Talk:English law

This article appears to contain a number of inaccuracies:

• there is, strictly speaking, no such thing as English law, just the law of England and Wales. The title of the article should reflect this.
• the article conflates English law with common law. The two are not one and the same. The law of England and Wales is composed of common law, equity, statute law, EU law etc. English law can be described as a "common law" system, which is perhaps where the confusion comes from.
• to say "European Union Law is effective in the UK" is a misleading over-simplification.

I'll correct in a few days if nobody objects.

BobTheLawyer 22:14, 29 Dec 2004 (UTC)

I agree that English law is not right, but English and Welsh law isn't right either -- it implies there are two separate jurisdictions. The usual form is "the Law of England and Wales". Could you change to that title (obviously with a sensible redirect). Francis Davey 19:09, 1 January 2006 (UTC)

This article is very thin, and not the quality of introductory article which we might desire. It would be good if someone with the necessary knowledge could expand it considerably, and sub-divide it. --Doric Loon 21:50, 18 May 2005 (UTC)

• Since the devolution of Wales, the reference to the law of "England and Wales" in the first line should properly be the laws of England only. (At least from a lawyer's perspective!)

Sadly, this page made no legal sense. The correct legal term is "English law" and that term expressly includes all the legally enforceable material comprising the English and Welsh "laws". It has been a single unified system from time immemorial and constiutites a single state. I have therefore rewritten the page and moved it back to English law. David91 03:46, 2 January 2006 (UTC)

How many states?

I note that the introductory paragraph to the EU Study on the International Law of Succession on page 1 to [[1]] counts six states (abeit that it uses the word jurisdictions), separating Jersey and Guerney citing Dicey & Morris on the Conflict of Laws as their authority. From the POV of Jersey, the Explanatory Notes on the Probate (Jersey) Law 1998, The Probate (General Provision) (Jersey) Regulations 1998 and The Probate (General) (Jersey) Rules, 1998 require a definition of "abroad" to "the Island" (i.e. Jersey). The jurisdictions specified for the purposes of Article 6 (7) have been specified under the Regulations and these are the other parts of the British Isles, namely, England and Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland, the Isle of Man and Guernsey (i.e. five other states)[2]. I have asked an ex-colleague of mine to photocopy the relevant pages from some real hard-copy books on Conflict for me. As soon as these are to hand, I will cite chapter and verse to support my assertion that there are five or six states within the composite state for constitutional and public international law purposes (depending on how you count the Bailiwicks). Until then, I have left the page with only the one state iderntified because, to date, that is the only on-line verified source I have identified (good to see an American on the ball whereas the Brits will not get themselves on line to confirm this notorious (in the legal sense of the word) piece of information. David91 12:32, 6 January 2006 (UTC)