Category: Law

There remain around 200 operational UK Magistrates’ Courts (called Justice of the Peace (JP) Courts in Scotland) after many closures in recent years, perhaps indicating that Brits are more law-abiding these days. Alas no, since this seems to have caused a backlog of cases waiting to be heard!

Nearly all criminal as well as civil, ‘summary’ offences ~ such as motoring violations, minor assault or damage, burglary and drug-related offences ~ are dealt with at the Magistrates’ Court, even if this is only to determine that a serious, ‘indictable’ offence should go up to the Crown Court for trial and/or greater punishment than the maximum 6 months in prison, per offence, (60 days in Scotland) available to be meted out at Magistrate/JP level. The lower Court is also limited in the amount of fines that can be demanded.

Cases in a Magistrates’ Court are judged either by a panel of three (or sometimes two) Magistrates/JPs, who are unpaid trained volunteers, or by one district judge, who is a paid legal professional. There is also a legal advisor, an usher, a prosecutor and usually a defence solicitor. Witnesses can be brought in and the public and press can sit and watch, but there is no jury.

(Image: Betty Longbottom at geograph.org.uk / CC BY-SA 2.0)

The Family Courts deal with the acrimonious aspects of domestic strife. The judges and lawyers deal with matters that are very sensitive and emotional for those individuals involved who, if present, must try to stay calm and dignified during the proceedings. These are more informal than other court proceedings, with no jury, dock, black robes or wigs. Cases are brought to the Family Court which fall under the following laws:-

• Marriage Act 1949
• Matrimonial Causes Act 1973
• Child Abduction and Custody Act 1985
• Children Act 1989
• Family Law Act 1996
• Adoption and Children Act 2002
• Female Genital Mutilation Act 2003
• Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 2008
• Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act 2013
• Domestic Abuse Act 2021

Some cases are classed as “public”, whereby the State (in the form of local authorities, social workers, doctors, police, etc.) is against an individual, usually a parent or parents, and the child or children can be taken away, if only temporarily, to live with foster parents or a member of their extended family. A “private” case is where two individuals are in dispute with each other over, for example, property division or child custody.

As no-one knows what goes on behind closed doors, the truth of accusations is taken on the balance of probabilities.

(Image: pxhere.com)

In 1973, when the Small Claims track for legal proceedings was introduced in the UK, it was suitable for debts up to £75. Over the next 40 years, in England and Wales, that gradually increased to £10,000 and currently £15,000 is being suggested. In Northern Ireland the maximum is £3,000 and  in Scotland £5,000. These upper limits are not inflexible, but are guidelines.

A ‘small claim’ is the last resort for an individual or a business seeking to receive payment that is demonstrably overdue from another individual or business, even after several written reminders, the last of which should clearly warn of legal action if no money is forthcoming. Solicitors are not usually employed as the procedure is very simple and their costs cannot be reclaimed anyway. The application form can be completed online in most cases.

The Small Claims track is dealt with at the County Court and is designed to save everyone time and expense. Nevertheless, potential claimants are advised to use it as a final recourse. Where a claim is disputed, the free mediation assistance provided by HM Courts & Tribunal Service can also help to reduce the Court’s workload by bringing both sides to an out-of-court settlement.

(Image: Image Money at Flickr.com / CC BY-NC 2.0)

The hierarchy of UK police ranks, in ascending order, is generally as follows:-

1. Constable
2. Sergeant
3. Inspector
4. Chief Inspector
5. Superintendent
6. Chief Superintendent
7. Assistant Chief Constable
8. Deputy Chief Constable
9. Chief Constable

From 1964 to 2012, Chief Constables were answerable to ‘Police Authorities’, but the Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act (2011) replaced these with Police & Crime Commissioners (PCCs) and Police & Crime Panels. In Essex, N.Yorkshire, Northamptonshire and Staffordshire they also oversee fire and rescue services, so are called Police, Fire & Crime Commissioners (PFCCs).

