This assignment delves into the workings of a legal system, focusing on the procedures followed during case proceedings and the significance of appeals. It examines how precedents set by courts influence decisions and highlights the role of appeals in ensuring fairness and addressing dissatisfaction with court rulings.
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Law and Legal System
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Table of Contents INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1 TASK 1............................................................................................................................................1 P1. Types of law in the English legal system.........................................................................1 P2. Main principles relating to criminal law..........................................................................3 M1. Evaluation of type and principles of law by applying to a particular offence................4 D1. Demonstration of the criminal justice by critically analysing a particular criminal offence ................................................................................................................................................4 TASK 2............................................................................................................................................6 P3. Structure of Magistrates and Crown Courts.....................................................................6 P4. The route for appeal in the criminal court structure.........................................................8 M2. Analysis of structure of Magistrates and Crown Courts for criminal proceedings.........9 CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................10 REFERENCES.............................................................................................................................11 .......................................................................................................................................................11
INTRODUCTION Legal system mean a mechanism for elucidation and enforcing various laws. It consists right and responsibilities of citizens and organizations in a country. Majority of states in the world have three legal system viz. Civil, common and religious law. UK have English legal system which have common legal system which is divided into criminal and civil law, public and private law and common and equity law (Tushnet, 2017). Furthermore, each of them have their own courts and systems. The laws prevailing in UK are enacted by Westminster Parliament of UK. The report covers types of law in English legal system, main principles relating to criminal law, the structure of Magistrates and Crown Courts and route for appeals in criminal court structure. TASK 1 P1. Types of law in the English legal system English legal system operates in three branches of law consistingcommon and equity law, private and public law and criminal and civil law. The highest authority to take decide cases is with Westminster Parliament have power to make decisions on certain occasion. The higher courts have more powers and authority than the inferior courts. Further, the principles of “judicial precedents” are followed by courts to conclude a case. In order to proper conduct of various acts of citizen, the government implement laws which are passed by UK parliament. UK have a partially unwritten constitution and laws have already been enacted for written portion. Along with this, doctrine of supremacy prevails over common or any other law (Raz, 2017). Further, a particular structure is followed and to implement a law, a bill must be presented in the Parliament by any of its members. The types of laws in English Legal System have been described below: Criminal and Civil law Criminal LawCivil Law This branch of English legal system deals with offencesandbreachesthatmayaffectthe society in a negative way. It is concerned with all the citizens instead of just one person. A person who has contravened criminal law will It is about rights and property of individual citizen or entities, which may not always be protected by criminal laws. The laws resolve conflictsbetweenindividualsand organizations. Further, it award compensation
be held under criminal proceedings. Examples of offences covered murder, sexual assault, money laundering etc. as relief or decision. In the contrary to criminal court, there is no provision of sending a person to prison. Public and private law Public LawPrivate Law Itiscompriseslawsthatgovernpublic authorities, including government, and the way they can use their powers (Gerhardt, 2017). Theaimistolimitmisuseofpowerso conferred to government. It is is a mixture of UK administrative, tax and criminal law. These are applied in order to narrow down inequality that prevails between government and public. Onlygovernmenthastherighttomake decisions in such cases, and a person aggrieved from a determination may file for an judicial review. It is a branch of civil law of English legal systemwhichgovernsrelationshipbetween individuals living in the society, for instance, contracts, torts, trust etc. . Further, it if often calledcommonlaw.Also,itdealswith disputesbetweenorganizationsoperatingin UK.Further,itextendstomattersof commercial or financial nature or relations. It applies to an individual party and the scope is narrow than public law. Common and Equity law Common LawEquity Law It is called judge made law. The judges while deciding the case law have to take into account judgementspassedbyhigherandsimilar courts. The doctrine of judicial precedents is followedforreachingtoadecision.For example,AmurderedBthenthiswillbe referred to common law. UnderEnglishlegalsystem,Equitylaw provides equitable remedies as passed by court of equity (Chancery). It has twelve maxims which are applied by judges to solve the case. These have been created through precedents. The relief that is awarded to an individual is personalandspecific(Volkovaandet.al., 2015). For instance, A and B are two persons, where in B builds a home on A's land with the
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mutual consent that ownership will transferred on completion. In case, land owner denied to perform his duty, the case will be resolved through equity law. P2. Main principles relating to criminal law Criminal law governs matters regarding wrong doings which will impact the whole community negatively. It protects UK citizens against criminal offences by providing justice and convict culprits. The acts under this law could range from small to heinous crimes, fraud and other similar nature crimes (Coelho, 2017). Further, there may be circumstances where the jurisdiction of courts may extend to offences committed outside UK but has potential impact in thecountry,forexamplecross-bordercrimesandterrorism.Acriminaloffencecanbe determined through the below mentioned points: The nature and scope of offence is against the public at large- The outcomes or impact of crime must be on large public and not just on an individual. It attracts punitive punishment- Criminal law punish offender in order to prevent him from doing similar acts in future. there is a requirement of mens rea- the offence must be committed knowingly. Along with this, there must be an intention of person to evade restriction or punishment. Some of the main principles involved in criminal laws have been mentioned below: Presumption of innocence:A person will prima facie be treated as innocent till the time he is proven guilty. In other words, a person can not be held guilty and punished without showing adequate evidence by the opposite party. Further, judge will consider all the proofsanddrawhisconclusiontopassdeterminationforguilty.Inthecaseof Woolmingtonv.DPP,thejudgequoted“presumptionofinnocenceisavital, constitutionally guaranteed, right of a person accused in a criminal trial”. Burden of proof:According to this principle, the person who has filed a case and have accused another person has the responsibility to provide sufficient evidences to to prove the offence. However, the defendant should present their side to prove why he is not guilty. This can be done by providing witness or other proofs to help him proving his innocence. In the case of People (DPP) v. Byrne, the person who have put allegations on another person, must produce evidence to prove offence of latter (.Hitt, 2016.).
