An Evaluation of the English Legal System's Criminal Justice Processes

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Law and Legal System
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Introduction
The main aim of this assignment is to develop an understanding of the legal system by focusing
on the system of criminal justice and the organisations. It also introduces the several types of
courts includes criminal courts and organisations of public services which assist in providing a
justice of the criminal cases and also depict the effectiveness of the legal processes. In this
assignment, the first task consists the explanation of the different types of legal system and the
principles relating with it. Further, it also depicts the different types of law that are applied to the
particular offense. In task 2, it explains the Magistrates and Crown-court procedures and also
explains the route for the appeal in the criminal and structure of the court.
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LO1
P1 Describe the types of law in the English Legal System.
Law provides guidance regarding the rules and obligation so as to enforce the laws in the case of
human conduct and enforce the state members to conduct the functions of the State. The English
law comprises law consist the Criminal law (Public law) and Civil law (Private law).
Criminal Law- This law relates to the State conduct prohibition. The main aim of this law is to
prove the guilt and ensure that the individuals comply with the legal requirements (Aliverti,
2016). The burden to prove is upon the accused that require proving the guilt and punishing the
person who is guilty of the crime with fines and imprisonment.
Civil Law- This law is the form of private law that depicts the relationships between the
individuals which shows the liability and assist in settling the disputes by providing appropriate
remedies. In this the claimant demanding for the remedy as a compensation.
Public law- This law governs the public relations between the State and an individual citizen. It
relates to the decisions passed by the government. Public law is divided into several categories
and explained below:
 Administrative law- This law deals with disputes held between the agencies of
government and the citizens, for example, the works and pension department (Cassese,
2016).
 Constitutional law- This law deals with the matters which includes parliament operation
and the general election held frequency.
Private law- This law governs the relationship between individual citizens. This law includes:
 Contract law- This law defines the contractual terms and condition and provides
protection to the contractual parties of the innocent party rights.
 Law of Trust- This law deals with the disposable property of the individual.
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 Family law- This law related to the matters that deal with the family matters which
includes children’s custody, court wards and divorces related matters (Carroll, 2016).
 Property law- This law concerns with the issues related to the matters related to the
property which includes buying, holding and selling of the property.
 Law of Tort- This law depicts the duties of the individuals against each other for
example negligence law.
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P2 Explain the main principles relating to criminal law.
To provide justice to the innocent it is the responsibility of the innocent to prove not guilty of an
offense. If the person has been charged the person needs to be proved guilty until the person
treats to be an innocent person. The main principles of criminal are explained below:
Right to remain silent- Generally, a person is not bound to answers the questions of the police
but until and unless the police officer suspects that some offense is committed and has
reasonable cause that some person commits the crime (Bojarski, 2015). In this case, if any person
found that the person refuses to give his or her name or address or give a wrong name or address
then it treats that the person committed the crime.
 Pre-right to silence- This right to get silent in case of the pre-trial stage in relation to
answer the questions when any crime is committed and investigated before any crime is
charged.
 At-trail right to silence- Not to get testifies is itself right of the constitution at the trial.
Double Jeopardy- This principle of criminal law also known as the Double Jeopardy which
states that the no person punished for the same crime more than once and a person cannot be
charged and punished for the same crime again and again (Adams, 2017). This principle is no
longer applies to the offenses of serious nature which includes rape, murder, manslaughter and
also includes certain circumstances. These provisions are covered under the Criminal Act, 1967.
The burden of proof- The person who is charged with an offense the burden of proof that the
crime is not committed and it needs to be proving beyond the reasonable doubt. This is not upon
the defendant to establish innocence. This rule applies in case of criminal trials where at some
point in time it is important for the defendant to give evidence. For instance, the offense which
prohibits certain acts without any reasonable excuse and it depend upon the prosecution for
proving that the excuse is not enough reason.
But this rule has some exceptions that are explained below:
 Statute- This exception states that where the statutory defiance raises by the accused and
the statute depicts the accused to prove the defense for the balance of the probabilities.
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 Common Law- This exception is the procedural and substantive laws which are already
decided by the judiciary in the cases that are decided. It is the concept of the Doctrine of
Precedent which states that the court has to determine the issue and take guidance from
the cases that are already decided by the previous judges (Pound and DeRosa, 2017). It
has several advantages includes consistency, certainty, efficiency, and flexibility.
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M1 Evaluate the type and principles of law that applies to a particular offense.
The evaluation of different types of law to a particular offense includes:
Criminal law vs Civil law
Criminal laws are the actions of criminal nature which affects the public at large. The main aim
of this law is to prove the guilt and ensure that the individuals comply with the legal
requirements. As per the case Regina v Prince where the Supreme Court held that the nature of
the criminal offense is that which affects the public at large and where the guilty mind is present
(Mens Rea) and which attracts punitive action (Marett, 2018).
Civil law is law is the law which provides right and protection against the property which include
matters related to the buying and selling of the property. For example, in the case of Smith v
Jones in which the claimant sues the defendant for the proof the balance of probabilities.
Principles of Law
It states that where the statutory defiance raises by the accused and the statute depicts the
accused to prove the defense for the balance of the probabilities. As per the case of People
(DPP) v. Byrne (1998) which states that where the defendant prove the possession of drugs.
Right to Silence is the privilege against the presumption of the self innocence and should not be
forced to speak. In the case of Heaney v. Ireland (1996) where the court held that in the stage of
pre-trial, it is the constitutional right to keep silence in a corollary to the fundamental right of the
freedom of speech (Igwe, 2018).
