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Samenvatting British Culture
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Samenvatting voor British Culture , periode 2
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The lawThe local bobby was a familiar figure on the local streets, a reassuring presence that people
felt they could trust absolutely.
Names for police officers:
Fuzz, the cops or the pigs
The organization of the police
There is no national police force for Britain ( or for England, Scotland or Wales). All police
employees work for one of the 50 or so separate forces, each with responsibility for a certain
geographical area.
*The exepetion for this system is the Metropolitan Police, which polices Greater London and
over which central government has more direct controle. They perform certain national police
functions such as the registration of all crimes and criminals in England and Wales, and the
compilation of the missing persons register.
*New Scotland Yard is the well-known building which is the headquarters of its Criminal
Investigation Department (CID)
CID:
The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) is the branch of all territorial police forces
within the British Police, and many other Commonwealth police forces, to which plain clothes
detectives belong. It is thus distinct from the Uniformed Branch and the Special Branch.
The System of Justice
The system of justice in England and Wales, in both civil and criminal cases, is an adversarial
system. This means that in criminal cases, there is no such thing as an examining magistrate
who tries to discover the real truth about what happened. In formal terms, is is not the
business of any court to find out ‘the truth’. Its job is simply to decide ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to a
particular proposition (guilty or not guilty) after it has heard arguments and evidence from
both sides.
The civil justice system has its own courts. All civil cases go through County Courts and High
Courts, or other, more specialized tribunals. This section focuses on the criminal justice
system. For this there are two kinds of court. More than 90% of all cases are dealt with in
magistrates’ courts. (Every town has one of these) In them, a panel of magistrates passes
judgement . In cases where they have decided somebody is guilty of a crime, they can also
impose a punishment.
*Magistrates are also known as Justice of the Peace (JPs), are not trained lawyers. They are
just ordinary people of good reputation who have been appointed to the job by a local
committee. They do not get a salary or a fee for their work.
,Serious criminal cases are first heard in a magistrates’ court. In these cases, the JP only need
to decide that there is a Prima Facie case against the accused(in other words that it is possible
that he or she is guilty). If they do , they then refer the case to a Crown Court, where a
professional lawyer acts as the judge. The decision regarding guilt or innocence is not taken
by the judge or any other legal professional. It is taken by a Jury, they consist of 12 people
selected at random from the list of voters (trial by Jury)
In order to reach a verdict there must be agreement among at least ten of them. If this does not
happen, the judge has to declare a mistrial and the case must start all over again with a
different jury.
The Duty of the judge during a trial is to act as the referee while the prosecution and defense
put their cases across and question witnesses, and to decide what evidence can be taken into
account by the jury and what cannot. It’s also their job to impose a punishment ( known as
‘pronouncing sentence’) on those found guilty.
A convicted person may appeal to the Court of Criminal Appeal in London either to have the
conviction quashed (not guilty) or to have the sentence ( punishment) reduced.
The legal profession
In Britain there are 2 kinds of lawyers:
Solicitors
Solicitors work directly with clients and although specific work activities will naturally
depend on the Solicitor’s area of expertise, they typically involve conversing with clients to
establish their firm’s suitability to provide the necessary legal advice and services, taking the
client’s instructions and then advising them on the law and legal issues relating to their
particular case.
Barristers
A Barrister generally provides specialist legal advice and represents individual people and
organization’s in Courts and tribunals and through written legal advice.
In general, Barristers in England & Wales are hired by Solicitors to represent a case in Court
and only become involved once advocacy before a Court is needed. The role of a Barrister is
to "translate and structure their client's view of events into legal arguments and to make
persuasive representations which obtain the best possible result for their client."
Barristers usually specialise in particular areas of law such as criminal law, chancery law
(estates and trusts), commercial law, entertainment law, sports law and common law; which
includes family law and divorce, housing and personal injury law.
Barristers and judges in higher court still wear the archaic gowns and wigs which, it is
supposed, emphasize the impersonal majesty of the law. Once they have been appointed, it is
almost impossible for them to be dismissed. The only way that this can be done is by
resolution of the both House of Parliament (something that has never happened)
, Final Appeal
Since 2009 the highest court in the UK is the supreme court. It hears matters on important
points of law, mostly civil cases. It also hears some criminal cases of great public importance.
( except those in Scotland, where the High Court of Justiciary is the highest criminal court).
The law in Scotland
They have its own legal system, separate from the rest of the UK. Although it also uses an
adversarial system of legal procedure, the basis of its law is closer to Roman and Dutch law.
*noticeable feature is that there are three possible verdict, Guilty – Not Guilty – Not proven
Terms connected with the legal system in England and Wales
Acquitted found not guilty by the court
Bail A condition on which a person who has been charged with a crime can go free until the
time of the trial. Typically, this is a sum of money guaranteed on behalf of the charged person
Convicted Found guilty by the court
Claimant The party who makes a claim in a civil court case
Defendant The party against whom a claim is brought in a criminal court case ( the person
accused of a crime)
On remand in prison awaiting trial
Party one sides in a court case. Because of the adversarial system, there must always be two
parties in any case: one to make a claim and one to deny this claim
Prosecution The party who makes a claim in a criminal court case. This job is done by the
Crown Prosecution Service.
Respondent The party against whom a claim is brought in a civil court case
Verdict the decision of the court
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