Lingua giuridica inglese

Statutory Law

It is the major source of law and comes from a variety of sources.

Draft of statutory law is called a bill.

House of Commons

In that there is the Members of Parliament; they are voted by people and represent the citizens.

A bill is presented to H. of Commons before going to House of Lords.

House of Lords

Members of House of Lords correct and sometimes revise legislation that comes from House of Commons.

Members are chosen by the Prime Minister and inherit their jobs.

After the bill passes to the Queen...

Queen

The Queen must sign every legislation act.

This stage is called Royal Assent.

It is a formality because the last time that a monarch refused to sign an act was in 1707.

The English Legal System

English legal system actually is English law in England and Wales.

It comes from a variety of sources and from a thousand years of national history.

Main Sources of English Law

• Unwritten Law
• Legislation
• Common Law
• Equity

Main feature is absence of written code.

Common Law

It is made up through customs and judicial decisions.

When a lot of judges had decided similar cases in the same way, their decisions become law for future judges.

In a decision there are 3 parts; future judges must follow only the part called ratio decidendi.

These are judicial precedent. It's a law source because influence or bind courts in later similar cases.

Equity

It's a system created to mitigate the strictness of common law; its purpose was to have more fairness. Many legal rules have equity-based law.

Statutory Interpretation

It's necessary that judges interpret law to bring out its full meaning. Judges use a variety of approaches when there is an issue of statutory interpretation.

There are some rules of interpretation, but judges aren't bound to follow them.

• Literal Rule - Provides that words must be given their plain, ordinary and literal meaning.
• Golden Rule - Provides that words must be given their plain, ordinary and literal meaning as far as possible but only to the extent that they do not produce absurdity or to affront the public policy.
• Mischief Rule - Involves an examination of the former law in an attempt to deduce parliament's intention.

2) Queen's Bench Division

• Decides about these cases:
• Contract disputes
• Debt
• Personal injuries and tort
• It has 70 High Court judges
• It is headed by Lord Chief Justice

3) Family Division

• Hears complex divorces and child custody cases

Normally in High Court there is 1 judge that decides over a case but in the Queen's Bench Division may have a civil jury in defamation cases.

Appeal to Magistrate Courts

2 possibilities - depending if it's volunteer or lay persons to decide

• Lay Person - These are people without legal qualification.

Court is usually made up of 3 persons that are known as Justices of the Peace (JPs). They received their power from the Justice Clerk that is a specially appointed official who is legally qualified. They may receive expenses and where appropriate they can claim a loss of earning allowance. Apart of this they are unpaid.

• District Judge

• District Judge Magistrates' Courts are run by District Judges, who are qualified lawyers.

Barristers

Actually in England and Wales there are around 9,000 barristers.

• Their functions are:
• Represent people before a court as their advocate
• Give counsel and opinions
• Draft documents

Usually barristers don't talk with his client directly but with his solicitor. Solicitors have a more direct contact with the client. A change of rules in 2007 allows that in some circumstances a member of public can contact a barrister directly.

In court they usually wear a cotton gown and a wig.

Training to Become a Barrister

There are 2 routes to become a barrister:

1. First route - Students study law at university and after they have to take 1 year course the Bar Vocational Course (BVC), this involves training in the skills required to present a case in court.
2. Second route - Students study other subject than law and after have to take 1 year of Common Professional Examination (CPE) before to take the BVC.

After that the students have to work for a senior barrister to gain experience.

Barristers are governed by General Council of the Bar (or Bar Council) and the Inns of Court.

Jury Challenge

A defendant may challenge any or all the jurors after the jurors' names are balloted. This can happen when there is a good reason, for example one of the jurors who are manifestly unsuitable to decide.

Vetting

In exceptional circumstances (national security or terrorism) vetting of individual jurors may be allowed by Attorney General.

Number of Jurors:

• In High Court there are 12 jurors
• In County Courts there are 8 jurors

Jury must return a unanimous verdict. If not possible a majority verdict of 11-1 or 10-2 will be accepted, provided that jury discusses the case at least 2 hours and 10 minutes.

10 minutes in traveling time between jury box and court room.

Giuseppe Amato