Attributes of A Good Legal System
Attributes of A Good Legal System
Attributes of A Good Legal System
Introduction to law
MR CHAPONGA NGULUWE
Aims
• Quick recap from last week
• Begin to look at the law and the legal system in more detail
• “existing law means all law, whether a rule of law or provision of an Act of
Parliament or of any other enactment or instrument whatsoever ……., having effect
as part of the law of Zambia…..and includes any act of parliament or statutory
instrument made”
• Article 1(3)states the constitution is the supreme law of Zambia and any other law
that does match or is inconsistent with it shall be considered void
Types of law
• National law is the collection of rules that is there to maintain the order and peace in
a state this is also know as ‘positive law,
• The rules of positive law are binding on the individuals and enforced by the state
• How's is it enforced ?
• Sanctions – to make sure that the rules are followed there is some form of punishment
or inconvenient consequence if the rules of the state are broken
• That knowledge has the effect of deterring people from acting contrary to the rules
• Fines , prison , death penalty , corporal chastisement
Types of law
• Rules of national law can be divided into 1) substantive law and 2) law of procedure
• Substantive part sets out the actual rules relating to human conduct
• Procedure deals with the legal remedies and by which means of which the rules are
enforced
• Methods of making national law included passing legislation, judicial decisions and
customs
Classification
• National law which is applicable within a country consists of adjectival and
substantive law
• Substantive law contains the content found in statues, regulations and judicial
decisions made
• Adjectival law is made of rules of procedure which are the means or ways in
substantive law is enforced
• i.e. rules of evidence, civil and criminal procedure
• Substantive law is divided into two parts
• Public and private law
classification
• Public deals with the state itself and includes criminal law and constitutional law
• Whereas private law includes contracts, torts, property law and family
• Lastly the law can be classified into the civil side and the criminal side
• International law
• includes both public and private international law with public dealing with relations
between nations while private deals with the individual disputes that go beyond
national jurisdiction limits [ further reading on this is available in guided reading]
Purpose and attributes of a good legal system
• Certainty • Accountability of the legal system
• Written law • Moral values
• Comprehensive law • Behavioral patterns
• Simple law
• Ideological values
• Understandable law
• Political realities
• Accessible law
•
• Fair and equal treatment
Inexpensive law
• Thorough procedures
• Rapid adjudication
• Flexibility
Purpose and attributes of a good legal system
• There is a lot to look at and consider, last week we looked at the purpose of the law
from a general point of view this goes a little bit deeper than that
• Certainty – the law must be certain it’s a requirement of any mordent legal system
that it is certain
• The law covering theft not only seeks to punish for the act but it also deters the
person by promising to punish them should they commit theft
• Written law- compared to unwritten rules it is better to have laws that are written as
they can safely found by anyone who needs to rely upon them oral rules change from
time to time and place to place therefore society prefer to have written law
Purpose and attributes of a good legal system
• Comprehensive law - Morden legal systems try to ensure that all potential problems
are covered this is desirable if the system is to archive a high level of certainty
• Simple law- the one problem that seems to be common is all systems seems to be
how difficult things are when trying to understand the law
• Because most are looking for certainty through extensive written coverage of every
possible contingency you end with a very complex set of rules that no one really
understands due to the sheer volume of material or laws
• Understandable law – its not enough that the law can be written comprehensive and
simple
• It needs to be relatively understandable to majority of the people who it serves
Purpose and attributes of a good legal system
• Accessible law – the law should be accessible to everyone that’s its trying to serve
• Inexpensive law – a good legal system should be one that is easy and cheap to
maintain in addition to the things mentioned above
• Thorough procedures- the system has to ensure that all disputes are rationally and
fairly resolved therefore it has to be efficient and thorough I its process of dealing
with things
• Rapid adjudication- this is the primary goal for most. However that’s is sacrificed in
favour of thorough procedures and financial constraints
Purpose and attributes of a good legal system
Flexibility- a good legal system must always bend with the wind its must be capable of adaptation
and evolution. Flexibility in law means that is has to be able to change its course from the past
whenever present conditions require it
Moral values
Legal system should try to conform roughly to the values of the society it serves
If not its most likely to be unacceptable to the people
As a result the rules won‘t be respected or obeyed
Part 2
• Tutorial 1
• At the crux of the legal process is the beliefs that the law is a purposive process and its
this process the legal institutions look to maximise
• For this to work the legal system has to be efficient and that in turn will only occur if
most of the social ordering are left to the autonomy of individuals or groups