A government can only rule with the consent of the people. If a human being removes that consent... the government has no power over that individual unless he/she commits an offence under common law.
Laws that precedes government are irrefutable laws and remain till this day. Acts are legislations brought in by elected governments and are supposed to be based on the pregovernment laws (laws that maintain our human rights ie./ right to travel, right to free speech, right to not be harmed or injured etc etc....) Any Act that does not uphold those rights is essentially fraudulent (no further comment on this, please do homework)
Acts also require our consent in order to be effective. Like a contract...you need to sign your consent at every step of the procedure...if you do not, you are not consenting....it is as simple as that. If a person is arrested, they have to sign to be released. It may be a release with a condition that again needs a promise to appear (signed)....if you are bailed they need a signature from the individual who is bailing you out. These signatures are consents. Pre government laws do not need signatures for you to be arrested because you have broken a law that has caused someone to be harmed in some way or have caused loss to someone.... these crimes are not neccessarily under the frayed umbrella of an Act.
I agree Squishy, the Union Jack is quite sexy isn't it !!! But even UK is bound by Common Law.... look up Magna Carta !