For historical reasons, the
United Kingdom does not have a unified legal system as a kingdom of separate
countries. There is a system of law for England and Wales, a second in
Scotland, and a third for Northern Ireland. Welsh law was added in 2007, with
Parliament's passage of the Government of Wales Act 2006. The Supreme Court
commonly sits above these as the final court of appeal.
English law refers to the
legal system administered by the courts of England and Wales. The courts rule
on civil and criminal matters and are based on the principles of common law,
which can be described as having its own legal doctrine.
The law of Northern Ireland
is similar to that of a common law system administered by the courts of
Northern Ireland. The law within its jurisdiction has close ties with English
law, the rules of common law having been imported into Northern Ireland under
English rule.
The sources of law in
Northern Ireland are Irish common and statute law. However, regarding Northern
Ireland statute law, the Parliaments of Ireland, the United Kingdom, and
Northern Ireland are in force, as are the Northern Ireland devolved Assembly
statutes. The Court of Judicature of Northern Ireland leads the courts of
Northern Ireland, which consist of the Courts of Appeal, the High Courts of
Justice, and the Crown Courts of Northern Ireland.
However, the Supreme Court
within the UK is the highest in the land for criminal and civil appeal cases in
Northern Ireland. Any decision made by the Supreme Court is binding on every
other court in the same jurisdiction and often has a persuasive effect within
the different jurisdictions of the United Kingdom.
In medieval times, within
what was to become known as the UK, Law was vested within the Church of
England, which based the early legislation of the UK upon the Ten Commandments.
Law was primarily based upon case law, which formed historical precedents
formulated regionally through various courts.
Summary law conclusions were
brought to the fore through the four Inns of Court based in central London (Grey's
Inn, Inner Temple, Lincoln's Inn and Middle Temple). However, with the
evolution of Parliament, which opened on 15th June 1215, the Palace of
Westminster has been the centre of legislative power within the UK for over 900
years.
The supreme legislative body
of the UK is Parliament, the Crown dependencies, and all British Overseas
Territories. Parliament alone possesses legislative supremacy and ultimate
power over all political bodies in the UK, the Crown dependencies and all British
Overseas Territories. Parliament is made up of three parts, consisting of the
following:
- House of Commons (the primary
chamber).
- House of Lords.
- Sovereign (Crown-in-Parliament).
The House of Commons and the
House of Lords meet in separate chambers at the Palace of Westminster. The
House of Commons is an elected chamber of 650 single-member constituencies,
with elections held at least every five years.
All government ministers,
including the prime minister, are members of the House of Commons by
constitutional convention. Cabinet ministers primarily originate from the House
of Commons, but can originate from either the House of Commons or the House of
Lords, with the result that they are accountable to their respective
legislative bodies. However, the House of Lords has two different categories of
members:
- The Lords Spiritual consists of the
most senior bishops of the Church of England.
- The Lords Temporal consist mainly
of life peers appointed by the sovereign, sitting either by holding a
royal office or by election by the hereditary peers.
Before the Supreme Court
opened in October 2009, the House of Lords performed a judicial role through
the Law Lords. The UK's supreme legislative power lies officially in the
Crown-in-Parliament. However, the Crown usually acts on the advice of the prime
minister. The House of Lords authorities can only delay legislation. Therefore,
power is ultimately vested in the House of Commons.
Within the UK, legislation
consists of:
- Primary Legislation: Refers to laws passed by the
legislative bodies of the UK. However, it also includes Acts passed by
historical parliaments.
- Secondary Legislation: Delegated legislation made by a
person or body. It is referred to as subordinate legislation, enshrined
under an authority within primary legislation.
- By-Laws: These concern a localised area
within the UK overseen by Parliament but created and enacted by local
government authorities such as county, unitary, or town councils.
- Case Law: that has been recorded in Law
Reports and provides the bulk of law that may be referred to within the
United Kingdom when legal precedent is required, for example, when
considering the facts and merits of a case before being brought and heard
in a law court.
Acts are a source of law
through the mechanism and hierarchy of the doctrine of the court and are bound
by the decisions of the court above them within the law court hierarchy, or at
least by a court of equivalent standing. Higher courts have the power to
overturn the findings of a lower court and, in some instances, can overrule
themselves when an area of case law is reconsidered in the light of new
evidence.
The Judicature Acts of
1873-1875 created the court hierarchy, finalised when the House of Lords became
the final Court of Appeal due to the Appellate Jurisdiction Act 1876 in
England. The modern doctrine of the binding amenity of judicial precedent only fully
emerged when law reporting became more formalised within the judicial court
hierarchy.
Case Law reporting in Law
Reports was regulated in the late nineteenth century. Before 1865, Barristers
attended hearings, wrote up and published Case Law as they saw fit, and were
generally referred to as 'nominate reports'. The sheer volume of these reports
and the uncertainty about what constituted an authoritative report of a
judgment led to the establishment of the Incorporated Council of Law Reporting
(ICLR). The ICLR publishes official law reports in the UK.
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