The English Judicial System
The place of England's Court system in the British Constitution
Oct 28, 2008
The unwritten British Constitution is made up of a combination of statue and common law, together with political institutions which have developed over nearly a thousand years.
The Three Arms of the British Constitution
While the traditional formal functions of the three arms of governance are to propose (the Executive), to dispose (the Legislature) and adjudicate (the Judiciary), with the latter being regarded as the weakest, recent developments have served to strengthen its role.
This has come about partly as a result of the integration of European legislation into British law and the need to decide in the face of challenges whether UK legislators and public administrators were acting in consonance with EU requirements. The other reason for the increasing power of the courts is as a result of the use of precedent, that is previous legal decisions, to decide cases.
The English Court System
It must be pointed out that Scotland and Northern Ireland have their own, highly distinct, judicial systems.
Magistrates Courts: which deal with nine out of ten cases and which are locally-based. At one time they were called ‘police courts’ but they were removed from the control of the police in the 1960s. These courts are overseen by unpaid and part-time magistrates drawn from the local community.
County Courts: which deal with basic civil cases.
Crown Courts: which deal with any criminal cases not dealt with in the Magistrates Courts. A Magistrates Court may remit a case to the Crown Court is it believes it is sufficiently serious as the sentencing powers of magistrates are severely limited. The most famous criminal court in the England, and quite possibly the most famous court in the world, ‘The Old Bailey’ in London is a Crown Court.
High Court: which has three ‘division’. These are the:
- Family Division which deals with non-criminal cases to do with domestic law;
- Chancery Division which deals with business and property law; and,
- Queens Bench Devision which deals with other civil law cases including those of libel, slander and breach of contract.
Court of Appeal: which has two divisions dealing with appeals regarding criminal and civil law.
House of Lords or the Supreme Court. The House of Lords is currently the most senior UK Court where appeals against the decision of lower courts in both criminal and civil cases are decided. In 2009, a new Supreme Court will take on responsibility as the UK’s highest court of appeal. It will have jurisdiction over the whole UK system including Scotland. It will result in the Judges of Appeal not sitting in the House of Lords (as is the case at present) and will finally ensure the separation of the Legislature from the Judiciary in the UK.
European Courts. While few cases reach these courts, the European Court of Human Rights takes precedence over the decisions of the UK courts and the European Court of Justice is able to declare British laws as incompatible with treaties agreed as part of the development of the European Union.
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