English Legal System: Characteristics and Sources

Common law is formed on the basis that courts will make decisions based on past judgments (Letwin, 2011). Cases with similar circumstances will be ruled in the saw way. In most cases the common law will combine with statutory and constitutional law in order to make decisions. Common law bases on the fact that court cases will be primarily ruled on precedent (Aspen Publishers, 2010). The common law is crucial to understanding almost all important

This paper will cover topics such as; what a court is and what the purpose of the court is. This paper will define the dual court system. In addition this paper will describe the role that early legal codes, the common law and the precedent played in the development of courts. And lastly this paper will identify the role of the courts in the criminal justice system today.

Compared to the literal rule and the golden rule, this rule is more discrete. It allows the parliament to observe the real intention of the enactment. The court looks at what part of the law was not covered or what the mischief/gap the act was intended to cover before the act was passed. Then the courts should interpret the Act to cover this mischief/gap.

For many centuries the House of Lords was the supreme court of appeal for the entire UK in civil cases and for England, Wales and Northern Ireland in criminal case. There are three types of legal system in the United Kingdom and these are executive, government and legislature; one each for England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. There was a time where Scotland, Ireland and later Northern Ireland retained the Acts of Union in 1707 and 1800.

It's referring to precedents. Precedents are previous decisions of the court that need to be followed by courts in the same or lower in the hierarchy. The court must give consideration but there is no rule on how it should apply it to the facts of the case at hand.

Britain is one of only a few countries in the world without a codified constitution and has long been a topic of conversation within parliament itself and the media. There are many published articles which argue the need for Britain to adopt a written constitution, whilst others argue that Britain is best left with what many believe as a successful, partially codified constitution. This essay seeks to investigate as to whether Britain would benefit from a fully codified singular document, similar to those found in other countries or whether Britain is at an advantage by keeping it’s existing documents, some of which are in statute form and some not, to allow for flexibility in the future.

United Kingdom gets constituted by four countries: the England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. There is no single arrangement of reports that contains the entire of the law of the UK. Moreover, UK law is likewise not classified, that brings a level of conviction to the law as it permits nationals to recognize plainly whether something is unlawful and the examination methodology that it will create. Absence of codification prompts the legitimate framework being firm as innovative improvements go before past that which the lawmakers thought. Despite its flaws and solidness, the English basic law, as an agent of the normal law of the UK, is a standout amongst the most productive ones. All states need to embrace the same or somewhat changed legitimate framework. Some law applies all through the entire of the UK; a few applies in a few countries. The four main sources of English and Welsh law are legislation or statutory, common or case law, European Convention on the Human Rights and European Union law.

The extent to which judges have law-making power is evident through common law, and the interpretation of legislation. These are important aspects of law, especially within the court. The common law system is influenced by the doctrine of precedent.

Once revered as the matchless constitution, the UK constitution has come under scrutiny in regards to whether the recent system that it holds is the best way to govern a country. The definition of a constitution can be stated as a “whole system of government of a country, the collection of rules which establish and regulate or govern the government”. Identifying the UK’s constitution as unwritten is common, though, on a literal sense, most constitutional laws of UK are of course written but not necessarily all in the same place, therefore, a better description is stated as being “partly written and wholly uncodified”. Supposedly, the UK lacks codification, whether it is positive aspect (or otherwise) is up for debate.

There are various methods and tools for judges to interpret the statute. These include Construction aids which centre around parliament intention prior the legislation/act being passed.

III- The court system or the structure of court in civil law and common law system

Judges have the ability to interpret almost any statue in several different ways, using the nature of language and by giving some words in a statue meaning. When applying statutory laws, judges try to find out the intention of parliament when passing the law. In order to interpret the meaning of a statue, the courts have developed several ‘rules’. These rules can be divided into 3 categories:

= The legal system of England and Wales (“the laws of England and Wales” from 1967). These laws mainly deal with issues of property, theft, inheritance, money… The legal system of England and Wales is the basis of most legal systems in the Commonwealth and the US (except Louisiana).

For years, these two structures common law and the functioning of the equity side and front were. In 1615, in each case, it was determined that we should do in case of dispute. Over time, even after years of antipathy between the two systems was continued for centuries. In 1865, after the restoration of the system of English law, it was decided in the case of divergence between the common law and equity, justice must prevail. Form, the Supreme Court, the laws of justice (1873-1975) established principles for managing a hybrid legal system of courts and courts of equity of the common law and equity. Accordingly, the Court is now not only the court or the court of equity, which is now a court with universal jurisdiction.

English law, as well as courts and arbitration courts of England, are often applied in international transactions. English law is widely used throughout the world due to its clear, settled character. The English legal system has evolved over hundreds of years and continues to develop until now; it is characterized by flexibility and ability to adapt to changing conditions. This flexibility is one of the most attractive aspects of English law, but at the same time it may confuse those who are not familiar enough with it. When comparing English law with continental European legal system there can also be a misunderstanding, because