Analyzing the Evolution and Changes within the English Legal System

This essay provides a comprehensive overview of the significant changes and developments within the English Legal System over the past three decades. It delves into institutional changes, such as the establishment of the Legal Services Commission (LSC) and its successor, the Legal Aid Agency, whic...Read More

Introduction to
Criminal Justice
System

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY ..................................................................................................................................3
CONCLUSION ...............................................................................................................................7
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................8

INTRODUCTION
Over the last years, the most debatable topic was the major changes in the policy and
legislation which have altered the English Legal System. In the last 30 years, there has been a
major drop in the criminal offences because of the key changes introduced in the legal system.
The declining faith of people with harsh punishments raised the question on the legal system.
Thus, these key changes regained the faith of people in the judiciary and improved the access to
justice. This essay examines the effective changes in the policy and legislation of the English
Legal System.
MAIN BODY
The changes made during last 30 years created a great impact on the English Legal
System. One of the major changes was the institutional change in the legal system. In 2000, the
Legal Service Commission was created to provide legal aid services under the Civil Legal Advice
which solves the problem related to family, debt etc. and Criminal Defence Services for helpless
people alleged of criminal offences. Thus, LSC provides free legal services to the people who are
unable to afford such legal help. In 2013, The Legal Aid Agency replaced and abolished the
LSC to ensure greater control over UK legal aid budget. Therefore, this change is considered as
effective as it provided legal aid, which was lack earlier.
In 2007, the creation of Tribunal Service affected the legal system. Tribunals, Courts and
Enforcement Act 2007, made the provisions i.e. the jurisdiction of tribunal are devised by this
Act. These tribunals act as the judicial bodies which solves the disputes arising in the area of
law. Tribunals entertain the disputes between employers and employees, any appeal against the
decision of government etc. The Act creates the structure of tribunal, in which the qualified
members of tribunals are recognised, the power to review the decision and further appeal are
granted and also includes other miscellaneous sections (Darling-Hammond and et. al., 2017).
The act forms two-tier tribunal system; a First Tier Tribunal exercise the trials against decision
made by government etc. and Upper Tribunal act as a superior court for the First Tier Tribunal.
Thus, in short the tribunals plays a crucial role as it reduces the burden of superior courts by
granting speedy justice.
Other major change was held in October 2009, when The Supreme Court replaced the
highest appellant court of United Kingdom which was House of Lords. The provision to create

Supreme Court was made by The Constitutional Reform Act, 2005. In the history of English
Legal System it provided for the separation of courts from the parliament and the government.
The main motive of the separation was speedy justice and less involvement of parliament and
government in the matters of courts which led transparency between court, parliament and
government. The Supreme court act as a final court and hears the utmost appeals transferred
from the Court of Appeal. It is important to know that The Supreme Court is a United Kingdom
body i.e. alongside England and Wales it is also the Supreme Court of both Scotland and
Northern Ireland. Besides, the important cases it also entertains the cases of constitutional nature
which affects the public as whole (Villacampa and Torres, 2017). The creation of Supreme Court
owes much as it led the division of powers between the legislative and executive authority. The
division of power caused the transparency of working between the three authorities. Therefore,
this change brought a positive impact in the working of English Legal System.
Another drastic change in the legal system was The Juvenile Justice also known as Youth
Justice System in England and Wales. Under this system youth courts are developed which hear
cases of criminal offences committed by the person under the age of 18 years. The main focus of
the system is to punish the children and young persons for criminal offences. Also aims to
reform the youth(Warren, 2018). The children alleged or accused of criminal offence shall be
treated in manner different from adult keeping in mind the fundamental rights. Further Youth
court has a power to pass an imprisonment order upto two years in which a child spends the
sentence under the custody of a secured training centre and remaining under the supervision of
local youth justice. Training centre are introduced and under the supervision of youth justice in
order to prohibit torture and other in human activity. The change was needed as the crimes
committed by the children nowadays have increased, they are committing unlawful and illegal
activities because of their manipulative mind. Thus, introduced a great change in working of the
legal system.
Many other significant changes were made such as, In 2007 the Ministry of Justice was
created which replaced the Department for Constitutional Affairs and later the Lord Chancellor's
Department. MOJ administers the justice granted by the courts and tribunals also formulate the
policies for justice in the legal system (Kethineni and Cao, 2020). Also, the responsibility related
to the managing services of offenders were transferred to the Ministry of Justice from the Home
Office, created the scope of MOJ. Further the Sentencing Council was established in April 2010,

