Law of the United Kingdom

The Middlesex Guildhall will be home to the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom

The United Kingdom has three distinct legal systems.^[1] English law, which applies in England and Wales, and Northern Ireland law, which applies in Northern Ireland, are based on common-law principles. Scots law, which applies in Scotland, is a pluralistic system based on civil-law principles, with common law elements dating back to the High Middle Ages. The Act of Union 1707 guarantees the continued existence of a separate law system for Scotland.

The Appellate Committee of the House of Lords (usually just referred to, as "The House of Lords") is the highest court in the land for all criminal and civil cases in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, and for all civil cases in Scots law. Recent constitutional changes will see the powers of the House of Lords transfer to a new Supreme Court of the United Kingdom.^[2]

In England and Wales, the court system is headed by the Supreme Court of England and Wales, consisting of the Court of Appeal, the High Court of Justice (for civil cases) and the Crown Court (for criminal cases). In Scotland the chief courts are the Court of Session, for civil cases, and the High Court of Justiciary, for criminal cases, while the sheriff court is the Scottish equivalent of the county court.

The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council is the highest court of appeal for several independent Commonwealth countries, the British overseas territories, and the British Crown dependencies. There are also immigration courts with UK-wide jurisdiction — the Asylum and Immigration Tribunal and Special Immigration Appeals Commission. The Employment tribunals and the Employment Appeal Tribunal have jurisdiction throughout Great Britain, but not Northern Ireland.

Three legal systems

Main article: Legal systems of the world

There are three distinct states in the United Kingdom: England and Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland.^[3] Each has its own legal system.

English law

Main article: English law

The Royal Courts of Justice in London, home of the Supreme Court of England and Wales

"English law" is a term of art. It refers to the legal system administered by the courts in England and Wales. The ultimate body of appeal is the Law lords in House of Lords. They rule on both civil and criminal matters. English law is renowned as being the mother of the common law. English law can be described as having its own distinct legal doctrine, distinct from civil law legal systems since 1189. There has been no major codification of the law, and judicial precedents are binding as opposed to persuasive. In the early centuries, the justices and judges were responsible for adapting the Writ system to meet everyday needs, applying a mixture of precedent and common sense to build up a body of internally consistent law, e.g., the Law Merchant began in the Pie-Powder Courts see Court of Piepowder (a corruption of the French "pieds-poudrés" or "dusty feet", meaning ad hoc marketplace courts). As Parliament developed in strength, and subject to the doctrine of separation of powers, legislation gradually overtook judicial law making so that, today, judges are only able to innovate in certain very narrowly defined areas. Time before 1189 was defined in 1276 as being time immemorial.

Scots law

Main article: Scots law

Parliament House in Edinburgh is the seat of the Supreme Courts of Scotland.

Scots law is a unique legal system with an ancient basis in Roman law. Grounded in uncodified civil law dating back to the Corpus Juris Civilis, it also features elements of common law with medieval sources. Thus Scotland has a pluralistic, or 'mixed', legal system, comparable to that of South Africa, and, to a lesser degree, the partly codified pluralistic systems of Louisiana and Quebec. Since the Acts of Union, in 1707, it has shared a legislature with the rest of the United Kingdom. Scotland and England & Wales each retained fundamentally different legal systems, but the Union brought English influence on Scots law. In recent years Scots law has also been affected by both European law under the Treaty of Rome and the establishment of the Scottish Parliament which may pass legislation within its areas of legislative competence as detailed by the Scotland Act 1998.

Northern Irish legal system

Main article: Northern Irish legal system

United Kingdom legislatures

Main article: United Kingdom legislation

United Kingdom Parliament

The Houses of Parliament, as seen over Westminster Bridge

Main article: Parliament of the United Kingdom

The Parliament of the United Kingdom is bicameral, with an upper house, the House of Lords, and a lower house, the House of Commons. The House of Lords includes two different types of members: the Lords Spiritual (the senior bishops of the Church of England) and the Lords Temporal (members of the Peerage); its members are not elected by the population at large. The House of Commons is a democratically elected chamber. The two Houses meet in separate chambers in the Palace of Westminster (commonly known as the "Houses of Parliament"), in the City of Westminster in London. By constitutional convention, all government ministers, including the Prime Minister, are members of the House of Commons or House of Lords.

Parliament evolved from the early medieval councils that advised the sovereigns of England and Scotland. In theory, power is vested not in Parliament, but in the "Queen-in-Parliament" (or "King-in-Parliament"). The Queen-in-Parliament is often said to be a completely sovereign authority, though such a position is debatable. In modern times, real power is vested in the House of Commons; the Sovereign acts only as a figurehead and the powers of the House of Lords are greatly limited.

Scottish Parliament

Main article: Scottish Parliament

The public entrance of the distinctive Scottish Parliament building, opened in October 2004.

