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I am reading the book "Legal Skills" by Emily Finch and Stefan Fafinski. I reached the section on EU legislation. Although this book is a new edition, it was written when the UK was still a member of the European Union.
Should I skip sections pertaining to EU legislation? If so, which ones? I recently began self-teaching law. Therefore, there is no syllabus or professor I ought to follow.
Most EU regulations have been turned into UK law. I read there is an estimated 10,000 EU regulations which are automatically law in every country, and about 90% were adopted as Uk law unchanged, with another 10 percent requiring small changes to the law text to make sense for the UK.
So a book about UK regulations would be better, but in principle these regulations still affect everyday life in the uk.
No, you should not skip the sections on EU law.
When the UK gave notice to withdraw from the EU, Parliament was cognitive of the fact that you can't simply repeal decades worth of law in one fell swoop without causing all sorts of chaos and uncertainty in the legal system.
So, pursuant to sections 2 to 7 of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018, they provided that EU law would remain applicable in the UK after the implementation period, subject to some specific rules and exceptions (which I suggest you familiarise yourself with by reading those sections of the Act).
In this way Parliament is free to take its time to pick and choose which specific laws they want to repeal in the coming years / decades.
One important consequence, pursuant to section 6, is the rules of binding precedent have changed in relation to decisions of the European Court, particularly as they concern the Supreme Court.
In summary: you must still learn EU law, but you would be advised to purchase a very recently updated book which takes account of the rules post-implementation period.
Should I skip sections pertaining to EU legislation? If so, which ones?
Like I said in the comment that somebody inexplicably removed, you should read the portions regarding EU legislation, in part because many enactments of UK law originated from EU Directives and Regulations which the UK as [former] member of the European Union had to implement. This edition reflects that reading those portions does not make much difference in terms of pages anyway.
Years of EU legal precedents might have permeated UK case law and/or the UK judiciary's statutory interpretation, and EU laws most likely will keep having an impact on UK law because of the subsequent treaties and agreements both parties foreseeably will sign with each other. Even if the UK Parliament thinks a full legislative dissociation from EU laws is productive, it would take several years for the ensuing repeals and replacements to reach completion.
Furthermore, the acquaintance with EU legislation you would gain from reading those sections is likely to enhance your understanding of UK law. That is because comparisons of two or more systems leads to awareness of aspects (in this case, about UK law) that might otherwise go unnoticed.
