Judiciary

The United Kingdom does not have a single legal system due to it being created by the political union of previously independent countries with the terms of the Treaty of Union guaranteeing the continued existence of Scotland's separate legal system. Today the UK has three distinct systems of law: English law, Northern Ireland law and Scots law. Recent constitutional changes saw a new Supreme Court of the United Kingdom come into being in October 2009 that took on the appeal functions of the Appellate Committee of the House of Lords. The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, comprising the same members as the Supreme Court, is the highest court of appeal for several independent Commonwealth countries, the UK overseas territories, and the British crown dependencies.

The UK.POPULATION.ANCESTORS.LANGUAGES+NATIONALITIES

Settlement of what was to become the UK occurred about 30,000 years ago. The population is thought to have belonged to a culture termed Insular Celtic, comprising Brythonic Britain and Gaelic Ireland. The Roman conquest, beginning in 43 AD, and the 400-year rule of southern Britain, was followed by an invasion by Germanic Anglo-Saxon settlers, reducing the Brythonic area mainly to what was to become Wales. The region settled by the Anglo-Saxons became unified as the Kingdom of England in the 10th century. Meanwhile, Gaelic-speakers in north west Britain united with the Picts to create the Kingdom of Scotland in the 9th century.

In 1066, the Normans invaded England and after its conquest, seized large parts of Wales, conquered much of Ireland and settled in Scotland bringing to each country feudalism on the Northern French model and Norman-French culture. The Norman elites greatly influenced, but eventually assimilated with, each of the local cultures. Subsequent(последующ) medieval English kings completed the conquest of Wales and made an ultimately unsuccessful attempt to develop Scotland. The English monarchs, through inheritance of substantial territories in France and claims to the French crown, were also heavily involved in conflicts in France, most notably the Hundred Years War.

The early modern period saw religious conflict resulting from the Reformation and the introduction of Protestant state churches in each country. Wales was fully incorporated into the Kingdom of England, and Ireland was constituted as a kingdom in personal union with the English crown.

The history of the UK as a unified sovereign state began with the political union of the kingdoms of England, which included Wales, and Scotland on 1 May 1707 in accordance with the Treaty of Union.

The United Kingdom was once inhabited by Celtic tribes, the heritage of which lives on today.The remaining Celtic cultures are sometimes called the "Celtic nations":

	Area	Celtic peopl	Language	Celtic culture
G A E L I C	N.Irel and	Irish	Irish	Irish is taught in Northern Ireland (where 10% "have some knowledge").
	Scotland	Scottish	Scottish Gaelic	Around 60,000 Scottish citizens speak Scottish Gaelic (1%), and around 1.5m (25%) speak Scots (a close relative to English). In 1997, Scotland voted for its own Scottish Parliament, and a referendum for complete independence was scheduled for 2010. Scotland has always had its own legal system.
	Isle of Man	Manx	Manx	The Isle of Man is a self governing Crown dependency in the Irish Sea, situated between northern England and Northern Ireland. Although the Manx language is no longer commonly spoken, a hybrid form of Manx English is widely used—which contains many original Manx words.
B R Y T H O N I C	Wales	Welsh	Welsh	Welsh is spoken by 600,000 people (20% of the population), and Wales is bilingually sign-posted. In 1997 Wales voted for its own Welsh National Assembly.
	Cornwall	Cornish	Cornish	The county of Cornwall is the south-western peninsula-tip of the United Kingdom. The Cornish language and culture has undergone a renaissance in recent years. It is spoken by 3,500 people.

Ethnic diversity varies significantly across the UK.

White British-86%; Indian; Pakistani; White Irish; Black Caribbean; Black African; Bangladeshi; Chinese.

Since 1945 substantial immigration from Africa, the Caribbean and South Asia has been a legacy of ties forged by the British Empire. Migration from new EU member states in Central and Eastern Europe since 2004 has resulted in growth in these population groups but, as of 2008^[update], the trend is reversing and many of these migrants are returning home.

The UK's official language is English, a West Germanic language descended from Old English which features a large number of borrowings from Old Norse, Norman French and Latin. The English language has spread across the world, largely because of the British Empire, and has become the international language of business as well as the most widely taught second language.

Scots, a language descended from early northern Middle English, is recognised at European level, as is its regional variant in the northern counties of Ireland, Ulster Scots. There are also four Celtic languages in use in the UK: Welsh, Irish, Scottish Gaelic and Cornish.

Across the United Kingdom it is generally compulsory for pupils to study a second language to some extent: up to the age of 14 in England, and up to age 16 inScotland. French and German are the two most commonly taught second languages in England and Scotland. In Wales, all pupils up to age 16 are either taught in Welsh or taught Welsh as a second language.

The UK.RELIGION.DENSITY

Forms of Christianity have dominated religious life in the UK for over 1,400 years. Although a majority of citizens still identify with Christianity in many surveys, regular church attendance has fallen dramatically since the middle of the 20th century, while immigration and demographic change have contributed to the growth of other faiths, most notably Islam. This has led some commentators to variously describe the UK as a multi-faith, post-Christian society. In the 2001 census 71.6% of all respondents indicated that they were Christians, with the next largest faiths being Islam (2.8%), Hinduism, Judaism, Buddhism.15% of respondents stated that they had no religion. A survey in 2007 showed 1 in 10 Britons attend church weekly.

The (Anglican) Church of England is the established church in England. It retains a representation in the UK Parliament and the British monarch is its Supreme Governor. In Scotland the Presbyterian Church of Scotland is recognised as the national church. It is not subject to state control. The Church in Wales was disestablished in 1920, and there is no established church in Northern Ireland.

62% of Christians are Anglican, 13.5% Roman Catholic, 6% Presbyterian.

The UK-61 mill(2007)

England-51 mill

Scotland-5.1 mill

Wales – 3.0 mill

Northern Ireland-1.8 mill

Population density(2003)people per sq km

The UK-246

England-383

Wales-142

Northern Ireland-125

Scotland-65

The most densely populated areas are Greater London, the South and the Southwest. Most of the mountainous parts of the United Kingdom, including much of Scotland, Wales and the Pennine Chain in Northern England are very sparsely populated.

4