Newsletter Momentum PT

SÉRVULO PUBLICATIONS 24 Jul 2009

This edition of Momentum clearly illustrates the diversity and complexity of the today’s system of legal sources. It is clear that the primary means of creating legal rules continues to be by statute, making it essential to keep up with the daily flow of new legislation, such as the recent changes to the rules on penalties in the financial sector, the legal framework for the creation and operation of enterprise location areas and to employment legislation, as referred to in articles prepared by our departments specializing in criminal law and civil offences, town and country planning, environmental and property law, and in employment law. Knowledge of the legal texts themselves needs to be complemented by an understanding of how they are seen and applied by the different players in the legal arena. Our public law departments has contributed an article on some of the rules governing public procurement, and our fiscal law department has examined how the administrative authorities interpret certain rules on the transfer of property, even if their understanding is open to question.

But the system of legal sources is not limited to statute: we also need to consider case law as another means of revealing legal rules. A good example of this is the recent decision of the Court of Justice in the Genetics UK judgement, discussed for us by our European and competition law department.

Finally, the system of source also depends on regulatory institutions, exemplified by the creation of the Financial Stability Board in response to the international financial crisis, as examined in one of the articles.