English Law Report

Introduction In UK there argon three main sources of side law, Legislation (Statue rectitude), crude impartiality (Judge-made rectitude) and the European Communities law. Pg 41, Longshaw, (2002) The purpose of this report is to let off the basis of Common made Law and in addition to explain business of c be, negligence, trespass, and consent. I will in addition look at how specific legislations instruct health accusation practitioners as to their profound responsibilities. Statute Law Legislation however, is probably the most important source of law in the UK. Legislation developed afterward than common law as a major source of law.It is made by Parliament, i. e. the erect of Commons, the House of Lords and the Monarch and they clear make or unmake any law. Proposals for legislation (Bills) atomic number 18 presented to debate by and voted upon by the House of Common and the House of Lords, finally receiving the assent of the Monarch and thus becoming Acts (Statutes) o f Parliament. Common Law Common law forms a major part of Englands law. It covers common crimes that happen on a day to day basis and bear always existed such as rape, assault, murder and theft.It is created and refined by settle a decision in a currently pending legal compositors gaffe depends on decisions in previous show windows and affects how the law is applied in future cases. Common law evolves with time and the sentencing for mixed crimes can be made harsher or softer. It uses the idea of precedence so that punishments that consider been passed in the lead in similar crimes can be used to determine the punishment for a similar crime. When there is no authoritative statement of the law, judges have the authority and art to make law by creating precedent. Jokinen, 2009) A precedence of common law is set down by Lord Atkins through the Donaghue vs. Stevenson case. There are two types of precedents binding precedents (a past decision which is binding the legal point of the earlier case is monovular or sufficiently similar to the present one and the decision was rendered by a higher court) or persuasive precedents (which the court whitethorn consider but is non bound to follow) Sources of persuasive precedent may in like manner be the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, the European Court of Human Rights or courts of countries which besides apply the common law.Duty of Care In slope law an individual is owed a duty of dread by a nonher, to ensure that they do not suffer unreasonable harm or loss. This explanation of duty of make out known today came from Lord Atkin and the Neighbour Principle that came from the judgment on the Donaghue vs. Stevenson case in 1932. The Donaghue verses Stevenson is the case of Mrs Donaghue claiming damages from gastroenteritis after drinking a bottle of ginger beer and finding a decomposing pull together in it. She was claiming damages against Mr. Stevenson the manufactures of the ginger beer.When this c ase first came to court neither Scottish law nor British common law saw duty of care in regards to roughlyone remotely connected. Lord Atkins changed things by saying everyone has a duty of care to their neighbour here is a quote of what the legal definition of a neighbour should be. The rule that you are to love your neighbour becomes in law you must not injure your neighbour and the lawyers question Who is my neighbour? receives a restricted reply. You must take reasonable care to avoid acts or omissions which you can reasonably foresee and would be likely to injure your neighbour.Who then in law is my neighbour? The answer seems to be persons who are so closely and like a shot affect by my act that I ought reasonably to have them in contemplation as being so affected when I am directing my mind to the acts or omissions which are called in question. (Lord Atkins, 1932) When this duty of care is not acted upon this s called negligence. Negligence Negligence is a tort law, whic h establishes legal liability for careless actions or inertia which causes injury.Therefore negligence is not concerned with the action or inaction, but with the manner in which the action or inaction is carried out. Negligent conduct is that which falls below an acceptable standard, this standard has been established in regulate to protect some early(a)s from an unreasonable risk of harm. Not every type of carelessness is defined as legal negligence. There are four elements that need to be proven for an action or inaction to be defined as legal negligence this are duty, breach, causation and damage.The ABC rule has to be met before negligence can be. A is that there has to be a duty of care between the health care practitioner and the longanimous. B is that the actions of the health care practitioner fell short of the duty of care identified in A. And C is that this action leads to damages occurring. Negligence is a part of Tort law. ravishment Trespass to the person in a med ical setting could be a doctor or hold in carrying out a procedure without the consent of the patient however this is not always the case.In some cases doctors can perform emergency procedures to save a patients life without their consent this is sometimes because the patient is as well ill to consent or there is a complication while another procedure is taking place. An example of trespass to the body in a medical setting is the case of Bartley v Studd. This case is about John Studd removing Mrs Bartleys ovaries while doing a hysterectomy without her consent. (Garner, 1997). In the case of trespass, it does not have to be proved that any harm has occurred to the patient, which could have been the case in the above situation. and, if the patient could prove that they would not have agreed to the procedure having known the risks beforehand and they can prove that they have suffered harm as a result, then they could succeed in a case of negligence against the nurse (Dimond 2003). Ro le and codes