The Power of Statutes Law – An Overview

Statutes law reflects and informs the way we live our lives. Quite apart from the obvious legislation forbidding us from committing crimes, such as the Theft Act 1968, and prescribing the rules that apply to buying things, as in the Sale of Goods Act 1979, statutes can also be used to delegate power to government ministers to make additional regulations that are legally enforceable. Such rules are known as statutory instruments with the original statute referred to as the “parent act”.

Thousands of such rules are made every year and they can affect us more directly on a day-to-day basis than the parent acts which created them. For example existing statutory instruments deal with matters ranging from traffic regulations to social security. On a more general level statutes law demonstrates the evolution of our culture and society. New statutes are passed in accordance with the pressures exerted on and by our society. For example we can look back only a few decades to a time when homosexuality was prosecuted as a criminal offence under statute. However statutes law reflects how our society has moved on.

The Civil Partnerships Act 2004 came into force on 5th December 2005 and has enabled same-sex partners to enter into civil partnerships that have been given the same legal standing as marriage. Likewise the Terrorism Act 2006 demonstrates the current fears of our society and reflects a legislative response to some of the horrific acts of terrorism that occurred in the 5 years preceding it. Although we cannot predict what future statutes may be enacted, we can predict with confidence that statutes law will continue to evolve as society itself evolves.

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