Introduction to British Law 12 weeks

Week 1:

Introduction

History o Show map of United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland  Jurisdiction  Wales and England, because they have the longest history of being together, English Law is this  Even though Scotland joined them in the 1700s, they had negotiated and 1706 Treaty of Union, article 19 granted them their own legislative powers  Same for Ireland, now Northern Ireland, in 1801  Now you do have the Government of Wales Act 2006 which allows Wales to make its own legislation  So in conc. When we say English law, this is what we mean. Reading case names o Name of cases should be in italics or sometimes underlined, not the citation o Criminal  If Ms Smith steals Mr Brown’s car then it is likely that a criminal action will be brought against her by the State  Criminal actions are brought against the individual by the State. Therefore criminal cases will usually start with R (Rex or Regina) or sometimes in full  The defendant will have their surname included  Between the two you have “v”. V just means versus, but when you say it for criminal cases, it is “against”  If the criminal is a minor, the courts cannot reveal the name to the public, and therefore will use an initial, e.g. R v S  Occasionally prosecutions are brought by the government’s law officers Attorney General (main legal advisor to the government) will be referred to as A-G or AG Director of Public Prosecutions (appointed by AG as head of the Crown Prosecution Service  As the police forces only came into existence in 1829 (and remember, there is no one police force in the UK) private prosecutions can take place. Then it would be Brown v Smith o Civil  Mr Brown is in a neighbour dispute with Ms Smith, and wants to bring an action against her  Civil disputes, Brown v Smith Brown and Smith (‘v’ said as ‘and’) First person is the claimant, second name is the defendant.

If there is an appeal, first name is usually the