Essentials of Law IS 2220 Reference: Learning the Law by Glanville Williams (15 th edition) Introduction to Law Set of rules and regulations enforced by legislature (parliament)which governs the society or the state What is law? Law is defined as the Set of rules and regulations enforced by legislature (parliament)which governs the society or the state. Law varies from country to country. Ex: In England, they practice English Law. Meanwhile in Saudi Arabia, they practice Sharia Law. Nature of the law: No one is above the law. Ignorance of the law is not a defense. Factors that affect the law other than the country: Culture Religion Socio-economy Technology Importance of the law: No civilized society can function without law. Law is an integral part of any society. Purposes and functions of law: Establish standards Maintaining order Resolve disputes Protecting liberties (නදහස) and rights
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Essentials of Law IS 2220
Reference: Learning the Law by Glanville Williams (15th edition)
Introduction to Law Set of rules and regulations enforced by legislature (parliament)which governs the society or the state
What is law?
Law is defined as the Set of rules and regulations enforced by legislature (parliament)which
governs the society or the state.
Law varies from country to country.
Ex: In England, they practice English Law. Meanwhile in Saudi Arabia, they practice Sharia Law.
Nature of the law:
No one is above the law.
Ignorance of the law is not a defense.
Factors that affect the law other than the country:
Culture
Religion
Socio-economy
Technology
Importance of the law:
No civilized society can function without law.
Law is an integral part of any society.
Purposes and functions of law:
Establish standards
Maintaining order
Resolve disputes
Protecting liberties (නිදහස) and rights
Classification of law:
Figure 1: Classification of law
Constitutional law: ආණ්ඩුක්රම ව්යවස්ථා නීතිය
Law
Human RightsCriminal Law (Public Law)
Civil Law
Public Law
Tax LawAdministrative
Law
Constitutional Law
Private Law
Person/ Family Law
Property/ Land Law
Law of Obligations
Law of ContractLaw of delict/
tort
Business Law (Both Public and
Private Law)
Mercantile Law Law of Agency
Banking Law Partnership Law
International Law
Public Law Private Law
Comparison of Civil and Criminal Law:
Criminal Law Civil Law
Definition The word “criminal” derived from the word “crime” are known as criminal law. The word crime can be defined as an act which has been prohibited by law in a specific land, which affects the society at large or affects the whole state. Ex: 1) prostitution 2) theft 3) murder 4) fraud 5) domestic violence
The word “civil” derived from the “civilian”. Any dispute which arises between persons is known as “civil disputes”. All civil disputes are handled by civil law. Therefore civil law can be defined for civilian disputes which does not affect the society at large or the state. Types of Civil Law: 1) Law of property (land disputes etc) 2) Law of persons (divorce cases etc) 3) Law of contracts 4) Law of delicts(torts)
Aim Aim is to punish or to penalize the wrong doer. Therefore Criminal law is also called “Penal Law”.
Aim is to compensate or to give better relief to the innocent party. Compensations are of 2 types. 1) Financial compensations (non-
equitable remedy) Ex: maintenance in divorce, damege
2) Non-financial compensations (equitable remedy) Ex: specific performance, injuctions
Case bought by Minor crimes: PHI, Local government Bodies, Police Grave crimes: Attorney General Department
The victim
Terminology Figure 1 Figure 2
Standard of proof In Criminal Law standard of proof refers to that the Accused do not have any rights to bring counter claim. i.e. Prosecution has been given sword only, and Accused has been given shield only.
In Civil Law standard of proof refers to that the Defendant has all rights to bring any number of counter claims. i.e. Defendant has been given both the sword and the shield.
Burden of proof In Criminal Law burden of proof states that the Accused will be given punishment only after proven guilty. In legal terms it takes Prosecutor needs to proven beyond reasonable doubt(Even one doubt is enough).
In Civil Law burden of proof refers to the quantum of evidence which has been caught by the parties concerned. In Civil law, burden of proof depends on the balance of probabilities. i.e. Who brings more weightage will be considered to be the innocent party.
Courts Minor crimes: Magistrate Court Grave crimes: High Court
District Court
Figure 2: Structure of a Criminal Court
The authority brings the case is known as Prosecution. The person who is considered to be the wrong
doer is called Accused. A criminal action is Prosecute.
Figure 3: Structure of a Civil Court
The person who brings the original claim is known as Claimant or Plaintiff, and the person who defends
himself against the case is known as Defendant. The civil action is called Sue.
Law of torts/ Law of Delicts
For any damage of compensation events, aggrieved party (claimant/plaintiff) can get actions under the
Law of torts.
Relevant courts for delictual matters are the District Courts.
