English legal system
Joy Wingfield
Short residential course
Session 1 May 15th 2006
1
Learning Outcomes
• At the end of this session, you will be able to
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Distinguish between the types of UK law
Describe the English courts system
Describe the hierarchy of law and how it is created
Explore how politics drives law
Identify the key features of primary and secondary
legislation
– Decode legal citations
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What is Law?
• A law is an obligatory rule of conduct
• Public law deals with relationships between
individuals and “artificial persons” (e g
companies) and the state
• Private law deals with relationships (common
law) and obligations (civil law) between
individuals or local concerns such as notice of
street processions
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Classification of Law
• Statute law is made under the authority of
the monarch, but created by Parliament
– Criminal
– Professional
– Administrative
• Civil law covers obligations between citizens
– Contracts
– Torts
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The court system
• For the administration of justice
– Apprehension and punishment of
wrongdoing
• For the settlement of disputes
– Restitution, compensation, punishment?
• Includes a range of tribunals and
professional “courts”
• Variable jurisdictions
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House of Lords
Appeals from the Court of Appeal and in exceptional circumstances from the High Court
(also Scotland and Northern Ireland)
Court of Appeal
Criminal Division
Appeals from the Crown Court
High Court
Queen’s Bench Division
Contract and tort etc.
Commercial Court
Admiralty Court
Administrative Court
Civil Division
Appeals from the High Court, tribunals
and certain cases from the county courts
Chancery Division
Family Division
Matrimnonial proceedings
Proceedings relating to children
Probate
Supervisory and appellate
jurisdiction overseeing the legality
of decisions and actions of inferior
courts, tribunals, local authorities,
Ministers of the Crown and other
public bodies and officials
Equity and trusts, contentious
probate, tax partnerships,
bankruptcy
Consumer Court
Patents Court
Divisional Court
Divisional Court
Appeals from the
magistrates’ courts
Appeals from county courts,
on bankruptcy and land
Crown Court
County Courts
78 centres
Trials of indictiable offences, appeals from
magistrates’ courts, cases for sentence
218 courts
Majority of civil litigation, subject to
nature of the claim
Magistrates’ Court
Tribunals
Trials of summary offences, committals
to the Crown Court, family proceedings
courts and youth courts
Hear appeals from decisions on
immigration, social security, child
support, pensions, tax and lands
From web tutorial, Kent university library
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Sources of law
• International conventions
• European Union
• Primary legislation – an Act
– Health fully devolved in Scotland
– Partially in Wales
• Secondary legislation – an SI
• Directions - public service administration
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European Union
• Post WWII, UK joined “common market” in
1973, now 25 “member states” in a political
“European Union”
• Free movement of people, goods, services
and capital (money) – political “bloc”
• Regulations - binding in every respect
• Directives
- binding as to objectives
• Decisions
- internal structures
• Recommendations (persuasive force) and
opinions (case law)
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European Institutions
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Council
Appointed politicians :decision making, national
presidency changes every six months, can impose
majority decision
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Commission
Civil servants: draft proposals, amend, discuss,
repeat, prepare cases for enforcement,
Commissioners head Directorates eg internal
market, agriculture
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Assembly
Elected politicians: provide rapporteurs,
consultative/advisory. 15 standing committees.Meet
once a month for a week in Strasbourg and Brussels
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ECOSOC
Experts: provide expertise
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European
Court
Judges and lawyers : enforce and interpret law
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EU Legislative Machinery
• Council Regulation
93/2309/EEC
Compulsory central process for new actives
• Council Directive
2001/83/EEC
Control production and distribution of
medicines
• Council Decision
75/320/EEC
Set up Pharmaceutical Committee
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Pharmacists
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85/432/EEC covers education and training
Five year course includes in-service training
36/2005/EEC From 2007: may be part time
85/433/EEC: covers right to practise in EU
An EU national
Cannot be in personal control of a pharmacy
open for less than three years
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European Convention on
Human Rights
• See later!
• Don’t mix up European court of Justice
– enforcing EU “commercial” law and
European Court of Human Rights –
enforcing the European Convention on
Human rights
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How UK law is made
• Green papers
– Policy, problems and solutions
• White papers (“Command” papers)
– Proposals for new law; need an Act to
amend an Act (usually!)
• Public bills have government support
• Private members bills – but not usually private
law
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Parliamentary Process
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Bill introduced in Queen’s speech
Readings in both houses
Committee scrutiny
Passing an Act (Primary legislation)
Powers to make Statutory Instruments
(Secondary legislation)
– Regulations
– Orders
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The geography of law
Exercise
Working in small groups identify the
nature and status of the documents
in your pack and describe their
nature, status, organisation and
layout
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The geography of law
Information for exercise
• Documents include:
– A green paper and a white paper
– A Bill, explanatory notes and an Act
– A new SI consultation and regulatory impact
assessment
– Several Statutory Instruments
– Public services directions; best practice
guidance
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Politics and law
A class exercise
Trace the progress of the concept of
clinical governance from ministerial
proposal to implementation at NHS
contract level
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Legal citations
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European law
“Command” papers
Bills
Parliamentary debates
UK statutes
Statutory Instruments
Cases
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Case law
• Over 200,000 cases per year in E and W
• Only about 2,500 of these are reported
– New or modified principle, new rule, settle questions,
new interpretations or applications
– All House Lords, some appeals, high court, tribunals
• “Official” Bar council reports from 1865
– Approved by judge
– Contain counsel arguments
– Four classes House Lords (HL), Chancery (CH),
Queens Bench (QB) and Family (Fam)
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Interpreting a legal citation
Citations consist of
The names of the parties
Date
Volume number
Abbreviation
Page no.
Hunter v Canary Wharf [1997] 3
Derry v Peek
From web tutorial Kent University library
WLR
684
(1889) 14 App Cas 337 HL
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Other law reports
• General Series of reports
– Weekly Law Reports - WLR
– All England Law reports - All ER
• Specialised law reports
– Criminal Appeal Reports – CLR
– Statutory Committee Reports (not official)
• Newspapers and Journals
– Times law report - TLR
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Legal citations
Exercise
Working in small groups and using the
printed material available, “decode” the
examples of legal citations to provide
full information on where the
information is to be found and under
what jurisdiction
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Questions so far?
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