The Scottish Parliament (Scottish Gaelic: Pàrlamaid na h-Alba; Scots: Scots Pairlament) is located in the Holyrood area of the capital Edinburgh. The Parliament, which is informally referred to as "Holyrood"^[4] (cf. "Westminster"), is a democratically elected body comprised of 129 members who are known as Members of the Scottish Parliament or MSPs. Members are elected for four year terms under the proportional representation system. As a result, 73 MSPs represent individual geographical constituencies elected by the plurality (first past the post) system, with a further 56 returned from eight additional member regions, each electing seven MSPs.^[5] The original Parliament of Scotland (or "Estates of Scotland") was the national legislature of the independent Kingdom of Scotland and existed from the early thirteenth century until the Kingdom of Scotland merged with the Kingdom of England under the Acts of Union 1707 to form the Kingdom of Great Britain.^[6] As a consequence, the Parliament of Scotland merged with Parliament of England, to form the Parliament of Great Britain, which sat at Westminster in London.^[6]

National Assembly for Wales

Main article: National Assembly for Wales

The National Assembly for Wales (Welsh: Cynulliad Cenedlaethol Cymru [CCC]‍) is a devolved assembly with power to make legislation in Wales. The assembly building is known as the Senedd. The Assembly was formed under the Government of Wales Act 1998, by the Labour government, following a referendum in 1997. The campaign for a 'yes' vote in the referendum was supported by Welsh Labour, Plaid Cymru, the Liberal Democrats and much of Welsh civic society, such as church groups and the trade union movement.^[7] The Conservative Party was the only major political party in Wales to oppose devolution.^[8]

The National Assembly consists of 60 elected members. They use the title Assembly Member (AM) or Aelod y Cynulliad (AC).^[9] The executive arm of the Assembly Welsh Assembly Government, is led by First Minister, Rhodri Morgan.^[10] The executive and civil servants are based in Cardiff's Cathays Park while the Assembly Members, the Assembly Parliamentary Service and Ministerial support staff are based in Cardiff Bay where a new £67 million Assembly Building, known as the Senedd, has recently been built.^[11][12][13]

Northern Ireland Assembly

Main article: Northern Ireland Assembly

The State Opening of the Northern Ireland Parliament
by King George V and Queen Mary, Belfast City Hall, June 1921.

The Parliament of Northern Ireland was the home rule legislature created under the Government of Ireland Act 1920, which existed from June 7, 1921 to March 30, 1972, when it was suspended. It was subsequently abolished under the Northern Ireland Constitution Act 1973. The Parliament of Northern Ireland was bicameral, consisting of a House of Commons with 52 seats, and an indirectly-elected Senate with 26 seats. The Sovereign was represented by the Governor, who granted Royal Assent to Acts of Parliament in Northern Ireland, but executive power rested with the Prime Minister, the leader of the largest party in the House of Commons.

Reproduction of legislation

Legislation from official sources is reproducible freely under waiver of copyright^[14]

References

1. ^ "The UK has three legal systems, operating in England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland", direct.gov.uk, accesses 12 March 2007
2. ^ Constitutional reform: A Supreme Court for the United KingdomPDF (252 KiB), Department for Constitutional Affairs; accessed 2006-05-22.
3. ^ pdf filePDF (64.6 KiB) "For the purposes of the English conflict of laws, every country in the world which is not part of England and Wales is a foreign country and its foreign laws. This means that not only totally foreign independent countries such as France or Russia... are foreign countries but also British Colonies such as the Falkland Islands. Moreover, the other parts of the United Kingdom - Scotland and Northern Ireland - are foreign countries for present purposes, as are the other British Islands, the Isle of Man, Jersey and Guernsey." Conflict of Laws, JG Collier, Fellow of Trinity Hall and lecturer in Law, University of Cambridge
4. ^ Scottish Parliament Word Bank. Scottish Parliament. Retrieved on 2006-11-14.
5. ^ Scottish Parliament MSPs. Scottish Parliament. Retrieved on 2006-11-14.
6. ^ ^{a b} The First Scottish Parliament: the Middle Ages – 1707. Scottish Parliament. Retrieved on 2006-11-14.
7. ^ Andrews, Leighton (1999) Wales says yes: the inside story of the yes for Wales referendum campaign Seren: Bridgend.
8. ^ The Politics of Devolution - Party policy: Politics '97 pages, BBC. Retrieved 8 September 2006.
9. ^ The National Assembly for Wales, Civil rights - In Wales, Advice guide, Citizens Advice Bureau. Retrieved 2006-07-13.
10. ^ National Assembly for Wales, Organization Cabinet Members, Welsh Assembly
11. ^ National Assembly for Wales and Welsh Assembly Government in Guide to government: Devolved and local government, Directgov, UK state website. Retrieved 2006-07-13.
12. ^ Assembly Building: Welsh government website. Retrieved 2006-07-13.
13. ^ New assembly building opens doors: BBC News, 1 March 2006. Retrieved 2006-07-13.
14. ^ http://www.opsi.gov.uk/advice/crown-copyright/copyright-guidance/reproduction-of-legislation.htm

See also

• Legal systems of the world
• Courts of the United Kingdom
  • Courts of England and Wales
  • Courts of Scotland
  • Courts of Northern Ireland
• Constitution of the United Kingdom
  • British constitutional law
• British Nationality Law
• Judicial Committee of the Privy Council
• UK topics

Footnotes

Law
Legal subjects	Constitutional and Administrative law · Criminal law · Contract · Tort · Property · Trusts and Equity · Public international law · Conflict of laws · Supranational law
Further disciplines	Labour law · Human rights · Procedure · Evidence · Immigration law · Family law · Wills · Commercial law · Corporate law · Intellectual property · Unjust enrichment · Restitution · Tax law · Banking law · Competition law · Consumer protection  · Environmental law · International criminal law · Admiralty law · Military law  · Product liability
Legal systems	Common law · Civil law · Religious law · Socialist law · Comparative law
Legal theory	History of law · Philosophy of law · Economic analysis of law · Sociology of law
Legal institutions	Judiciary · Legislature · Executive · Military and Police · Bureaucracy · Legal profession · Civil society
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