Their role is to be a wide-ranging liaison officer and to manage the budget for their police force, including deciding how much residents should contribute to policing costs in their council tax. They must produce a list of objectives to demonstrate how they plan to ensure police effectiveness. Each PCC/PFCC employs a team to assist, for instance, in awarding grants to local charities for crime prevention, rehabiliation and research.

Although ex-police officers can be nominated, PCCs/PFCCs are actually appointed by local elections every 4 years, i.e. it is not a promotion from within police ranks. People with zero policing experience can be put forward, either by political parties or as an ‘independent’. However, they all tend to have top executive or professional backgrounds.

(Image: Birmingham City Council at Flickr.com / CC BY 2.0)

Considering that treason laws are intended to protect senior royalty, it is most odd to see four Queens, a Prince and a King in the list of around 150 miscreants who have been executed for that very crime. Furthermore, many others were Dukes, Earls or Viscounts!

The Duke of Clarence (1449-73), brother to two Kings, is one example of treasonous nobility. His own ill-considered ambitions saw him change sides twice in the Wars of the Roses, resulting in the charge of treason. He was reportedly afforded the favour of swapping hanging for drowning in a barrel of wine before being quartered.

The primary Treason Act was passed in 1351. Certain changes have since been made, such as removing the torture element of the traitor’s death and, latterly, replacing execution with life imprisonment. Treasonous deeds include the assassination of the monarch or other elite post-holders, the ‘violation’ of senior royal women and colluding with war-time enemies.

The last person to be hanged for treason was the American-German William Joyce, or ‘Lord Haw-Haw’ of WW2 German propaganda fame, in 1946. It was solely on the technicality of him briefly having a British passport (obtained falsely) that he was able to be tried in a British court.

(Image of statue of four Gunpowder Plot traitors: Mat Fascione at geograph.org.uk / CC BY-SA 2.0)

Concerns over maintaining the confidentiality of information regarding Britain’s national security have parallelled the changing world of communications and international travel. The first Official Secrets Act was passed in 1889 with the aim of deterring traitors and foreign spies and each iteration  ~ in 1911, 1920, 1939 and 1989 ~ has increasingly tightened up the regulations to take account of new technology and world situations.

The current Act (1989) applies to ‘Crown Servants’, who include the armed forces, police, the civil service, intelligence agencies, Parliament and diplomats. It also applies to ‘Government Contractors’ and they may be asked to sign a document confirming their acknowledgement that they may be prosecuted if they fall foul of the Act. The restrictions are lifelong and the penalty is up to two years in prison or a fine. Guilt is determined by how much damage is judged to have been done to the country.

In 2021 there are moves to update and strengthen the Act again, with prison sentences leaping up to 14 years. If voted in, some journalists fear that it could prevent them from speaking to ‘whistleblowers’. It has long been suspected that the Act is partially to stop embarrassing or even scandalous information coming out about government activities. Perish the thought.

(Image: Peter O’Connor aka anemoneprojectors at Flickr.com / CC BY-SA 2.0)

One of the achievements of Alfred the Great (849-899), King of Wessex, was to compile ‘The Dōmbōc’ (The Doom Book) in c.886-93. It states the laws he deemed to be fair and relevant for his subjects, selecting from and editing existing laws in the kingdoms of Wessex, Kent and Mercia, along with the Bible’s Ten Commandments. This laid the foundations of the English Constitution.

Life then was agrarian, feudal and hand-to-mouth and the laws reflect this. They concern various forms of violence (including to and between the clergy), ownership of cattle and slaves, with punishments ranging from fines to ‘an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth..’ and, of course, to “perish by death”. There were no state prisons, so there is no mention of being sent to jail.

Alfred wanted equal justice for all, no matter how rich or poor someone was, so that the laws had the support of the people. While some punishments were harsh enough to make anyone think twice before acting shamefully, others sought to directly produce good behaviour. For example, one law states:

“If the stray cattle of another man come to thy hand, though it be thy foe, make it known to him.”

