Natural Law is the higher form of Law, is the Law of God (even if you do not believe in God), and as such has philosophical connotations, but put it simple it derives and it is based on the fact that every single human being has an intrinsic sense of justice, even a child.
So in the hierarchy we have:
- Natural Law
- The Rule of Law (Common Law and Equity Law - deal in the Equity Courts)
- The People
- The Parliament
Natural Law propagates to Common Law & Equity Law which is the basic Constitution (the Magna Carta) and Equity Law
Democracy in the UK is an expression of Common Law which is based on the constitutional principle that Sovereignty is of the People, we stand on top of the Head of State from which the Legislative, the Judiciary and the Executives powers emanate.
Why Common law is the base of our democracy and why is it so important to be remembered and be applied?
Under Common law the system of Trial by Jury allows 12 people and another person (who is now a judge but used to be 'just another person') to decide, without the direction of a judge, if a person, 'the accused', is guilty or not guilty.
If one only of the 12 persons of the Jury decides (with his conscience and in discordance with the law) that the accused is not guilty, the person is acquitted.
Another more important and fundamental consequence of it is that this makes the law that created that injustice to be written off and, even more importantly, the public servant who has created that law can be freely privately prosecuted.
This is the strength of our Common Law which shows in the example above that the People has the power to create their own laws which they consider meeting their sense of justice.
We have to remember this and we have to remember Common Law derives from Natural Law derivation from every human being sense of justice. It this this sense of justice applied in the Trial by Jury is what can make a law unlawful.
Common Law therefore respects Human Rights and, it used to be that we did not need Human Rights legislation (of European Origin) to be applied in the UK. We had the Common Law.
We still have the Common Law and we have to remember to use it. The principles of Trial by Jury prevails over any law including Primary Legislation simple because the People prevails over Parliament (who was created to serve the People).
In this sense spiritual principles that derives from us being human, and which have an intrinsic implied justice in them are connected with Natural Law and our wonderful and unique jurisdiction based on Common Law. Let's uphold it!
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