Laravel: Validation unique on update

I know this question has been asked many times before but no one explains how to get the id when you’re validating in the model.

'email' => 'unique:users,email_address,10'

My validation rule is in the model so how do I pass the ID of the record to the validation rule.

Here is my models/User

protected $rules_update = [
    'email_address' => 'required|email|unique:users,email_address,'.$id,
    'first_name' => "required",
    'last_name' => "required",
    'password' => "required|min:6|same:password_confirm",
    'password_confirm' => "required:min:6|same:password",
    'password_current' => "required:min:6"
];

models/BaseModel

    protected $rules = array();

public $errors;

/*
    * @data: array, Data to be validated
    * @rules: string, rule name in model 
*/

public function validate($data, $rules = "rules") {

    $validation  = Validator::make($data, $this->$rules);

    if($validation->passes()) {
        return true;
    }

    $this->errors = $validation->messages();

    return false;
}

Answer

One simple solution.

In your Model

protected $rules = [
    'email_address' => 'sometimes|required|email|unique:users',
    ..
];

In your Controller, action:update

...
$rules = User::$rules;
$rules['email_address'] = $rules['email_address'] . ',id,' . $id;
$validationCertificate  = Validator::make($input, $rules);