ELS

Question 1

Law

Answer 1

The system of rules which a particular country or community recognises as regulating the actions of its members, and which it may enforce by the imposition of penalties.

Question 2

High justice

Answer 2

The Monarch’s personal power

Question 3

Court of Exchequer

Answer 3

Court dealing with royal finances

Question 4

Court of Common Pleas

Answer 4

Court dealing with the possession of land

Question 5

Court of King’s Bench

Answer 5

Court dealing with serious criminal matters

Question 6

Assizes

Answer 6

Sittings in the Royal Courts
- These continued until the enactment of the Courts Act 1971

Question 7

Court of Exchequer Chamber

Answer 7

Court to deal with appeals (appellate)
- This was abolished in 1875 when its function was transferred to the Court of Appeal

Question 8

The Common Law/Case Law

Answer 8

The law which the King’s Judges applied and was based upon the common customs of the country
- This was firmly put in place and recognised as supreme over the local courts by the time of the reign of Edward I (1272)

Question 9

Writ

Answer 9

A document with a royal seal that contained a royal demand for the defendant to appear before the court, it contained the foundation of the complaint and there was a different form of writ for a different complaint.
- Only Parliament was able to issue a new writ and if a claimant couldn’t find an existing writ to cover their case then they had no claim that the could bring before a court.

Question 10

Real action

Answer 10

An early form of a writ which was an action in the common law courts for the recovery of land

Question 11

Writ of right

Answer 11

The earliest form of a ‘real action’ which was a direction from the King commanding the feudal lord to trial a dispute about the title to freehold land which would be resolved in a trial by battle (physical fight)

Question 12

Grand assize

Answer 12

Henry II established them in the 12th century and they gave the defendant the option of submitting to trial before 12 knights instead of a trial by battle.

Question 13

Possessory assizes

Answer 13

Determined who had the immediate right to land based on who had the better claim to possession instead of issuing an absolute right to who had the most fundamental right.

Question 14

Personal action

Answer 14

An action under the common law brought to enforce or recover a debt or a remedy (which was damages such as financial compensation)
- Problem with this was that it only offered the remedy of damages so when a party breached a contract, the common law couldn’t compel a party to fulfil the promise

Question 15

Debt (personal action)

Answer 15

An action for a fixed sum of money in return for an executed consideration.

Question 16

Detinue (personal action)

Answer 16

A claim for the return of a specific chattel (an item of immovable property but not real estate e.g. ovens) wrongfully retained (with the option of damages instead).
- This (and debt) was triable by ‘wager of law’

Question 17

Wager of law

Answer 17

When people testify to the character of the defendant as proof that the claim was not well-founded)

Question 18

Covenant (personal action)

Answer 18

An action for damages resulting from the breach of a man’s promise under seal (by deed), no consideration was necessary.

Question 19

Account (personal action)

Answer 19

This was used to compel a party to account to the claimant for money received on the claimant’s behalf e.g. a bailiff who received rent on behalf of the claimant

Question 20

Trespass

Answer 20

Unlawful interference (can be committed against a person, goods or land)
Historically, it as triable without proof of loss (actionable per se)

Question 21

Law originating in the EU

Answer 21

Before Brexit, some EU law was applicable in the UK without any action on the part of Parliament. After Brexit, some law which was originally part of EU law remains applicable in the UK via legislation passed by Parliament.

Question 22

International Law

Answer 22

The UK has approved numerous international treaties and conventions. Many are not ‘law’ in the strict sense, i.e. breach does not attract a penalty, but they are still a source of legal rights and obligations.

Question 23

Judgement

Answer 23

A person’s personal judgement

Question 24

Judgment

Answer 24

The judgment of a court or tribunal

Question 25

Stare decisis / Binding precedent

Answer 25

Means ‘stand by what has been decided’
- Once a principle of law has been set down, future cases with the same material facts must be decided in the same way.

Question 26

A point of law

Answer 26

A question about the application of the law to the case, which the court has been asked by the parties to decide.
- When a POL is decided in a superior court, this creates a precedent.

Question 27

Persuasive Authority

Answer 27

A judgment of a court, from which the instant court may choose to depart.

Question 28

Ratio decidendi

Answer 28

‘’Reason for the decision”

Question 29

Ratio

Answer 29

The legal principle on which the courts’ decision is based. (The binding part of a judgment)

Question 30

Obiter dictum

Answer 30

When a Judge comments on an area of law which is not necessary for the court to reach the decision in the case.

Question 31

Dissenting judgments

Answer 31

The view of a judge who disagrees with the majority of the court.

Question 32

Following

Answer 32

Where a court considers the facts of a case to be so similar to those facts in an earlier case that the law in the earlier case should be followed.

Question 33

Approving

Answer 33

If the court doing the ‘following’ is a higher court, then the later decision is said to be approving the earlier one.

Question 34

Applying

Answer 34

Where a court in a later case considers the facts of an earlier case to have similarities to those in the case before it and therefore applies the law in that earlier case.

Question 35

Reversing

Answer 35

A judgment is reversed if a case goes to appeal, and the higher appeal court disagrees with the lower court. This has nothing to do with precedent.

Question 36

Overruling

Answer 36

A precedent is overruled if a superior court in a later case decides the original precedent set in a past case is wrong and sets a new ‘correct’ precedent instead. The original precedent is no longer good law.
- A court departs from its own precedent if it overrules its own.

Question 37

Distinguishing

Answer 37

A court may avoid following an otherwise binding precedent if it can ‘distinguish’ the earlier case, e.g. by finding a difference in the material facts between the two cases. A principle which applies on one set of facts may not apply on a slightly different set of facts. Finding a fact on which to distinguish an unhelpful or unpopular precedent is part of a judge’s skillset.