ABSTRACT
Introduction: general principles Public (constitutional) Law refers to the relationship between individuals and the state (i.e. Government). The UK syllabus in Public Law is made up of constitutional and administrative law (which can be taught in separate semesters or years), tax law and criminal law (not covered in this book). This area of law can be very theoretical and you will generally find essay questions set either as coursework or as part of the Public Law examination. Some institutions will teach this area of law as ‘Public Law 1’ dealing with constitutional law. Part 2 usually deals with administrative law, such as Judicial Review and Human Rights, which may involve problem questions. In this chapter, we look at constitutional law, which governs relationships between individuals and the Government, and those relationships between individuals, which are of direct concern to society. From the start you need to learn the meaning of ‘public authority’ by which is meant ‘Government’ or ‘the Executive’ in form of local government, local authorities, Ministers, the police, the prison and probation services (or ‘National Offender Management Service’ or ‘NOMS’), the National Health Service and so on. This will become important when we will look at administrative law and principles of Judicial Review. It is therefore necessary to look at the functions of the Executive – both central and local – which makes decisions about the rights of individuals and on behalf of individuals.
