Law of the United Kingdom

The United Kingdom has three legal systems. English law, which applies in England and Wales, and Northern Ireland law, which applies in Northern Ireland, are based on common-law principles. Scots law, which applies in Scotland, is a pluralistic system based on civil-law principles, with common law elements dating back to the High Middle Ages. The Treaty of Union, put into effect by the Acts of Union in 1707, guaranteed the continued existence of a separate law system for Scotland. The Acts of Union between Great Britain and Ireland in 1800 contained no equivalent provision but preserved the principle of separate courts to be held in Ireland, now Northern Ireland

The Appellate Committee of the House of Lords (usually just referred to, as "The House of Lords") was the highest court in the land for all criminal and civil cases inEngland and Wales and Northern Ireland, and for all civil cases in Scots law, but in October 2009 was replaced by the new Supreme Court of the United Kingdom.

In England and Wales, the court system is headed by the Supreme Court of England and Wales, consisting of the Court of Appeal, the High Court of Justice (for civil cases) and the Crown Court (for criminal cases). The Courts of Northern Ireland follow the same pattern. In Scotland the chief courts are the Court of Session, for civil cases, and the High Court of Justiciary, for criminal cases. Sheriff courts have no equivalent outside Scotland as these Courts deal both with criminal and civil caseloads.

The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council is the highest court of appeal for several independent Commonwealth countries, the British overseas territories, and the British Crown dependencies. There are also immigration courts with UK-wide jurisdiction — the Asylum and Immigration Tribunal and Special Immigration Appeals Commission. The Employment tribunals and the Employment Appeal Tribunal have jurisdiction throughout Great Britain, but not Northern Ireland.

Three legal systems

There are three distinct legal jurisdictions in the United Kingdom: England and Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland. Each has its own legal system.

English law

"English law" is a term of art. It refers to the legal system administered by the courts in England and Wales. The ultimate body of appeal is the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom. They rule on both civil and criminal matters. English law is renowned as being the mother of the common law. English law can be described as having its own distinct legal doctrine, distinct from civil law legal systems since 1189. There has been no major codification of the law, andjudicial precedents are binding as opposed to persuasive. In the early centuries, the justices and judges were responsible for adapting the Writ system to meet everyday needs, applying a mixture of precedent and common sense to build up a body of internally consistent law, e.g., the Law Merchant began in the Pie-Powder Courts see Court of Piepowder (a corruption of the French "pieds-poudrés" or "dusty feet", meaning ad hoc marketplace courts). As Parliamentdeveloped in strength, and subject to the doctrine of separation of powers, legislation gradually overtook judicial law making so that, today, judges are only able to innovate in certain very narrowly defined areas. Time before 1189 was defined in 1276 as being time immemorial.

After the Acts of Union, in 1707, English law has been one of two legal systems in the same kingdom and has been influenced by Scots law, most notably in the development and integration of the law merchant by Lord Mansfield and in time the development of the law of negligence. Scottish influence may have influenced the abolition of the forms of action in the nineteenth century and extensive procedural reforms in the twentieth.

Northern Irish legal system

The law of Northern Ireland is a common law system. It is administered by the courts of Northern Ireland, with ultimate appeal to the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom in both civil and criminal matters. The law of Northern Ireland is closely similar to English law, the rules of common law having been imported into the Kingdom of Ireland under English rule. However there are still important differences.

The sources of the law of Northern Ireland are English common law, and statute law. Of the latter, statutes of the Parliaments of Ireland, of the United Kingdom and of Northern Ireland are in force, and latterly statutes of the devolved Assembly.

Scots law

Scots law is a unique legal system with an ancient basis in Roman law. Grounded in uncodified civil law dating back to the Corpus Juris Civilis, it also features elements of common law with medieval sources. Thus Scotland has a pluralistic, or 'mixed', legal system, comparable to that of South Africa, and, to a lesser degree, the partly codified pluralistic systems of Louisiana and Quebec. Since the Acts of Union, in 1707, it has shared a legislature with the rest of the United Kingdom. Scotland and England & Wales each retained fundamentally different legal systems, but the Union brought English influence on Scots law and vice versa. In recent years Scots law has also been affected by both European law under the Treaty of Rome and the establishment of the Scottish Parliament which may pass legislation within its areas of legislative competence as detailed by the Scotland Act 1998.