with aim to ensure a consistent approach in framing sentencing policy and to increase the faith of
people on criminal judicial system. Another change was the establishment of Judicial
Appointment Commission (2006), acted independently in selecting members for judicial bodies.
The selection are done on the basis of qualification and the eligibility of the appearing
candidates. The commission has taken this responsibility from the Lord Chancellor in order to
reduce its burden and making such appointments in a precise manner (Loveland ed., 2018).
Therefore, the changes evolved are in the favour of the English Legal System and somehow
increased the faith within people towards the judiciary system. These are the notable changes
which led the effectiveness in the legal system and made easier for people to access justice
without any discrimination.
In 1971 the English Court Structure comes closer to the European Pattern. It abolishes the
Assizes and Quarter sessions and changed it with Crown Courts. It is the judicature which has a
criminal jurisdiction which is similar to the court of Europe. It has the trial of all indictable
offences. These offences means where the defendant has the right to triable by the Jury. These
offences are serious in nature like Murder, Rape, Theft, Affray etc. the court also empowers to
hear the appeals from the Magistrate Court. It deals with the trial of summary offences, Family
court, Youth court, and other matter related to civil and quasi civil nature. The Central Criminal
Court has become the Crown Court in London. This results in High Court where it sheds there
responsibility in criminal justice area.
The new reform came in the County Court in England and Wales. It is the court which
deals with the matters related to civil nature. It has unlimited financial jurisdiction. It is single
centrally organised court system. In this court the persons can file the petition by post or through
internet. It generally hears the cases of its territorial jurisdiction. The matters uses to decided by
the district judge or circuit judges. The cases in this court is heard by the former barristers or
formal solicitors. The appeals of this court goes to the High Court or in the urgent matters it can
directly go to the Court of Appeal. The circuit judge empowers to hear the appeals of the District
Judge also. Prior to this court the Chief business of the court used to hear civil pleas. There were
many bifurcation of the county courts, each of them has the jurisdiction which can be
enforceable in its territory (Di Rattalma ed., 2017) .
Family court was originally made as the Court of Equality. This court deals with the
matters related to custody of children, dissolution of marriage. It says the parties must come up

with the clean hands before the court, which should be reasonable not hypothetical. Each country
and each state has a different legal system to deals with the matters related to family (Karmaza
and et. al., 2018). In United Kingdom, the family court was created by Crime and Courts
Act,2013. Domestic violences cases are dealt with Part IV of Family Act,1996. The court may
impose the amount for the maintenance of the child who is minor. When the case is related to
Abusive partner then the court may examine the witnesses for concluding the decision.
Individuals must be aware about the protection which is given by the law. Everyone is not about
the rights but it is presumed by the law that person is aware about the existing rights and there
remedies in its breach.
English court preferred the court to resolve the international disputes. Commercial court
is the division of Queen's Bench of High Court. It majorly deals with the civil matters. It also
deals with the matters of international disputes. When any country has a disputes and they wants
to resolve it in the Commercial Court of UK then they can go to arbitration of UK for settlement
of settle the issues between them. The Act, provides the framework for how the proceedings to
be conducted and ensures the transparency and fairness. It is the kind of the settlement of
disputes out of court. It is the private way to resolve the dispute. It is not binding in nature. It is
decided on the benefits of both the parties. The arbitrator will be chosen who is a sound
knowledge about the subject matter which is in issue. The process of arbitration is easier than the
litigation with less cost (Hucklesby and Lister eds., 2017). It is less time consuming. Out of court
settlement is the only way to resolve the dispute of international level because in this, the
decision of the arbitrator is only binding when the parties agree upon it.
Legal aid helps the individual to access to the court. It is for those people who cannot
afford the cost of litigation. It helps in providing access to justice. It is said, every individual
should be treated equal before the law. It includes the right to counsel and right to fair trial. It
helps the weaker section of the society to approach to justice. No one shall be deprived from
this . There are many modes for legal aid and they includes community like legal clinic. It is the
duty of the lawyers to provide legal aid to the weaker section of society. It can be the general
legal service to the needful person. It can provide at the lower cost or free of cost. To get the
free legal aid service, the one has to show that he can't afford to pay the cost of litigation. The
individuals has to give the authentic proofs to show the same (RATCUFFE, 2019). In criminal
cases the one can ask for the aid by the police officer. If the person is charged or sent to the court

then he can take the help of solicitor who already advised him, or request the court for advice on
the subject matter of the dispute.
CONCLUSION
With reference to the above essay it can be concluded that, the English Legal System has
bought many changes for the development of its nation. The major institutional change was the
Supreme Court which replaced the House of Lords. The crown courts were made to deal with the
matters related to the wrong against the society and also empowers to deal with the appeals from
Magistrate Court. The County Courts were established to deals with the matters related to the
civil nature. The Family court is also established, which deals with the matters related to family
disputes. The Commercial Courts were also established to deal with the matters of international
disputes and other civil disputes. The legal aid also come to provide legal assistance to access to
justice to weaker section of society.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Darling-Hammond and et. al., 2017. Empowered educators: How high-performing systems
shape teaching quality around the world. John Wiley & Sons.
Di Rattalma, M.F. ed., 2017. The Dieselgate: A legal perspective. Springer.
Hucklesby, A. and Lister, S. eds., 2017. The private sector and criminal justice. Springer.
Karmaza and et. al., 2018. The protection of civil rights and interests in the court. Journal of
Advanced Research in Law and Economics. 9(8 (38)). pp.2622-2630.
Kethineni, S. and Cao, Y., 2020. The rise in popularity of cryptocurrency and associated criminal
activity. International Criminal Justice Review. 30(3). pp.325-344.
Loveland, I.D. ed., 2018. Constitutional law. Routledge.
RATCUFFE, D., 2019. Changing times? Crime and security as a major issue in
libraries. Security and crime prevention in libraries.
Villacampa, C. and Torres, N., 2017. Human trafficking for criminal exploitation: the failure to
identify victims. European Journal on Criminal Policy and Research. 23(3). pp.393-
408.
Warren, K.F., 2018. Administrative Law in the Political Sys. Routledge.