Legal System
Key Concepts
1. Legal System of England and Wales and Sources of law
2. Constitutional and Administrative law and EU law
3. Legal services
Key Notes:
- common law system - most laws from Parl - areas: public, private, criminal, civil, substantive, procedural
- Parliamentary Supremacy: legislation over caselaw
- Legislation: Primary (by parliament) vs Secondary (by executive autho by parl)
- County → High (queens, chancery, family) → CAppeal → Supreme Court
- Magistrates → Crown → CAppeal/Admin/High → Supreme Court
- SOL must apply for higher rights with SRA
- Public law: const, admin, HR, public order
- Uncodified, unentrenched constitution = acts of parliament + constitutional conventions
- Parl = HC, HL, Monarch
- Crown = Monarch, Privy Council, Cabinet (PM, Sec State), Departments
- Govt can ratify treaty under RP, but Parl passed Act requiring govt to lay treaty and Parl has 21 days to vote against
treaty
- Judicial Committee of PC = commonwealth appeals vs Supreme Court = UK law appeals only
- Judicial Review→ quash govt dxn - only for public law - cannot review factual or hypothetical
- Test for Standing: JR = sufficient interest; HR = victim (more restrictive)
- Remedies: discretionary - JR = injunctions and declaration; HR = same and damages
- Proportionality Test for Qualified Convention Rights
- Retained EU Law
- Statutes (Acts of parl) > Secondary (bills/delegated regs) > royal prerogative for exec (PM/cabinet)
- Caselaw used to interpret statutes
- Human Rights Act → VICTIM TEST (directly affect by govt conduct) → Decl of Incompatibility (refer dxn back to Parl)
- Judicial Review → SUFFICIENT INTEREST TEST (can have interest group bring claim; must be public authority dxn) →
Quash dxn and order new dxn
- If P brings HR complaint re Article 14 under HRA -- this must be tied to another Convention right breach -- cannot
claim violation of Article 14 alone
,Legal System of England and Wales
Common Law System: legislation and case law, adversarial, judge decides and ensures procedure but judge does
not investigate. Different than civil law system where all codified statutes and judge parses out arguments and facts
from witnesses. Courts interpret Acts to fill in any gaps.
Public (incl Criminal) law - state and citizen - constitutional; criminal
Private and Civil law - 2 individuals - tort; contract; tax (but tax can be criminal)
Substantive law - law itself
Procedural law - operation of substantive law
Sources of Law
1. Legislation - Statute aka Acts of Parliament - short title, long title, royal assent date, royal stamp,
commencement date; main source of law in UK; made by democratic elected group
2. Regulations - Statutory Instruments to the Act, subordinate/delegated legislation
3. International Treaty - Royal Prerogative (historic power in monarch) permits PM and Cabinet (the
Executive) to bind UK - ex. ratifying intl treaties, declare war
4. Case Law - aka common law, judge made rules, persuasive or binding
5. Works of Authority - leadings textbooks aid interpretation, persuasive
6. Convention - uncodified parts of UK constitution; persuasive, public expectation
Statutory Interpretation
Courts uses rules, presumptions, rules of language, aids to determine Parl intention
Rules of Interpretation
1. Literal rule - clear, ordinary, unambiguous 3. Mischief rule - find meaning based on what law
meaning regardless of absurdity set to prohibit/remedy
2. Golden rule - extend literal rule to avoid 4. Purposive rule - underlying purpose by looking at
absurdity - rare bc don’t want to override extrinsic material
Parliamentary Supremacy
Rules of Language
1. Expressio unius est exclusio alterius - 3. In pari materia - compare 2 Acts on same
exhaustive list - if not listed then not included subject
2. Noscitur a sociis - compare listed words w/ 4. Ejusdem generis - of same type - general
e/o word means similar to specific words
Aids
- Intrinsic: 4 corners of statute - preamble, long title, marginal notes, schedules
- Extrinsic: dictionary, hansard, notes
Presumptions
1. P against allowing statutes to change CL 3. P that ambiguity in criminal favors DEF
2. P against removing court’s jurisdiction 4. P that statues cannot apply retrospectively
, Courts
Automatic right to appear in family ct
and county; must apply for higher
rights for Crown, High, CAppeal,
Supreme Ct
If case has criminal + civil elements →
must conclude criminal first
Jury - anyeone 18 to 75yo from
electoral register
COUNTY Limit 100k, 50K for PI
Small <10K County PI with past wage loss 4K &
claims pain/suffering <1K pain/suffering 800
Fast track 10k-25k County OR High ct PI <10K but pain/suffering >1k
Multi-track >25K County OR High ct (complex >50k) PI >30K
Under 25k but too complex for FT Appeal to CAppeal
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