Legal system in the uk

Courts are the final arbiter between the citizen and the state, and are therefore a fundamental pillar of the constitution.

The Supreme Court was established to achieve a complete separation between the United Kingdom's senior Judges and the Upper House of Parliament, emphasising the independence of the Law Lords and increasing the transparency between Parliament and the courts.

In August 2009 the Justices moved out of the House of Lords (where they sat as the Appellate Committee of the House of Lords) into their own building on the opposite side of Parliament Square. They sat for the first time as a Supreme Court in October 2009. (The Constitutional Reform Act 2005 provides for the establishment of a Supreme Court to replace the House of Lords as the Court of final appeal).

Jurisdiction:

• is the final court of appeal for all United Kingdom civil cases, and criminal cases from England, Wales and Northern Ireland

• hears appeals on arguable points of law of general public importance

• concentrates on cases of the greatest public and constitutional importance

• maintains and develops the role of the highest court in the United Kingdom as a leader in the common law world

The Supreme Court hears appeals from the following courts in each jurisdiction:

• The Court of Appeal, Civil Division

• The Court of Appeal, Criminal Division

• (in some limited cases) the High Court

The Senior Courts of England and Wales.

1. The Court of Appeal.

The Court of Appeal deals only with appeals from other courts or tribunals. The Court of Appeal consists of two divisions: the Civil Division hears appeals from the High Court and the County Court and certain superior tribunals, while the Criminal Division may only hear appeals from the Crown Court connected with a trial on indictment (i.e., for a serious offence). Its decisions are binding on all courts, including itself, apart from the Supreme Court.

2. The High Court of Justice.

The High Court of Justice functions both as a civil court of first instance and a criminal and civil appellate court for cases from the subordinate courts. It consists of three divisions: the Queen's Bench, the Chancery, and the Family divisions. The divisions of the High Court are not separate courts but have somewhat separate procedures and practices adapted to their purposes. Each division may exercise the jurisdiction of the High Court.

Divisions:

I) Judges who hear civil cases in the Queen’s Bench Division deal with “common law” business – actions relating to contract, except those specifically allocated to the Chancery Division. They also hear civil wrongs, known as tort.

Contract cases include failure to pay for goods and service and breach of contract, while QBD tort cases include:

• Wrongs against the person e.g. defamation of character and libel;

• Wrongs against property e.g. trespass;

• Wrongs which may be against people or property – e.g. negligence or nuisance;

QBD judges also preside over more specialist matters, such as applications for judicial review – a type of case which seeks to establish if a government decision has been made in the correct way.

They also sit in the Employment Appeals Tribunal.

II) The Chancery Division.

Jurisdiction:

The most common types of case it handles include:

• disputes relating to business, property or land

• disputes over trusts

• competition claims under either European or UK competition law

• commercial disputes (domestic and international)

• intellectual property issues

• disputes over the validity of a will (‘probate disputes’)

It also hears appeals about:

• decisions of masters

• insolvency decisions made by High Court registrars or the County Court

• most decisions of the County Court

• decisions of certain tribunals

It also handles a wide range of other issues which include:

• claims relating to partnerships (eg dissolution)

• cancelling, setting aside or correcting (‘rectifying’) errors in deeds and other legal instruments

• breaches of trust or contract

• professional negligence

Judges of the Chancery Division also sit as judges of the Court of Protection; in the Upper Tribunal (particularly the Tax Chamber); and in the Competition Appeal Tribunal.

III) The Family Division deals with personal human matters such as divorce, children, probate and medical treatment. Its decisions are often of great importance only to the parties, but may concern life and death and are perhaps inevitably regarded as controversial. The Family Division exercises jurisdiction to hear all cases relating to children's welfare, and has an exclusive jurisdiction in wardship cases.

Jurisdiction:

• parental disputes over the upbringing of children

• local authority intervention to protect children

• decrees relating to divorce

• financial support for children after divorce or relationship breakdown

• some aspects of domestic violence

• adoption and etc.