(Image: pixabay.com)

Both World Wars, by producing many more physically and mentally disabled people than before, resulted in the creation of laws and regulations designed to protect the disabled from discrimination and proactively make adjustments to assist them. Today it is unthinkable to have, for example, a building open to the public that does not have provision for disabled access, as in this ingenious solution by the Institution of Civil Engineers in central London:

World War 2 also created labour shortages, so laws were passed to increase the opportunities for the disabled to be in employment. By the 1970s, more effort was being put into integrating disabled people into mainstream education and workplaces. Attitudes were changing.

However, there was still more that could be done and persistent campaigning eventually succeeded. The Disability Discrimination Act of 1995 and its subsequent amendments aimed to cover the spheres of schools, jobs, homes, property ownership, transport, public services and dealing with officialdom. This Act was superseded by The Equality Act of 2010 (in all but Northern Ireland), which took under its umbrella a whole host of anti-discrimination laws, not just related to disability.

(Image: David Hawgood at geograph.org.uk / CC BY-SA 2.0)

Common law embodies the natural instinct towards knowing what is right (‘lawful’) and wrong (‘unlawful’) and the appropriate degree of punishment that should be given to someone who is found guilty by an independent judge and jury. In essence, common law, based on our Christian values, demands that you do no harm and cause no loss.

Government and lawyers would sometimes have us believe that common law is obsolete, but in reality it is ever-present since it is ‘the law of the land’, Nevertheless, a mass of Parliamentary legislation has been introduced in the last 150 years aiming to supersede common law and state precisely what is ‘legal’ and ‘illegal’ (as opposed to ‘lawful’/’unlawful’). However, the common law system comes into play when a judge makes an interpretation of a point of law, setting a ‘judicial precedent’.

A term which persisted until the late 20th century was ‘common law wife’, meaning a woman who had lived with a man as his wife even though they had not had a ‘legal’ marriage ceremony. Under common law, it was thought fair that she should inherit the man’s property after his death, but this was not laid down in statute law as a right.

(Image: succo at needpix.com / CC0)

“Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.”

This children’s saying used to be the level-headed reply in any argument where one side has resorted to name-calling and slander. However, adults sometimes have an entirely different viewpoint, particularly if those nasty words have a detrimental effect upon their livelihood or their standing in the community.

Until the 16th century such matters might have resulted in fisticuffs or a formal arbitration by a clergyman who could demand an act of repentance from the wrongdoer. Meanwhile, in the military and the upper classes, the practice of duelling with pistols at dawn to restore one’s honour persisted until it was banned in 1844 under the amended Articles of War.

The burgeoning print industry introduced the phenomenon of libel, a much more enduring and widespread attack on someone’s character or deeds. The public nature of this offence saw its first entry into the law courts in 1507. This opened the floodgates and led to today’s huge compensation claims. The Defamation Act of 2013 sought to rein back the number of cases by setting a higher threshold for the apparent harm caused to the victim, requiring that this be ‘serious’, not merely emotional.

(Image: pxfuel.com / CC0)

The Courts Act of 1971 established the network of Crown Courts and circuit judges in England and Wales, streamlining the system in a push to modernise. Northern Ireland has its own Crown Courts and Scotland has its High Courts of Justiciary. All of these courts deal with serious crimes such as treason, murder, rape, kidnapping and terrorism, and have juries. Sentencing options include life imprisonment.

The Crown Prosecution Service is responsible for engaging and advising Crown Prosecutors and preparing files well enough to avoid ‘cracked trials’ (trials where something goes awry on the day, e.g. the defendant changes his/her plea to guilty, or the Prosecutor has no evidence). The defendant is represented by a barrister and each side calls and questions witnesses.

The jury is addressed by the Prosecutor, defendant’s barrister and the judge, who must ensure the case is properly explained. The foreman of the jury stands up and gives the jury’s verdict after they have returned from discussing their views with each other. If found guilty, the defendant is escorted straight to the cells. There is a public gallery for interested persons and furthermore, the Crown Court (Recording and Broadcasting) Order 2020 now permits the televising of judges’ sentencing remarks.

(Image of York Crown Court: Nilfanion at Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 4.0)