Right to remain silent:Every person hold the right to not to answers the questions asked by police. However, if police have reason to believe that a person is involved in criminal act of have found the reasonable evidence of his involvement in crime, then in such case, the person must provide his name along with residential address to police. If they give misleadingpersonal information then they will be punished. All these provisions are applicableonallUKpeopleirrespectiveofprofessiontheydo(Pina-Sánchez, Lightowlers and Roberts, 2017). Double jeopardy:The literal meaning of these words are that a person can not be charged twice for the same offence once they have been acquitted. However, in the trial proceedings, required evidences were not presented or the person was compelled to produce them, then in such case, an application for fresh and new trial may be done for conviction. Furthermore, if accused have been acquitted on the basis of false evidence, or by bribing jury, witnesses or any other illegal modes, then also a new trial can be started. Thesekindofcasesareallowedinseriousoffencessuchasmurder,rape,or manslaughter, in which trial may be conducted twice (Catley and Claydon, 2016). M1. Evaluation of type and principles of law by applying to a particular offence Every offence is dealt with laws which falls under a particular type also more than one principles of law may be applied to it. For instance, murder is a criminal offence which is serious and have impact on a whole community. Hence, criminal law will be applicable along with this, provisions of common law will also apply. Furthermore, the accused have no right to remain silent, and must answer all the questions asked by police. The accused is presumed to be innocent until the prosecution proves that he is guilty of the charge. D1. Demonstration of the criminal justice by critically analysing a particular criminal offence The criminal system works in a certain way to find a determination of case. It aims at providing justice to the ones who have committed crimes. Rape is a heinous crime which comes undercriminal law. The judges inthe criminal court follow a particular procedure to pass a judgement. The system is effective but has some loopholes such as a person who has committed crime will be free of charge till the time adequate evidence are produced. During this time, there could be manipulation and witnesses may be bribed or killed, which shows the ineffectiveness of legal system in UK. The system is outdated. The person accused with rape charges may apply for reducing the sentence, which is most of the cases gets approved and the sentence is reduced. It
shows that criminal legal system needs up-gradation for making it a better system to provide justice and protect people in UK against such crimes. TASK 2 P3. Structure of Magistrates and Crown Courts
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Magistrates' courtis an inferior court which conducts trials for summary offences. Further, preliminary hearings of severe cases are held in magistrate court. Civil matters like family disputes are decided. These are governed by Magistrates' Courts Act, 1980. The jury bench consists of three magistrates or a district judge. Further, they have limited power which can not exceed the power of judges of Crown courts (Boyd, 2015). Apart from this, the offences are punishable with a fine a specified maximum amountand/or imprisonment up to 6 months depending on the nature of case. The criminal proceedings initiated in such courts. However, criminal offence of serious nature such as murder, rape are transferred to Crown Courts. The structure of criminal proceedings will be as follows: The criminal cases will are first sent to magistrates' court provided offences are not of a serious nature or complex. The trials are held for non-indictable offences. The jury hears the summary of case. The judge gives decision deciding whether to allow defendant to leave or bail or to keep them in police custody until the case is decided by Crown Court. Crown courtsof England are managed by Queen and deal with case of civil and criminal courts. These are considered as senior courts which are lower to High Court of justice. The criminal cases will at first instance be decided by these courts. The jury panel consist of 12 members. It takes into account evidences that have been provided at the time of trial. The punishment is awarded by judges which can involve severe sentences as compared to the punishments of magistrates' courts. Crown courts entertain appeals against convictionin respect of criminal offences that have been processed in magistrates' courts.Currently, there are 92 Crown Courts in England and Wales. The structure of Crown Courts have been mentioned below: The case which has at first instance been provided to magistrates' courts to decide the nature, will be transferred to Crown Court if found of serious nature (Aoláin, O'Rourke and Swaine, 2015). In case of indictable crime, the trial will be held in in such court. A person aggrieved by decision passed by Crown Court, can appeal in High Court. However, if the case is of such substantive nature or in public interest, then it may be decided by Supreme Courts or Court of Appeal.