English Judiciary

1. The Civil Courts. Civil actions take place between two or more individuals in dispute. These disputes can take many forms, for example between neighbours, families, companies, consumers and manufacturers. It is the function of the civil courts to adjudicate on these disputes.

2. The lowest court in a civil action is a county court, of which there is one in every town in England and Wales. There are some 250 county courts. Each court is assigned at least one circuit judge and one district judge. The circuit judge usually hears the high-value claims and matters of greater importance or complexity. The district judge hears uncontested matters, mortgage repossession claims and small-value claims. The circuit judge deals with appeals from decisions by the district judge.

3. The jurisdiction of the county courts covers: actions founded upon contract and tort; trust and mortgage cases; action for the recovery of land; disputes between landlords and tenants, complaints about race and sex discrimination; admiralty cases (maritime questions and offences) and patent cases; divorce cases and other family matters. The general limit in such cases heard before the county court is 25,000 pounds.

4. Cases involving larger amounts of money are heard by one of the divisions of the High Court. This court has unlimited civil jurisdiction and consists of three branches:

- the Queen’s Bench Division, which is concerned with contract and tort cases, and deals with applications for judicial review;

- the Chancery Division, which deals with corporate and personal insolvency, disputes in the running of companies, between landlords and tenants and in intellectual property matters; and the interpretation of trusts and contested wills, and

- the Family Division, which is concerned with family law, including adoption and divorce.

Judges in the County Courts are circuit judges who rank equally with those who sit in the Crown Court. They are assisted by district judges.

5. Appeals in matrimonial, adoption, guardianship and child care proceedings heard by magistrates courts go to the Family Division of the High Court. The Chancery Division hears appeals about bankruptcy and company insolvency decisions. The Queen’s Bench Division exercises jurisdiction in respect of habeas corpus cases. Appeals from the High Court and county courts are heard in the Court of Appeal (Civil Division), which is presided over by the Master of the Rolls.

The Court of Appeal normally consists of three judges. Each one delivers a judgment, and the majority opinion prevails. The Court has the power to order a new trial or the reversal or variation of a judgment.

6. In accordance with the Constitutional Reform Act 2005, the judicial functions of the House of Lords as of the final national court of appeal in civil and criminal cases are set to be transferred in 2009 to a new Supreme Court of the United Kingdom. This Supreme Court of the UK shall consist of 12 judges appointed by the Monarch by letters patent. One of the judges becomes President and one is appointed to be Deputy President of the Court. The judges other than the President and Deputy President are styled “Justices of the Supreme Court”.

The first Supreme Court judges are the current twelve Lords of Appeal in Ordinary but the new members of the Court will not take the peerage.

7. The Criminal Courts. There are two main types of court, magistrates' courts (or courts of first instance), which deal with about 95 per cent of criminal cases, and Crown Courts for more serious offences. All criminal cases above the level of magistrates' courts are held before a jury.

8. There are about 700 magistrates' courts in England and Wales, served by - approximately 28,000 unpaid or lay' magistrates or Justices of the Peace (JPs), who have been dealing with 'minor crimes for over 600 years. JPs are ordinary citizens chosen from the community. These people are not legally qualified but receive some basic training in court procedures, the examination of pre-sentence reports and penalties for certain offences. Lay magistrates usually sit in groups of three. The more senior magistrate sits in the middle and plays the leading role. They should not all be of the same sex. Serving members of the lay magistracy are entitled to use the letters 'JP' after their names meaning that they are Justices of the Peace.

Magistrates' courts may not impose a sentence of more than six months imprisonment or a fine of more than £2,000, and may refer cases requiring a heavier penalty to the Crown Court.

9. The most serious crimes are tried and sentenced in the Crown Court. These crimes are known as indictable offences. All judges, sitting in the Crown Court have unlimited sentencing powers subject to the legal maximum. The judge presides over the Crown Court and passes sentence (if the defendant is found guilty). In a Crown Court trial there are twelve jurors. These are ordinary members of the public between the ages of 18 and 70 who are selected at random from electoral register. The main function of the jury is to judge the guilt or innocence of the defendant.

10. A person convicted in a magistrates' court may appeal against its decision to the Crown Court. An appeal against a decision of the Crown Court may be taken to the Court of Appeal (Criminal Division), but it is seldom successful. Judges in the Court of Appeal may confirm, reverse or vary the original sentence. The Criminal Division of the Court of Appeal is headed by the Lord Chief Justice.