Following delictual matters are governed by District Courts
1. Breach of duty of care and all negligible matters in the society
2. Professional negligence
Any professional (charted accountant, architect, engineer, IT professional) infringed ()
his or her duty of care, that professional is liable to pay compensation.
Ex: Cassidy Vs. Ministry of Health- South Africa
Caparo Industries plc Vs. Dickman (UK)
Arsekularatne Vs. Prof. Priyani Soysa
3. Deformation statements (අපහාස ප්රකාශ)
4. Manufacture’s negligence
Ex: Grant Vs. Australian Knitting co.
Donoughue Vs. Stevenson
Law of Property
Terminology:
Ownership - අයිතිය
Possession - භුක්තිය
Mortgage -උකස
This category of Civil Law consist ownership, possession, mortgage, etc of movable and immovable
properties. In Sri Lanka, Law of property is governed by Roman Dutch Law (our common law). However
some concepts are developed by English Law. Therefore professionals must adhere to legal provision of
Law of properties.
Ex 01:
At present, private properties (real properties- නිශච්ල දේපල : land and building) ownership are limited
by different legislation.
Under the Mines and Minerals act of 1992, all mines and minerals in Sri Lanka are considered as
government properties. i.e. Government is the absolute owner of mines and minerals in Sri lanka.
Therefore if you have a granite (කළුගල්) in your garden, you cannot get utilization of it unless you get
the permission from the government.
Ex 02:
Under the prescription ordinance 3rd party can get prescriptive title (හිමිකම) if he possesses 10 years of
an independent period.
Intellectual Property Law
This category of law is a subcategory of Civil Law. However some areas of intellectual property law are
governed by Criminal Law
The relevant Jurisdiction (අධිකරණබලය) court for intellectual property is a Commercial high Court.
Intellectual properties intended to cover all the creations of the mind of any person which law
recognizes such as patent, trade mark, brand name, IT software.
Ex01:
Munchee vs Maliban case for Maliban imitating the Package of Munchee hawaiian Cookies
Ex02:
An author of a book has copyright to protect his interest and to see that the book is not published and
said without his knowledge and consent (අනුමතිය).
“all rights reserved” “සියලු හිමිකම් ඇවිරිණි”
Some more terminologies related to law:
Offence: illegal action
Crime: an act/offence that can be punished by law
Civil wrong/ matter: legal matters of people or person
Delict / tort: civil wrong consisting of an intentional or negligent breach of duty of care
Custody: taken to prison
Deed: a legal document
Arrest: taken to custody
Plaintiff: the person who bringing the case
Defendant: accused in the court of law
Eye witness: person who have seen a particular activity
Fraud: a kind of crime of deceiving someone to get money or goods
Rigorous imprisonment: strict keep in prison
Suspect: believed to be guilty without a certain proof
Trial a case: an examination of evidence in a court to decide if a person is guilty of a crime
Homicide: the killing of one person by another, whether intended (murder) or not
(manslaughter). Not all homicide is unlawful; killing in self defense, for example, is not a crime.
Theft: stealing of something
Constitution: a set of fundamental principles or established precedents according to which a
state or other organization is governed. Constitution will deal with 3 main functions of a state.
o Legislature
o Executive
o Judiciary
Evidence: information presented to law court to support the case
Sources of Law Anything which accounts for the existence of a legal rule or any place in which the law is stated
Sources of law:
Legislation (නීති සම්පාදනය)
o A legislature is the law-making body of a political unit, usually a national government,
that has power to amend and repeal public policy. Laws enacted by legislatures are
known as legislation.
Judicial precedents (Judges-made Law or Case Law )
o A judicial precedent is a decision of the court used as a source for future decision
making. This is known as stare decisis (to stand upon decisions) and by
which precedents are authoritative and binding and must be followed.
Equity (සාධාරණතාව)
Religion
Customs (සිරිත්)
Public international law
Opinions of Jurists (නීතිදව්දියා)/ writers
Legislation Also called Enacted Law, Statute Law
Three branches of government:
They are the legislative branch (make law), the executive branch (put law into action) and
the judicial branch (investigate the correct application of law in country).
Each branch is independent from the others, but each holds a similar amount of authority.
Legislature (නීතිකාරකය /ව්යවස්ථාදායකය):
A deliberative body of persons, usually elective, who are empowered tomake, change, or repeal
the laws of a country or state
Ex: Parliament
Legislation (නීති):
Legislation (or statutory law) is law which has been promulgated (or enacted) by a legislature or
other Governing Body or the process of making it. Before an item of legislation becomes law it
may be known as a bill, and may be broadly referred to as "legislation", while it remains under
consideration to distinguish it from other business.
Purposes of legislation:
to regulate, to authorize, to proscribe, to provide (funds), to sanction, to grant, to declare or to