Category: Law

Royal Mail completed its privatisation process in 2015, but it had been a state-run organisation for the previous five hundred years and indeed it was the first business to be controlled by Government. During this long history it has been the subject of a few hundred laws, sometimes directly as in the Post Office Acts starting in 1660 or at other times indirectly, where the national postal service was providing a facility for something else, such as the Parliamentary Voters Registration Act of 1843.

King Henry VIII saw the need for a postal system for his court in the early 1500s. This led to the setting up of the first half dozen postal towns, with the main Post Office being in London. With the advent of the mail-carrying coach-and-horses in 1784, innkeepers began to double up as postmasters. Then in the 1830s the railway revolution had a huge impact on the post’s speed and reliability.

Royal Mail has added many new services over the years, including online postage in 2004. Many predicted that in the computer age Royal Mail would see a decline in sales, but any drop in the posting of letters has been balanced by the increase in parcel despatches from internet commerce.

(Image: Chris Millard at geograph.org.uk / CC BY-SA 2.0)

MOT stands for ‘Ministry of Transport’, which, in 1960, introduced the annual safety tests for cars and other vehicles using public roads. Those first tests were pretty basic compared to today’s, but with seven thousand deaths on the roads each year, something had to be done. The test was known then as the ‘ten-year test’ as it applied only to vehicles over ten years old. The cost was fifteen shillings (75p).

The modern MOT takes 45-60 minutes as it covers so much, including lights, horn, wiring, steering, suspension, tyres, body condition, mirrors, emissions, windscreen…. the list goes on. Some drivers use this thoroughness as an alternative to regular maintenance inspections. Many drivers book a service and MOT together and some garages offer to do the MOT first, then repair anything that fails, followed by a free re-test.

There are some vehicles which are exempt from the MOT requirement, e.g. tractors, police cars and mobility scooters, but generally all vehicles over three years old (four in N.Ireland) are legally compelled to have a valid MOT. Without this, the vehicle cannot be driven on the road and you cannot buy its road tax. Ultimately, MOTs are invaluable in terms of the lives they save.

(Image: P.L. Chadwick at geograph.org.uk / CC BY-SA 2.0)

The role of coroner was first established in England in 1194. The equivalent in Scotland is a ‘procurator fiscal’. Coroners’ Courts are outside of the regular court system and are funded by local authorities. The Coroners & Justice Act 2009 and The Notification of Deaths Regulations 2019 are the relevant laws, along with guidance from the Chief Coroner and the Lord Chancellor.

A coroner is a barrister, solicitor or doctor who considers the evidence concerning sudden or unnatural death and gives a verdict on the cause and, if appropriate, recommendations to other organisations involved. Just under half of all deaths are reported to a Senior Coroner for reasons that include suspicion of poisoning, trauma, self-harm, neglect and mis-use of drugs, or while in police custody, prison, at work or undergoing a medical procedure, or where the cause is unknown.

Court inquests are required in around 16% of these cases. The inquest is non-adversarial and can give the grieving family closure. The facts of the case are reviewed in the court, including the results of any post-mortem, and witnesses give their statements on oath. There is not usually a jury and the family is on the front row and able to ask their own questions.

(Image: pxhere.com / Public domain)

The Family Law Reform Act of 1969 lowered the traditional ‘age of majority’ from twenty-one to eighteen, as from 1st January 1970. Until then, twenty-one was regarded as the age at which you became an adult, symbolised by being given a key to the family home, as in the popular song:-

Twenty-one today,
Twenty-one today,
(S)He’s got the key of the door,
Never been twenty-one before,
And Pa says I can do as I like,
So shout ‘Hip-hip hooray’,
(S)He’s a jolly good fellow,
Twenty-one today.

This is why many 21st birthday cards and fancy gifts feature a key and it is still seen as a milestone birthday, especially as it is the age at which most university students finish their degrees.

At twenty-one, you can apply to adopt a child, supervise a learner driver (if you have held a full driving licence for three years), apply for various flying licences, and apply for a provisional HGV, bus or coach licence. There remain a few transitionary stages: you move up to the 21-24 age band for the Minimum Wage; and if sentenced to prison, you will be sent to one that holds people aged 18-25, rather than a full adult prison.

(Image: Oberholster Venita at pixabay.com)

Before the County Courts were created in 1846, there was a rather unsatisfactory system of ‘circuit’ judges visiting different parts of the country outside of their London base in order to dispense justice. The visits were short, infrequent, expensive and inconvenient, so it was decided to set up the County Courts.

There are ninety-two of these courts in various English and Welsh cities and towns, some of them in the same building as a Magistrates Court or a Crown Court. The County Courts deal exclusively with civil cases, not criminal. Many cases such as probate, divorce and family issues can be heard in private in the judge’s chambers.