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LO2
P3 Explain the structure of the Magistrates and Crown Courts.
The structure of the Magistrate court is limited to civil jurisdiction. These courts are
responsible for heart the proceedings related to the family matter which is also known as the
court of family proceedings. These courts have the power in relation to the recovery in the field
of arrears of tax and charges related to water, electricity, and gas. These courts hear the appeal
related to hearing the appeals against the refusal made by the local authorities for granting the
licenses for selling the liquor in particular areas. Most important these courts have no jurisdiction
to deal with the matters in relation to the jurisdiction includes contract or tort.
On the other hand, Crown courts are the courts that consist both the appellate and original
jurisdiction who handle the matter of civil businesses. This court establishes under the Court Act,
1971which replace the quarter sessions which is abolished by this act and whereby the judge of
the High Court would hear the cases (Johnson, 2016). This court also hears the appeals from the
magistrate courts. It is the only court in the England and Wales which have the power to try the
cases on indictment and while performing this role it acts as a superior court which means that
the judgment passed by this court cannot be reviewed by the Administrative Court of the High
Court queen bench. But for the other work that it undertakes which includes magistrate court
appeals and other tribunals.
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P4 Explain the route for appeal in the criminal court structure.
The route for appeal in the criminal court structure is mentioned below:
The division of the criminal was established in 1966 with the merger of the Criminal court of
appeal into the Court Appeal. This division hears the appeals from the Crown Court which are
connected with the trial with the Jury and the Crown court where the defendant sentenced from
the court of Magistrate (Oakland, 2015). The division of criminal is bound by the Supreme
Court which is more flexible to bins itself where the possibility of a penalty of the prison
sentence.
These courts are not bound to follow their own decisions that are passed in previous cases that
are based on the previous decisions which are considered that are based on the law
misapplication or misunderstanding of the law.
The cases of criminal nature deal with several ways that depend upon the nature of the offence.
Most of the cases of criminal nature commence with the Magistrate courts and if the offense of
serious nature or the case involves complication then the matter goes under the head of the
Crown Court. Any appeal lies against the decision passed by the Crown court lie to the High
court and in rarest circumstance these appeals lie to the court of appeal or to the Supreme court.
Appeals from Magistrates
 Commence in magistrates
 Defense can only appeal to the Crown Court
 Crown Court appeal only be appealed to Queens Bench Divisional Court if there is a
discussion on the point of law up for discussion
 Then can be appealed to Supreme Court
 Or directly appealed to Queens Bench Divisional Court against the decision of the
Magistrates Court if there is a need of discussion a point of Law
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 After that, it again appealed to House of Lords
M2 Analyse the structures of the Magistrates and Crown Courts for criminal proceedings.
The structures of the Magistrate and Crown Courts play essential to provide justice to the
innocent party. Both the structure has its own importance to regulate the legal system in the UK.
Magistrate Court is the courts that handle the matter of small crimes that can be punished under
the courts of a magistrate have the powers for the implementation of fines, short custodial
sentences and community sentences (Wallis, 2016). On the other hand, if the crime is committed
to serious nature than these needs to be answered in the Crown Court that must have wider
power to give sentence. This will also depend on the level of the commission of the seriousness
of the crime. Generally, criminal cases are prosecuted under the court by the service of Crown
prosecution.
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Conclusion
With the abovementioned discussions, it is concluded that this assignment provides the
opportunity to the learners to gain knowledge in the field of the English legal system and also
acknowledge about the structure of the system of the court and the tribunals. The above-
mentioned laws provide guidance of conduct of the humans and also it assists the society to
enforce the laws and regulations of the government for the effective operation of the businesses.
The laws of the UK influence by various sources which includes the external powers like the EU.
But according to the recent researches in the UK, it showed that the justices of the UK remain
fair and transparent.
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References
 Adams, J., 2017. International research collaboration after the UK leaves the european
union.
 Aliverti, A., 2016. Immigration offences: Trends in legislation and criminal and civil
enforcement. Migration Observatory.
 Bojarski, K., 2015. Dealer, Hacker, Lawyer, Spy: Modern Techniques and Legal
Boundaries of Counter-cybercrime Operations. The European Review of Organised
Crime, 2(2), pp.25-50.
 Carroll, L., 2016. 06_The UK Family Law Act, 1986-Recognition of Extra-Judicial
Divorces in England.
 Cassese, S. ed., 2016. Research handbook on global administrative law. Edward Elgar
Publishing.
 Igwe, P.I., 2018. ADVERSARIAL DEFICIT AND THE RIGHT TO SILENCE IN THE
UK CRIMINAL JUSTICE AND PUBLIC ORDER ACT 1994. Global Journal of
Politics and Law Research, 6(1), pp.46-53.
 Johnson, P., 2016. Sark, the Supreme Court and the status of the Channel Islands: Or,
Barclay bites back. Jersey and Guernsey LR, 20(2), pp.126-140.
 Marett, P., 2018. Information law in practice. Routledge.
 Oakland, J., 2015. British civilization: an introduction. Routledge.
 Pound, R. and DeRosa, M.L., 2017. An introduction to the philosophy of law. Routledge.
 Wallis, R.M., 2016. The relationship between magistrates and their communities in the
age of crisis: Social protest c. 1790-1834 (Doctoral dissertation, University of the West
of England).
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