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Judges and the UK judiciaryResearch question: To what extent could it be argued that there isn't a sufficient level of diversity
within the UK judiciary system?
The UK judiciary system involves many different functions and has many different purposes, this
could range from law making to solving other matters within the judiciary system. One of the main
functions and purpose of the UK judiciary system would be to improve and to protect the law, as
well as in some cases to enhance and to enforce the law within the legal system. Diversity amongst
UK judges also plays its part, which will be analysed more in detail below.
There are many different courts evolved around the UK judiciary and judges are places all across the
nation in many different courts. Courts include: the court of appeal, the high court, crown court. As
well as other courts such as county, magistrates and youth courts. In these court the judges that are
involved have many different duties and responsibilities, these could be to control and enforce the
law, provide sentencing to those who are guilty, make the correct decisions after seeing all the
evidence provided. Judges are appointed by the judicial appointment commission, which selects
suitable candidates to be judges in courts across England and wales. Candidates are selected based
on open competition and merit.
Judges tend to be from different backgrounds and religions, there's also said to be more female
judges as of 2019 than there ever was in previous years. The advantages of having female judges
could be that they show more compassion and tend to have a better understanding of the claimant's
position in a civil case.
1
The court of appeal only deals with appeals from other courts and tribunals. All the decisions are
binding by all the courts apart from the supreme court. The court of appeal consists of two divisions
which deal with civil and criminal appeals accordingly. Civil appeals are heard in the high and count
courts, criminal appeals are heard and dealt with in crown courts for the more serious offences. 2i
3
The high court is a fundamental UK court as it deals and shares both civil and criminal law and
therefore listens to both criminal and civil cases in court. The high court consists of the following
three branches and divisions: the queen's bench, the chancery and the family divisions.
Crown courts are the higher tier for more serious criminal offences, this court deals with only the
serious offences and is together with the high courts of justice and courts of appeal. offences which
are heard here could include; murder, robbery, rape and etc. The jury's generally make the decision
of whether the defendant is guilty or not the judge will then decide which type of sentencing you
would get, this could range from a community service to a life sentence.
1
'The Court Of Appeal' (Judiciary.uk, 2020) <https://www.judiciary.uk/you-and-the-judiciary/going-to-court/court-of-
appeal-home/> accessed 4 January 2020
2
3
'High Court' (Judiciary.uk, 2020) <https://www.judiciary.uk/you-and-the-judiciary/going-to-court/high-court/>
accessed 4 January 2020
, 4
Magistrates courts usually lay down the foundations of mostly all criminal law cases, and most
criminal cases begin in a magistrate's court, which also means that nearly all of them will also end
there too. From here the more serious offences are transferred to the crown court in order to
complete sentencing and if they are fund guilty in the magistrate's court. Aside from criminal cases,
typical magistrates offences could be motoring offences, criminal damage and also drugs offences.
The magistrates only have a limited sentencing time they can give, which is a maximum of 12
months and anything more serious would need to be passed along to a crown court.ii
5
County courts deal with civil matters only and therefore are the less serious of courts. In these
courts there's no sentencing or prosecuting involved, but it's used for settling disputes between two
parties, where one party believes that its rights have been infringed or if there's been a breach of
contract. Matters over here arise around businesses and individuals, cases could be; businesses
trying to recover money that they are owed by others, individuals seeking compensation for the loss
of damages that have occurred (could be in a workplace, accident and etc). They would deal with
both tort or contract law matters and provide the right solutions.
6
The county court consists of many different judges such as: circuit judges, district judges and fee
paid judges. Mostly all cases in a county court would be heard by a district judge, who are specially
appointed for civil case matters, a circuit judge is also assigned to a county court, where they will
listen to cases worth £15000.
Having mentioned all the courts above which all play a huge role within the UK judiciary system and
make up the legal system. There have been many debates over the diversity within the judiciary
system. Diversity in the judiciary system takes into account many different features such as: genders,
age, ethnicity and etc of judges. As well as other demographic factors such as religion and social
economic background.
Points for which will be used= age, gender, the background of judges, ethnicity of judges.
Some of the main criticisms are that the judiciary system is male dominated in this society, and that
there are less female judges. This could also give the suggestion that the judiciary system is out
dated and old fashioned and being less modern. The following statistic seem to support this claim;
4
‘Magistrates court’ (judiciary.uk, 2020) https://www.judiciary.uk/you-and-the-judiciary/going-to-court/magistrates-
court/> accessed 4 January 2020
5
'County Court' (Judiciary.uk, 2020) <https://www.judiciary.uk/you-and-the-judiciary/going-to-court/county-court/>
accessed 4 January 2020'
6
'County Court' (Judiciary.uk, 2020) <https://www.judiciary.uk/you-and-the-judiciary/going-to-court/county-court/>
accessed 4 January 2020'
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