Civil law cases concern infringement of the rights of an individual person or company by another person or company, meaning that matters such as breach of contract, negligence, small claims and trespass all come under their jurisdiction. With the rise of the ‘consumer society’ has come the pressure to take out loans and credit. As this has increased over the years, so has the workload of the County Courts, since one of their main case types is insolvency. Court bailiffs are employed to pursue repayment of debts.

(Image: Steven Haslington at geograph.org.uk / CC BY-SA 2.0)

William Wilberforce (1759-1833) was an MP who tirelessly campaigned for the abolition of slavery on moral grounds. He finally achieved his aim just three days before he died, with the final stages of the Slavery Abolition Act successfully passing through Parliament. It came into force in 1834 and applied to almost all of the British Empire, with the remaining colonies following later.

The Society for the Abolition of the Slave Trade was formed in 1787 and was one of the influential voices which led to this result. Others included the Quakers and more than five hundred public petitions. The initial step was the abolition of the horrific slave trade itself in a series of Slave Trade Acts starting in 1807. The next step was to free 800,000 people already held as slaves.

The main objection from opponents was that abolition would ruin the economy of the West Indies, the main destination of captives brought from Africa. Consequently, the Act included financial compensation for the plantation owners and provision for freed slaves to be apprenticed in a transitionary period which ended in 1838. Some members of the anti-slavery movement wanted to continue their lobbying in other countries and the current organisation is called Anti-Slavery International.

(Image: from Amelia Opie’s ‘The Black Man’s Lament’ / Public domain)

Becoming eighteen years of age in the UK means that you are then considered to be an adult… more or less. There are a few rights which have to wait until you are twenty-one, but all the major ones now come into play. At eighteen you can:

• get married without parental permission
• join the Armed Forces without parental permission
• donate your body or organs after death
• buy, drink and sell alcohol
• buy crossbows, knives, tobacco, tattoos, fireworks
• buy or rent property, since you can now enter into legal contracts
• move up a level on the Minimum Wage scale, to the 18-20 band
• vote and stand in elections
• leave education or vocational training
• fly a commercial aeroplane if qualified
• watch adult films (rated ’18’)
• serve on a jury
• apply for Legal Aid
• be treated as an adult by the judiciary system

It is one of the major ‘milestone’ birthdays, as it is seen as the passing from childhood to adulthood. Some eighteen-year-olds leave home for the first time, at least temporarily, to go to university for a few years, thereby experiencing some measure of adult independence. Others enter the world of work and learn how to handle income and expenses for themselves.

(Image [cropped]: City of Stoke-on-Trent Sixth Form College at Flickr.com / CC BY 2.0)

The Licensing Act, 2003, (for England and Wales) allows premises selling alcohol to be open for twenty-three hours a day, but in reality this is either impractical or undesirable. A major factor is the availability of staff. Another is the effect on neighbouring businesses and homes, not just of continual activity but also of customers’ potential drunken behaviour.

The Act was intended to bring the UK in line with Europe and to discourage squeezing lots of drinks into a short time (‘binge drinking’). However, most pubs, pub-restaurants and restaurants stick to the standard times, which are 11am – 11pm Monday to Saturday and 12pm – 10.30pm on Sundays. Restaurants may further reduce this, according to their own circumstances. Pubs rarely stay open after midnight. Traditionally, a bell is rung ten minutes before closing time, or a bar-person will shout “Last orders!”. A second bell, or “Time please!”, marks the end of the evening. ‘Lock-ins’, whereby sales continue after the pub doors are locked, are illegal.

When applying for a Licence, the pub or restaurant owner must provide a schedule of opening hours and the police and neighbours may raise objections at that stage. Licences can be revoked for illegal, dangerous or annoying activity.

(Image: wasi1370 at pixabay.com)

Income tax was first used to finance wars. This began in 1799 with the Napoleonic wars and the tax was so closely tied into this purpose that it was stopped in peace-time. It only applied to the wealthy and it was very unpopular. Parliament made a great show of debating its pros and cons in the second half of the nineteenth century, including promises to abolish it altogether, but it has become a permanent fixture since its re-introduction in 1842.

Its connection with wars continued up to and including World War 2, after which it became the means by which a huge ‘welfare state‘ was enabled. It is therefore almost unthinkable today that there would be no income tax, as it is accepted as a normal part of employment and self-employment for everyone, and it provides the government with a quarter of its revenue.

The rich have, in the past, been charged very high percentages of income tax, leading to some of them emigrating to other countries. The tax bands and ‘personal allowance’ are reviewed by the Chancellor every year and the current rates can be found on the government website.

(Image: moneycortex at pixabay.com)