Essay: History of English law

History has always played a very important and specific role in English law.
Since its formation, the United Kingdom has never had a written Constitution, in order not to be bounded by previous laws and to make the legal system and the law-making process more flexible.
In ancient times, basic rules and agreements were established to not make the clans fight and keep peace between the English territory. As time passed, Saxon shire courts were formed and later replaced by Feudal courts, the King’s Council was made and slowly clergymen in the courts were replaced by proper judges. All the judge’s judgements created the Common law.
Common law is part of English law that is derived from judicial precedent and custom rather than statutes. The Court of Equity which was established soon after, considered petitions to the judge’s judgements, it was one of the first attempts of creating the Court of Appeal.
The Court of Equity did not provide a final judgement as it was only another judge’s opinion, not the final one. This “double-court” system had many problems with regards to cases that had different final
Stability was reached in 1215 with the principle of the Rule of law, which states that nobody, not even the King, is above the law, in fact, since then Kings will have their power more and more reduced. This rule is contained in the Magna Carta which is the “first constitutional document of all time- the foundation of the freedom of the individual against the arbitrary authority of the despot” according to Lord Denning.
As Kings took more and more power, in 1265 the first Parliament was created. It was and still is constituted by members that are elected (The House of Commons) and members nominated, who belong to the House of Lords. Initially only wealthy landowners could become members of the Parliament and later only a part of the MPs was elected.
Parliament gained more and more power after the 11 years’ tyranny, especially at the end of the civil war. One of the main achievements of the Parliament was establishing Parliamentary supremacy, which is the power of the supreme legal authority, meaning that this body is the only one entitled to create or end any laws. Lastly another big step for UK law was electing the first Prime Minister to rule the country.