Legal System Of England & Wales Flashcards
What legal system do we have in England and Wales?
Common Law System
What are the key features of a Common Law System?
Decisions are made considering statute and previous court judgements.
What form of system is the common law system?
Adversarial
What is an adversarial system?
Opposing parties offer legal arguments supporting their case and the judge serves as an umpire.
What is a non-adversarial system?
Judge obtains facts from witnesses and enforces a codified statute giving a binding answer
Where uses the non-adversarial system?
Much of Europe.
What are the 6 sources of law?
- Statute
- Statutory Instruments
- International Treaty
- Case Law
- Works of Authority
- Contention
What is a statute?
Acts of Parliament passed by Parliament
What are the structure to an Act of Parliament?
- The Short Title
- Citation
- The Long Title
- The date of Royal Assent
- The Preamble
- Parts
- Sections and Subsections
- Extent Provisions
- Enabling Provisions
What are Statutory Instruments?
Provisions allowing another body to give practical effect to an Act by implementing regulations
What is another name for Statutory Instruments?
Secondary Legislation
Can the executive enter into an intention treaty without the consent of parliament?
Yes, Royal Prerogative allows the executive the bind the UK in international treaties
How is case law created?
Once a point of law has been determined at a binding level, the determination because part of common law.
What extra powers does the element of case law bring to judges?
Law-making roles outside of the direct control of Parliament.
What are Works of Authority?
An aid to interpretation (secondary legislation) - e.g. textbooks
What is Convention?
Rules that are followed as this is how they have always been done. Not to follow them would lead to intense scrutiny
What is the Doctrine of Parliamentary Sovereignty?
Our Parliament are our supreme law. No one can amend the law except Parliament.
Why is secondary legislation required?
Parliament cannot conceive every possible situation that might occur so this provides a fall back
What is the golden rule?
Court uses something other than the words ordinary meaning to avoid an absurd result
What is the purposive rule?
Court looks at documents extraneous to the statute to determine why the statute was passedn
What is the mischief rule?
Court looks to the problem the statute was designed to remedy
What is the literal rule?
Court applies the ordinary meaning of the words in the statute
What are the 4 Approaches to/Rule of Interpretation?
- the Literal Rule
- the Golden Rule
- the Mischief Rule
- the Purposive Rule
Who would use the 4 rules of interpretation?
The court to determine the meaning of an Act of Parliament
What is the rule of Expressio unius est exclusion alterius?
If a statutory section lists specific items of a class without a general catch all, other items of the class are excluded
What is the rule of Noscitur a Sociis?
Ambiguous words in a statutory section should be interpreted by the company they keep
What is the rule of In Pari Materia?
Ambiguous words in statutory sections interpreted consistently with the same words in statute touching the same subject matter
What is the rule of Ejusdem Generis?
Ambiguous general words in a statutory section which follow specific words should be interpreted as referring to things of the same type as specific words
What are the 2 different types of aids in interpretation and provide an example for each? §
Intrinsic = statutes, marginal notes Extrinsic = dictionaries, Hansard, explanatory notes
What are the two main courts in the Civil System?
- The County Court
2. The High Court
What does the County Court deal with?
Lower value claims
What are the 3 tracks for County Court?
- Small Claims Track
- Fast Track
- Multi-Track
What is the limit for Fast Track claims?
Between £10,000 and £25,000
What is the cost requirements for Multi-Track cases?
Over £25,000
What is the limit of claims to be held in the Small Claims Track?
Less than £10,000 and claims for PLSA no more than £1,000
What does the High Court deal with?
Civil court in the first instance and as an appellate court for lower value cases.
What cases are usually heard in the Queens Bench?
Multi-track cases over £50,000 for PI or £100,000
What cases are usually heard in the Chancery Bench?
Land contracts, trusts and wills
What cases are usually heard in the family bench?
Family cases such as adoption, complex divorce, nullity of marriage and dissolution of civil partnerships
What are the three divisions of the High Court?
- Queens Bench
- Chancery
- Family
What is the alternative to Civil Courts?
Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR)
What are examples of forms of ADR?
Mediation, arbitration and negotiated settlement.
What is the most comment form of ADR?
Mediation.
What is the process of mediation?
Use of a third party ‘mediator’ to guide the parties in the dispute to resolve the situation themselves.