There are three sources of the English legal system which are: European law, national legislation also known as Acts of Parliament and case law which is judicial law. Among these three sources of the English legal system, some are more important than others. As European law is part of English law, there are bound to be conflicts between the two and I will go on to discuss in more detail how the courts decide which law is superior, European law or English law when a conflict arises between European law and English law. national law and European law. The most important source of English law is arguably European law. The United Kingdom joined the European Union (EU) in 1973 and since then European law has been part of English law. Being part of the EU means that all member states must follow the laws established by the EU, because the EU has the power to create rules and regulations that all member states must follow. The EU has a number of main institutions which are: the Council of the European Union, the European Parliament, the European Council, the European Court of Justice and the European Commission. These institutions adopt laws that apply to member states. The sources of European law in which laws are adopted are regulations, directives and decisions. Regulations are used to promote consistency of laws across the EU. Once regulations are adopted, they come into force instantly in all member states. Directives, on the other hand, aim to harmonize the law between Member States, they attempt to create similar but not exactly identical laws. Thanks to the directives, member states can implement the law using their own methods. An example of a European directive is the Working Time Directive, which imposes a maximum number of hours that an individual can work. The last... middle of paper ... murderers sentenced to life may be eligible for parole, but in some exceptional cases murder may not be eligible for parole. The ECHR ruled that this refusal to grant conditional release was considered inhuman and degrading treatment. The ECHR also found that this was a direct violation of the European Convention on Human Rights. The UK government has been ordered by the ECtHR to inform the Council of Europe how it intends to apply the rule allowing possible parole review to convicted murderers. Although the UK Justice Minister remained adamant about not bowing to pressure from the ECHR, the Prime Minister's legal adviser said the UK would eventually have to succumb to the ECHR. In this case, the conflict arose from the UK's strict parole code, but also from their belief that the ECHR should not have the final say on UK law..