“Comparison and critical appraisal of the English court system”

Merit –compare and contrast the role of judges ,lawyers and lay people within the English courts.

Explain and critically consider the use of lay magistrates in the legal system of England and Wales.

The courthouse that was attended was the Small Claims Court, in the Durham Region Courthouse at 150 Bond Street East. This court was attended on October 19, 2016, in courtroom 509. The case that was heard was Adam Rantis (Unrepresented) v. Naresh Kumar Ganeshan (represented by Rajan Mahavalirajan). This was a case involving faulty workmanship, The Plaintiff is suing because he hired an installer to put floor down on the main level of his home. Upon completion of the installation it was found that there were many errors with the floor. The homeowner did not notice any of this until after he had paid the installer. As soon as he noticed he contacted the installer and informed him of the condition of the work. The homeowner also called in a

Now that we have a general understanding of Criminal Law, we can begin our comparison. For this comparison, I have chosen to compare the Criminal Justice systems of the United States of America and the United Kingdom. Thought these two countries have differences in their systems, they also share some similarities. In the USA, states have defined their own individual laws and maintain individual court systems. The UK has a similar situation with laws determined and courts maintained by areas such as Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland to name a few. Both systems utilize the common law or case law system. This means that the prior judgments of courts will help decide current and future cases as well. One glaring difference is the Constitution we have in the United States. The UK does not have a Constitution or a central document like this to draw legislation from and use as a guide the way we do in this country. In the US, all our laws must abide by the Constitution and not violate our rights defined in this important document. The UK relies strictly on legislation and case

Many years ago, before courts existed matters was handled in a privately or informally. This often led to violence and unjust treatment of innocent people. During the rise of the Greek City States and the Roman Empire law enforcement became a public affair instead of private. (Siegel, Schmalleger, & Worral, 2011). Along with this movement became formalized courts and other criminal justice institutions. This allowed for law enforcement matters to be handled in a more civilized manner for resolving human conflict.

The data that were analyzed for the cases heard in the: common pleas, domestic relations, and municipal courts were rather interesting. In fact, the table below depicts the fact that an appeal in the common pleas court was vastly more likely to happen that in the domestic relations or municipal courts. The common pleas court had just over 4% of its cases appealed which was in stark contrast to the domestic relations appeals which had only 0.35% and the municipal appeals which was at 0.46% appealed.

The state court system consists of Appellate Court of Last Resort—also referred to as the State Supreme Court, Intermediate Courts of Appeals, Trial Courts of General Jurisdiction, and Trial Courts of Limited Jurisdiction (Bohm & Haley, 2014). Both state trial courts are local courts.

The basic division in the structure of criminal courts is between the lower criminal courts – the local courts, Children’s court and Coroner’s court – and the higher criminal courts – the District Court and the Supreme Court. In observing proceedings at the Local, District and Supreme Courts over a period of three days a number of aspects of the criminal justice system were made apparent. The administration, processes and practices of the criminal trial are extremely varied dependent upon the level of criminal court being observed. The distinctions between the workings of the two courts revealed a number of the differences between summary proceedings and trial upon indictment. The cases observed served to

Law is a system of rules that are enforced through social institutions to govern behavior. (Robertson, Crimes against humanity, 90).Laws can be made by a collective legislature or by a single legislator, resulting in statutes, by the executive through decrees and regulations, or by judges through binding precedent, normally in common jurisdictions.

     In his book on ?The Behavior of Law? Donald Black attempts to describe and explain the conduct of law as a social phenomenon. His theory of law does not consider the purpose, value, impact of law, neither proposes any kind of solutions, guidance or judgment; it plainly ponders on the behavior of law. The author grounds his theory purely on sociology and excludes the psychology of the individual from his assumptions on the behavior of law (Black 7). The theory of law comes to the same outcome as other theories scrutinizing the legal environment, such as deprivation theory or criminal theory; however, the former concentrates on the patterns of behavior of law, not involving the

Law touches almost every aspect of our lives. It demonstrates what we as a society define as right and wrong and offers the best protection to individuals against major powers. I want to study law to gain an understanding of the laws which govern us, as well as to help people overcome inequality. Recently three MP’s were trying to use Article Nine of the Bill of Rights 1689 to privilege their expenses, consequently protecting them from prosecution. This abuse of power served to increase my interest in the overlay and contradictory nature of our laws.

This essay will discuss the role of the magistrate and jury in the English and Welsh legal decision-making process. It will assess both the advantages and disadvantages of both mechanisms and give an opinion on the contribution they make in the process.

Introduction Empirical research consisting of simple observation of the day-to-day realities of criminal proceedings in the Downing Centre Local Courts, and the completion of systematic fieldwork notes intends to address the complex nature of justice. With specific regard to the operation of the local court system and its key players, the impact of the criminal justice system on those who are socioeconomically disadvantaged and particularly those without legal representation, and the issue of whether justice is achieved. The discussion of whether justice is achieved will draw upon

The courts of the United Kingdom are institutions there are aim justice to all and deliver fair and equal trails. Although ‘fair and equal’ are not always true to some cases along with ‘justice to all’. Never the less either convicting someone for unlawful activity or resolving a civil dispute, the British legal system employs a variety of courts in its application of the law. It much reminds me of my home country the United States the different level of courts I mean. Magistrates courts have the jurisdiction to try minor offences then for more serious offences are referred to the Crown courts. There are also appellate courts, which include the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court; formally known as the House of Lords. To

According to Reference.com (2007), law is defined as: “rules of conduct of any organized society, however simple or small, that are enforced by threat of punishment if they are violated. Modern law has a wide sweep and regulates many branches of conduct.” Essentially law is the rules and regulations that aid in governing conduct,