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Unit 22: Aspects of the legal system and the law-making process (P3)
- Institution
- PEARSON (PEARSON)
P3: Describe how legal rules are created by precedent Message me for more info :)
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Unit 22 – Aspects of legal system and the law-making processP3:
TASK 1
Judicial Precedent & Courts in England and Wales
Judicial precedent is the process in which all decisions of the higher courts (Superme Court) have to
be followed by lower courts (Magistrates Court). This is also considered as the precedent of the
courts or binding precedent. The system in England and Wales is designed to provide justice across a
variety of separate courts, and this involves: beginning from the lowest, the Tribunals Service and
the Magistrates’ Courts, followed by the County Courts and Crown Court, Court of Appeal, High
Court as well as the highest which is the Superme Court also known as the House of Lords.
The United Kingdom has no single unified legal system, but England or Wales have one the same
system. However, Scotland as well as Northern Ireland have two different systems that England and
Wales does not have.
The role of judges in the court is to recognise the part of a law. The concepts that they use to
achieve this must then be followed in the future by different courts as well to deal with situations.
Thus, we also can conclude that they are built up with time, because various decisions taken by the
higher courts can refer to varying decisions taken by the lower courts, since they are followed by a
higher court resolution.
On the other hand, as disputes go over to court, all the information is documented that is meant to
prevent the judges from being "too creative" whenever they judge, and so that also supports them
in their decisions for future cases. The precedent is for criminal offences in which a person can only
be arrested for up to a year in prison period. The other two different ways in which precedents are
set up are for instance if there is no such a policy or law, judges must be guided by common sense
and the rules of law. Another approach is when a certain legislation is interpreted. This means, that
because the Parliament is responsible for developing and creating new laws, the courts must define
them or create the definition of those terms. An example for this is that a person can only be
accused of vandalism if he enters the building in which the court will make the decision.
http://www.e-lawresources.co.uk/Judicial-precedent.php
Law Reports
A law report are publications that’s purpose is to provide all legal and detailed information in the UK.
In the United Kingdom, courts can use the precedent set from the past cases, however first of all
they need to provide a clear written record that consists the decisions made in such situations
before. These documents are officially included in our Law Reports. For instance, those that can be
found in media outlets are the highest-ranking types of law reports such as the Weekly Law Reports
which are written by all legal scholars.
In an effort to allow all courts to use the precedents set out in the Law Reports, the Ratio decidendi
must first be identified by the judges. Ratio decidendi is an essential element of a judgment which
create binding precedent and must be followed by inferior courts. The reason why the courts use
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