There are four principal sources of law. These are statutes or Acts of Parliament, laws made by Parliament; Common law, law made by judges in the Courts; European Union law, and the European Convention on Human Rights. This week, we're looking at the first source, statutes or Acts of Parliament. As you know, in a common law system, the decisions of judges and the system of judicial precedent are of great importance in the lawmaking process. However, in modern times, laws passed by Parliament had become the most significant means of lawmaking. The modern rise of statute law can be demonstrated by the sheer volume of statutes that is produced every year. The business of parliament in making law has become more and more pronounced. As Parliament, as a lawmaking body, has overseen to a greater and greater extent than many areas of social, economic, and political life. As we saw in week two, a key principle of the Constitution is the supremacy of Parliament. Parliament can therefore enact, revoke or amend any law as it sees fit. Even the Human Rights Act 1998, widely recognized as a constitutional statute, recognizes that Parliament has the power to make legislation which is incompatible with rights under the European Convention on Human Rights. Under section four of the Human Rights Act 1998, if a statute is incompatible with the convention, the Court can make a declaration of incompatibility which invites Parliament to reconsider the statute, but the court cannot force a change in the law. So, unlike in some other legal jurisdictions, the English Courts have no power to rule that a properly passed Act of Parliament is invalid or to strike it down in any way. It's really interesting to see what you'll think about that. We'll talk more about human rights law later on. Now, I'd like to mention another type of law made by Parliament called secondary legislation. Statutes or Acts of Parliament can be classed as primary legislation. What are the main reasons for secondary legislation? So statutes can take a long time to complete all the processes needed to become law. Secondary legislation is less closely scrutinized by Parliament and statutes. The most common form is a type of law known as a statutory instrument. Secondary legislation is passed under the authority of a statute. So, it's sometimes also known as delegated legislation.