The above chart shows that Magistrate court is the lowest to decide criminal matters. The cases will be first sorted to determine their level and nature and then transferred to each courts according to its nature. In case Crown court fails to determine the case or has wrongly passed the judgement, it can be forwarded to Divisional courts of High Courts. So, it can be concluded that High court will be approached when all other sub-ordinate courts fails to take a reliable decision. P4. The route for appeal in the criminal court structure A person aggrieved with the decision of his case may file an appeal in a higher court to review the case all over again in order to assess the rightness of judgement so passed. When a person is not satisfied by first decision, then appeal is the solution to get correct determination (Ward and Carter, 2018). However, the appeal procedure will not be as lengthy as a court proceedings. Appellate courts are there to entertain appeals. The objectives of such courts are to look for the applicability of legal principles instead of changing the whole decision. The pre- requisite conditionfor appeal is that, there must be some legal or procedural error to review the conclusion. The process is usually complex as compared to a fresh case. The routes that are available to a person to appeal under criminal court structure are as follows: Magistrate's courts appeals: Under this case decided by such courts provide right to appeal which is is entirely different in for petitioner and defendant. Earlier, the right to appeal was with defendant only but as legal system has evolved, the applicant can also appeal in court. The routes through which an aggrieved party may file an appeal against are Crown court or to the Queen's Bench Divisional court. However, the appeal can be filed only on a point of law or for any other reasons which may be valid. Appeal to Crown Court: This route is simple and normal route. Further, only the defendant can appeal in Crown Courts. There may arise two situations, a defendant can appeal for sentence only, if he has been proved guilty. The second situation that may arise, if defendant pleaded is not guilty, and was convicted, then he can appeal against both conviction and sentence or any one of them, as per his wish. Further, there is no requirement of permission from any higher court or authority. Defendant has a right to appeal (Foy, 2018). The case for which appeal has been filed is re-heard by judge and two magistrates. However, the decision may be common or may differ. In case of mutual decision, judges
can confirm conviction. On the contrary, if decision differs, the decision may be reverse on case not being proved. Furthermore, there are some cases where they have limited powers, thus, can not change the first decision or reduce the sentence (Mitchell and Stockdale, 2018). In case, appeal is against sentence, the jury of Crown court can confirm sentence, also they can make changes in it. In other words, it can be increased or decreased. Provided, the extension in sentence can not exceed magistrate's maximum power for the lawsuit. The procedure that is followed in appeal under criminal court is as follows: ▪Magistrate's court:A summary trial is conducted before 3 magistrates ora district judge. ▪Defendant can file an appeal against conviction he has not been guilty and against sentence. ▪Appeal against a conviction, the whole case will be re-heard from the beginning as a fresh case. ▪The right to appeal has been given to both prosecution or defendant through case stated, if according to their judgement, decision was wrong or beyond jurisdiction of court. ▪The appeal is then heard by minimum of 2 judges, they hear the matter and may affirm, reverse or amend the decision for which appeal has been filed. ▪In case, the matter is of substantive nature or in public interest, it may be forwarded to House of Lords. The panel constitutes 5 to 7 Lords of Appeal in ordinary. They have same power as of Court of Appeal. M2. Analysis of structure of Magistrates and Crown Courts for criminal proceedings The legal system of criminal offences that Magistrates' courts and Crown Courts are complex and it is not easy to understand the systems. Along with this, the process is also time consuming which may take several months to pass a judgement in a case. Furthermore, criminal offences requires specific and valid evidence to prove the case. Even the appeal procedure is also lengthy and tricky to understand. There is a need to amend it, in order to remove the loopholes such as easily getting the reduced sentence for the offence.
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CONCLUSION From the above report, it has been concluded that legal system is a vital part of a country to protect its citizens from unlawful and wrong doings. Further, one must understand the legal system prevailing in the state in order to avail the benefits of laws. There are courts to decide case laws which will be used for future case references. Furthermore, the right case should be forwarded in the right jurisdiction. Also, there are specific structures for each branch of legal system, which should be followedfor case proceedings. Furthermore, appeals are important which should be used by person when he is not satisfied with a decision provided by courts.
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