Essay: What impact would Brexit have on the importance of EU law in the English legal system?

Evaluate the current or present importance of EU law within the sources of the English Legal System. What impact would Brexit have on this importance? [20 marks]
04.11.2018
One of the main sources within the United Kingdom’s (UK’s) legal system is EU law. EU law has sovereignty over other sources of the UK’s legal system. This issue over sovereignty of laws was used as a vital part of the ‘leave” campaign with their catchphrase ‘Take back control.’ Within this question, I will look to address the different effects that Brexit will have on the sources of the UK’s legal system.
The most vital source of the English legal system is EU law. These are laws that all members of the EU have to follow as established within the Treaty of Rome. This was passed by the European Communities Act 1972 which gave EU law sovereignty over statute law as demonstrated in R (Factortame Ltd) V Secretary of State for Transport (1991). In fact, we can see in Francovich V Italy that if a country who is a part of the EU doesn’t adhere to the rules and requirements then they could be faced with disciplinary action. This establishes EU law as the main source of the English legal system. However as demonstrated in the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 (EUWA), after the UK leaves the EU on the 29th March 2019, this will cease to be the case. This is because EUWA repeals the European Communities Act 1972.
Another important source of the English legal system is undoubtedly domestic legislation, which is often referred to as statute law. Statute law plays a big role in the English legal system. This is due to the UK operating in a system of parliamentary sovereignty due to an absence of a written constitution. This effectively means that any act of parliament becomes legally binding and is forced onto the inhabitants of the UK to follow. This is providing that it doesn’t infringe any EU law. Statute law can be separated into two groups: domestic acts or civil acts. Domestic acts are laws that are introduced in order to avert criminal activity. Examples of such include Criminal finances act (2017) and the theft act 1968. Civil acts are laws introduced which attempt to supervise the conduct between individuals and organisations. Examples of civil laws include the Data Protection Act 2018 and the Employment Act 1999. After the UK leave the EU it is estimated that statute law will gain more importance as the statutes will no longer have to comply with EU law thus giving parliament true sovereignty.
One final source of the English legal system is case law, otherwise known as common law. This entails decisions made by judges which are now followed based on legal precedent. In many cases, they work hand in hand with statute law and if there are areas of conflict between the two then as shown in DPP V Shaw (1956) parliament will pass a law in order to amend the common law. In response to DPP V Shaw (1956), parliament passed Obscene Publications act 1959. After the UK leave the EU it is expected that Case law will become a larger part of the UK’s legal system due to a breadth of new issues regarding our legal system and the adaptation away from EU law.
In conclusion, currently, the EU is the most important and the most powerful source of the English Legal system. Nonetheless with Brexit fast approaching EU law will soon have no power within the UK and once that is the case then the most powerful source of the English legal system will be statute law.