of practice Legislation, also known as Acts of Parliament or Statutes, is the commonest source of new law in the United nation and is of great relevance to health, care social workers. There is another form of law known as Case Law -essentially judge-made law.This is often referred to as Common law, developed by individual judicial decisions. Where a legal issue has been decided by a judge or judges in a superior court, lower courts are bound to follow this decision in subsequent cases. In other words when a senior judge has made a decision about case, other judges abide by this decision (called a precedent). Most law was made this way up until the seventeenth century but more recent legislation is nearly all created by Acts of Parliament, referred to as primeval Legislation.The role of the judges is still important though, as they play a part in law-making by interpreting Acts of Parliament and their rulings may become law, as in the case of Regulations. Both the Ac ts and their relevant Regulations are law. Regulations and guidelines Regulations, guidance and procedures along with various codes of practice produced by the relevant professional bodies the Nursing Midwifery Council (NMC) for Nurses and Midwifes, root on what is considered to be good practice on a day-to-day basis for professionals.This means in proceeds that the professional has a defence against claims of malpractice or negligence if s/he has followed the authorised guidance and regulations. However the converse also applies. If a professional has not followed accepted guidance or procedure and a client or patient has suffered harm as a result of the professionals actions, the professional may be personally found guilty of negligence. Trespass and Consent Common law has protected the personal and incarnate interests of the individual through the law of trespass.When a patient undergoes treatment, it is the provision of consent that prevents the doctor from being held conce ivable for a battery or for negligence. The essential elements to a valid consent can be summed up as follows a) the patient must have sufficient understanding, otherwise known as the mental depicted object to make the decision, b) the patient must consent (or refuse) the treatment of his own free will, with no duress or undue influence, and c) the patient must have been given sufficient information about the proposed treatment. 1 patient is capable of making such decisions, his consent or refusal will be valid.In practice it can be seen that a patient who is very unsteady on their feet is at high risk of falling and it can be reasonably foreseeable that the patient could fall. In this situation, the nurse should take appropriate action to afflict and prevent the patient falling, and this falls within the duty of care that the nurse owes the patient. The nurse could communicate with other staff about the patients mobility and also put interventions in place to help prevent the pat ient falling. However, if the nurse was to ignore this reasonably foreseeable event and the patient did fall, the nurse would be in breach of her duty and could be negligent.For an act of negligence to be established, it must first be determined that there is a duty of care owed. The Bolam test may be one way of establishing negligence in this case as other nurses in the same field may be asked what actions they would have taken in this situation. Conclusion. In this report we see that everyday practice professionals need to always refer to legislation directly agencies that employ health and care workers, such as the NHS and Social Services Departments, will usually have produced documents that detail policy and procedure, designed to help them act in accordance with the law.In conclusion this report also gives us a slight insight into the English Law within the legal system today. Bibliography Bradney, F. C. (200). English Legal System in Context (2nd ed. ). London Reed Elsevier Ltd. Curzon, L. (2002). Dictionary of Law (6th ed. ). Essex Pearson Education Ltd. Fleming, J. G. (1998). The Law of Torts (9th ed. ). Sydney LBC Information Services. Garner, C. (1997, September 27). Doctor who removed patients ovaries without her consent found guilty of misconduct. Retrieved Feb 13, 2013, from The Independent http//www. ndependent. co. uk/news/doctor-who-removed-patients-ovaries-without-her-consent-found-guilty-of-misconduct-1241322. hypertext markup language Gibbins, J. M. (2003). Complete A-Z Law Handbook (3rd ed. ). London Hodder and Stoughton Educational. Holdsworth, M. (2006). Introduction to the English Legal System. citizED Citizenship and Teacher Education. Jokinen, A. (2009, April 13). Common Law. Retrieved November 7, 2010, from Luminarium http//www. luminarium. org/ cyclopaedia/commonlaw. htm Lewis, J. P. (2008, November 11). Teenager who won right to die I have had oo much trauma. Retrieved February 20, 2013, from Guardian http//www. guardian. co. uk/s ociety/2008/nov/11/child-protection-health-hannah-jones Lord Atkins, L. B. -P. (1932). Donoghue verses Stevenson. Retrieved from Scottish Council of Law Reporting Retrieved February 20, 2013, from http//www. scottishlawreports. org. uk/resources/dvs/page-images/pages/Lord-Atkin-Page-2. html Mary Charman, J. M. (2004). Law AS & A2. Essex Pearson Education Limited. Quinn, C. E. (2006). AS Law (3rd ed. ). Essex Pearsin Education Ltd. Pg 41, Longshaw, A & Hughes, M W200 Understanding Law Manual 1 (6th Edition), (2002), Oxford University Press, Oxford). BIBLIOGRAPHY 1. Slapper G. and Kelly D. The English Legal System (5th Edition), (2001) Cavendish Publishing Ltd, London. 2. Longshaw, A & Hughes, M W200 Understanding Law Manual 1 (6th Edition), (2002), Oxford University Press, Oxford). 3. Penner J. E. Law Dictionary (12th Eidtion), (2001) Butterworths, London). 4. http//www. lawcampus. butterworths. com/log_in. htm 5. http//athens. butterworths. co. uk/athenslogin/FormsLogin. asp? /ath enslogin/buttlogin. htm