules specified by the treaty they are bound to follow many rules even if it does not
favor British Interests. The Country is considered to be sovereign officially and it
controls the criminal cases and the national security cases. The laws of the EU bind the
trade rules and agreement. They essentially control many aspects of the UK parliament
and also controls the human rights act of the nation. Article 177 and the European
Commission Act of 1972 clearly mandate the member nations to amend the laws
according to the rules of the EU. They need to change the parliament rules. This has lead
to criticism of the UK parliament by the legal analysts. In spite of all the criticism it is

9. expected that UK will continue to follow and allow the EU rules to have an impact on the
nation because of the numerous benefits they garner. Since it is heavily influenced by the
EU to fully understand the UK laws the EU laws must be studied. It can be concluded
from this analysis that Britain laws are deeply involved with laws of the European Union
and its sources.

10. Bibliography
1. Alter, K. J., & Vargas, J. (2000). Explaining variation in the use of European
litigation strategies European community law and British gender equality
policy.Comparative Political Studies, 33(4), 452-482.
2. Altman, A., & Wellman, C. H. (2004). A Defense of International Criminal
Law*.Ethics, 115(1), 35-67.
3. Bast, J (2012) 'Common Market Law Review', New categories of Act after the
Lisbon Treaty, 49(3), pp. 885-927.
4. Buxbaum (1968) 'Article 177 ', Stanford Law Review, 21(), pp. 1041-1043.
5. Craig,P.,& de Búrca,G (2011) EU Law: Text, Cases, and Materials, 5 edn.,
Oxford: OUP Oxford.
6. Eleftheriadis, P. (2009). Parliamentary sovereignty and the constitution.Canadian
Journal of Law and Jurisprudence.
7. European Commission (2012) Sources of EU law, Available
at:http://ec.europa.eu/ireland/about_the_eu/legal_information_and_eu_law/sourc
es_eu_law/index_en.htm(Accessed: 28th June 2015).
8. GEÇER (2012) The principles of Parliamentary Supremacy In the UK
constitutional law and its supremacy, London: Kings College
9. Horspool, M. And Humphreys, M., (2014) 7th
ed., European Union Law, Oxford
University Press.
10. Huxley-Binns, R and Martin, J., (2014) 4th ed., Unlocking the English Legal
System, Routledge.

11. 11. Jones, T (2009) How UK adopts EU laws, Available
at:http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8160808.stm (Accessed: 28th June 2015).
12. Liberty Org (2014) How the Human Rights Act works, Available
at: https://www.liberty-human-rights.org.uk/human-rights/what-are-human-
rights/human-rights-act/how-human-rights-act-works (Accessed: 28th June
2015).
13. Snyder, F. (1993). The effectiveness of European Community law: Institutions,
processes, tools and techniques. The Modern Law Review, 56(1), 19-54.
14. Springford, S.,& Tilford.,S (2014) The Great British trade-off The impact of
leaving the EU on the UK’s trade and investment, London: Centre of European
Reform .
15. Swinford, S (2015) 'Two thirds of Britain's laws 'made or influenced by
EU'', Telegraph,15 March, p. .
16. Tridimas, T. (2006). The general principles of EU law.