Public Flashcards
(151 cards)
What is the Lord Chancellor responsible for and what duties does he owe?
For administration of course system and is SoS for Justice
Has legal duty to uphold independence of judiciary and must not seek to influence judicial decisions
Who is the Lord Chief Justice and what is their role?
Head of Judiciary
Represents views of judiciary, responsible for welfare, training and guidance of judiciary and for deploying judges/allocating work
What is ‘Right of Audience’?
The right of a lawyer to appear and conduct proceedings in court on behalf of their client
They can carry out rights in MC, County Court, Tribunals & Appeal Tribunals
Not authorised for higher courts where barristers do
What is the court hierarchy of criminal courts?
MC
Crown Court
Administrative Court
Court of Appeal
Supreme Court
What is the appeal system for civil cases?
District Judge (County)
Circuit Judge (County)
High Court
Court of Appeal
Supreme COurt
What is ‘leapfrog’ appeal?
Cases of high importance, which are very likely to reach Supreme Court, can bypass CoA to save time and costs
What are the ‘senior courts’?
Crown Court, High Court, CoA and Supreme Court
What are High Court judges known as?
Masters
What is the meaning of ‘stare deisis’?
Binding precedent
When is a precedent established?
As soon as a ‘point of law’ has been decided by a superior court
What 2 things can precedent be?
Binding: must be followed
Persuasive: considered by later court & may be followed
What is the meaning of ‘ratio decidendi’?
Reason for the decision - the part that is binding
What is the meaning of ‘obiter dictum’?
Judge comments on an area of law which is not necessary to reach a decision on - not seen as binding
When may a court ‘distinguish’ from precedent?
By finding a difference in the material facts
What is the difference between ‘reversed’ and ‘overruled’?
Reversed: case goes to appeal & higher court disagrees with lower court
Overruled: higher court in later case decides original precedent is wrong & sets new precedent
What are the rules of precedent for each court?
MC, Crown & County = not binding
First Tier Tribunal = not binding but may be persuasive
Upper Tribunal = binding on 1st Tier Tribunal, inferior courts & itself
High Court = inferior courts & itself (except decisions taken by single judge)
CoA = inferior courts & itself
Supreme = inferior courts & itself
What are the 2 types of legislation?
Primary: Acts of Parliament
Secondary: laws created by ministers under powers of Acts
What are the 2 types of primary legislation?
Public: matters of general public concern
Private: particular people or places
What is the structure of an Act of P?
Short Title
Long Title
Date Enacted
Subject Matter grouped into Parts
What are the 4 approaches of statutory interpretation?
Literal Rule: words given ordinary, plain & natural meaning
Golden Rule: take whole of statute together & construe it all together, giving words their ordinary signature - unless it produces absurdity/inconsistency
Purposive Approach (most common now): first consider ordinary meaning in general context of statute & then other possibilities where absurdities result
Mischief Rule: what was law before act pass to discover what gap the act was intended to cover
What 3 linguistic presumptions are there and their meaning?
Expressio Unius Est Exclusion Alterius (Exclusion of another): list of terms w/ no general words following - P only intended to include those items
Ejusdem Generis (of the same kind): generic list followed by general words - same kind of objects (common characteristics) to specific words
Noscitur a Sociis: not followed by general words, words understood in context of statute itself
How is the UK constitution described?
Uncodified - written & unwritten rules meaning it has capacity to change & evolve over time
When is a rule/Act considered constitutional?
When it conditions the legal relationship between citizen and state in some general, overarching manner
To achieve a significant change in constitutional arrangements, what must be done?
An act must be passed