ABSTRACT
The English legal system cannot be treated as static; it is continuously responding to changes that take place in society as a whole. As was stated in the introduction to Chapter 1 of this text, to deny the relevance of European law in an English Legal System course would not only be restrictive, it would be wrong, to the extent that it ignores an increasingly important factor in the formation and determination of UK law. The same can be said of the change in the form and content of law that took place in the course of the twentieth century and which can be linked to the emergence of the interventionist state. Equally, the same can be said with regard to the increase in applications for judicial review. Arguably, this may be seen as the judges fighting a reactionary rearguard action against the forces of the all-encompassing state, or it can be seen as the judges valiantly endeavouring to curtail excesses of that state in the defence of individual liberties. In either case, it represents a political struggle between the judiciary and the executive and one that has fundamental implications for not only the English legal system, but also the constitution of the UK.
