Law and legal systems Flashcards
What law are we looking at ?
English Law
What are the two types of Law?
Public Law and Private law (civil law)
What are the tree areas of public law?
Constitutional law
Administrative law
Criminal law
What does constitutional law cover?
Main institutions of the goverment and their relationships with each other
What does administrative law cover?
Citizens and goverment
What is criminal law?
Management of behavior
What does private law cover?
Relationships between legal persons ie buisnesses and individuals
What are the two sides of a civil case, what is the burden of proof and who does it lie with?
Claimant and defendant
Burden of proof lies with the claimant
Balance of probabilities
What are the two sides of a criminal case, what is the burden of proof and who does it lie with?
Prosecution and defense
Prosecution
Beyond all reasonable doubt
What are the other characteristic of english law?
900 years old
little codification
no constitution
judge made law
independent judiciary - free from political interference
What is the rule of law?
The principles of law - similar to constitution
Reasonably certain and predictable
treat people equally
fair hearing by an impartial tribunal
right of access to courts
What are the two main sources of law?
Legislation, Acts of Parliament or Statues
Case law or judicial precedent
What dos parliament consist of?
House of commons
House of lords
Monarch
What are the steps of Parliament creating a new law?
- Green Paper being published
- White paper - firmed up
- Bill - draft
- Bill introduced in Parliament - House of commons
- 1st and second reading
- Committee stage
- Report Stage
- Third Reading
- Repeat in house of Lords
- Receives Royal Assent
How can the law be tidied up?
Codifying act or consolidating act
What does the law commision do?
Modernizes law and consolidates and revises statute law
What are enabling act and there purpose?
Getting law through parliament is lengthy so there are parent acts that can delegate.
Called delegated or subordinate legislation and have the same legal force as primary legislation.
What are the three most important forms of delegated/subordinate legislation?
Statutory instruments - power given to ministers
Orders in council - power conferred on privy council
Bye-Laws - power given too local council
What is the main interpretation aid used by judges?
Interpretation Act 1978
What are the common law interpretation rules?
Literal rule - what do the words literally mean? Primary rule
Golden Rule - used if normal ready is absurd
Mischief Rule - to suppress mischief
Can statues work retrospectivly?
No
If a statute does not comply with the human rights act 1998 what happens?
Courts issue a declaration of incompatibility
What is the primary court in civil law, who is it heard by ?
County court - minor civil cases
circuit judge sitting alone
What is the court above county court in civil law, what are the divisions, who is it heard by ?
High court - major civil cases
Chancery division
Family division
Queens bench division (commercial court, admiralty court, technology court)
High court judge sits alone
divisional courts can have more than one
What is the court above high court in civil law, , who is it heard by ?
Court of appeal
Civil division
three judges sit
or 5 judges
or 7 judges
What is the highest court in civil law and criminal law and how many judges are there??
Supreme court (house of lords pre 2009)
12 judges
What court deals with minor criminal matters?
Magistrates court
What is above the magistrates court in criminal law and who is it before?
Crown Court
Single judge + 12 jury
What is after the crown court and who is it before?
Court of Appeal
3 judges
What is binding precendent?
Judge is bound by a previous decision if it was made by a higher court or of equal standing.
Judges may be able to reverse or overrule, disapprove or distinguish a case depending on the level of the court.
What is the Woolf reforms?
Courts were lengthy
Lord Woolf was asked to recommend a set of reforms
included
Tracks for cases
Promoted other dispute resolution
Giving judges more responsibility
Utilizing technology
Simplifying the process
Shorter timescales
We have civil procedure rules which include pre-action protocols - what are they and why do we have them?
Allow parties to share as much info as possible early to streamline the process and speed it up.
When is pre-action protocalls issued through the MOJ portal?
For RTA, Employers and Public Liability claims between £1k-£25k
What are the limits for the small claims track, fast claims track and multi track and what are they?
Decides which court should hear a claim.
up to £10k (exception PA claims + housing disrepair which is £1k)
up to £25k
£25k+
What is a part 36 offer?
Compromise between parties in an attempt to avoid going to court all together.
What is DBAs, CFAs, Cost managment and QOCS in terms of funding litigation?
Damaged based agreements
Conditional Fee Arrangements
Cost Management
Qualifies one-way cost shifting for PA
Who appoints solicitors and what courts do they operate and who are the represented by ?
Appointed by general public + companies who need legal advice/representation
Lower courts
Represented by the law society
Who appoints barrister and what courts do they operate and who are the represented by ?
Appointed by solicitor
Governed by general council of the bar or Bar council (commonly known as)
What is a natural persons and juristic persons?
Natural = human beings
Juristic = businesses and corporations
What is a natural persons status and capacity
Status = relationship status, citizenship status, minor/over 18
Capacity = what you are legally entitled to do
When does full criminal responsibility attach itself to a minor (AGE)?
Over 10
What are the two types of juristic persons/artificial legal persons?
Corporation sole - someone representing an official position
Corporation aggregate - 3 sub categories
Chartered corporations eg CII
Statutory corporations eg uni
Corporations regsitered under the Companies Act -eg Ltd
What are the two types of juristic persons/artificial legal persons?
Corporation sole - someone representing an official position
Corporation aggregate - 3 sub categories
Chartered corporations eg CII
Statutory corporations eg uni
Corporations registered under the Companies Act -eg Ltd
What are unincorporated assosiations?
Small social clubs
Voluntary organizations
Small businesses setup as partnerships
trade unions
Sue and be sued in there own right.
What is a part 36 offer attempting to do?
Force a party into a compromise ahead of a court hearing.
What must a part 36 offer be?
Reasonable in relation to the facts of the case
What happens if the Part 36 offer is accepted?
Case wont go to court
What happens if a part 36 offer is rejected?
Party rejecting the offer may be liable to pay the other parties costs from the last possible date that they could have accepted the offer if the settlement doesn’t beat that offer, this is the case even if they win at court.
Are you admitting liability if you make a Part 36 offer?
No
