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The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland consists of England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland．It was established in 1801 with the union of Great Britain and Ireland, but only achieved its present form in 1922, with the partition of Ireland and the establishment of the independent Irish Free State (later the Republic of Ireland).
England and Wales have a combined judicial system, while Scotland and Northern Ireland have their own judicial systems.
The Queen is the Head of State, although in practice the supreme authority of the Crown is exercised by the government of the day．The UK legislature is a bicameral parliament, consisting of the House of Commons and the House of Lords．The House of Commons consists of 650 Members of Parliament (MPs) elected by simple majority vote in a general election every five years．The House of Lords has more than 700 members, who fall into three categories: life peers (the largest group), hereditary peers, and bishops; most peers are appointed on the recommendation of the Prime Minister or the House of Lords Appointments Commission.
The three principal sources of UK law are legislation, common law and European Union law．There is no single series of documents that contains the whole of the law of the UK.
The principal legislature is the UK Parliament, which is based in London．This is the only body that has the power to pass laws that apply in all four countries．The UK Parliament consists of the House of Commons and the House of Lords.
The House of Commons consists of 650 Members of Parliament (MPs)．Each MP represents a defined geographic constituency, whose electors vote using a “first-past-the-post”system．Each elector has one vote, and the candidate with the highest number of votes is elected as MP for that constituency．MPs are only allowed to sit for the lifetime of the Parliament, that is, the length of time between General Elections when a new set of MPs is elected．However, MPs can be reelected a limitless number of times.
The House of Lords consists of nearly 800 peers, of whom 600 are formally appointed by the Queen on the recommendation of the Prime Minister．The other members of the House of Lords are people who have inherited aristocratic titles such as “Lord”or “Lady”, and senior bishops of the Church of England.
Notwithstanding its common law heritage, the modern UK legal system relies heavily on statutory law．We should bear in mind that there is no official compilation of all UK statutes currently in force comparable to the United States Code．Nevertheless, consolidated legislation, which incorporates all subsequent revisions and amendments made to the original legislation, is readily accessible from both official and unofficial sources.
Acts of Parliament (Primary Legislation)
Acts of Parliament, sometimes referred to as primary legislation, are the supreme law in the United Kingdom．Most Acts of Parliament fall into one of two broad categories: Public General Acts of universal application and Private Acts affecting only specified localities, entities or individuals．A third category of Hybrid Acts combines elements of both public and private acts．The vast majority of UK legal research involves Public General Acts.
The Scottish Parliament, the Welsh Assembly, and the Northern Ireland Assembly each enact primary legislation for their respective jurisdictions, but only with respect to those matters that have been devolved to them by the national Parliament in London.
Secondary (Delegated) Legislation
Secondary legislation refers to specialized rules and regulations issued by ministers or governmental entities acting under authority delegated to them by an Act of Parliament．Such rules, also known as delegated legislation, have the force of law and are analogous to regulations issued by administrative agencies in the United States.
The most common type of secondary legislation is known as a Statutory Instrument (SI)．Other types of secondary legislation include Orders in Council and Orders of Council.
The Scottish Parliament, the Welsh Assembly, and the Northern Ireland Assembly also enact primary legislation that authorizes the creation of secondary legislation applicable within their respective jurisdictions.
Common law, also known as case law or precedent, is law developed by judges, courts, and similar tribunals, stated in decisions that nominally decide individual cases but that, in addition, have precedential effect on future cases．Common law is a third branch of law, in contrast to and on equal footing with statutes which are adopted through the legislative process, and regulations which are promulgated by the executive branch．In cases where the parties disagree on what the law is, a common law court looks to past precedential decisions of relevant courts．If a similar dispute has been resolved in the past, the court is usually bound to follow the reasoning used in the prior decision, which is a principle known as stare decisis．If, however, the court finds that the current dispute is fundamentally distinct from all previous cases, which is called a “matter of first impression”, judges have the authority and duty to resolve the issue, in which one party or the other has to win, and on disagreements of law, judges make that decision．Resolution of the issue in one case becomes precedent that binds future courts．Stare decisis, the principle that cases should be decided according to consistent principled rules so that similar facts will yield similar results, lies at the heart of all common law systems.
The concept “common law system”refers to a legal system that gives great precedential weight to common law．Common law systems originated during the Middle Ages in England, and from there propagated to the colonies of the British Empire．Today, one third of the world's population live in common law jurisdictions or in systems mixed with civil law．The legal system of England and Wales is a common law one, so the decisions of the senior appellate courts (see below) become part of the law.
The UK joined the European Economic Community, the predecessor of the European Union in 1973, since when it has been a requirement to incorporate European Union legislation into UK law and to recognise the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice in matters of EU law.
The British government led by David Cameron held a referendum on the UK's withdrawal from the EU in 2016, a commonly used term for which is Brexit; a majority voted to leave the EU．On 29 March 2017, Theresa May's administration invoked Article 50 of the Treaty on the European Union in a letter to the President of the European Council．The UK is set to leave by March 2019．The terms of withdrawal have not yet been negotiated, and the UK remains a full member of the EU．May said that the UK government would not seek permanent single market membership, and promised a Great Repeal Bill that would repeal the European Communities Act and would incorporate existing European Union law into the domestic law of the UK.
In England and Wales, all criminal cases start in the magistrates' court, but the most serious matters are then sent to the Crown Court．Civil cases are sometimes heard in the magistrates' court, but most are heard by the County Court．Above these courts are the High Court, Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court is the final court of appeal for all UK civil cases, and for criminal cases in England, Wales and Northern Ireland．The Supreme Court took over the judicial functions of the Appellate Committee of the House of Lords in October 2009, under the Constitutional Reform Act 2005, thereby making a constitutional separation between the legislature and the judiciary.
A further appellate court is the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council , which hears cases from the British overseas territories and dependencies and some Commonwealth countries, as well as certain highly specialised domestic appeals.
Her Majesty's Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS), an executive agency of the Ministry of Justice, is responsible for administration of the court and tribunal system in England and Wales.
Appellate courts are those that only hear appeals from other courts．The two most senior appellate courts are the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court.
The Court of Appeal, which encompasses only England and Wales, consists of a Civil Division and a Criminal Division．The Civil Division hears appeals against decisions of the High Court, while the Criminal Division hears appeals about alleged errors of law in the Magistrates' and Crown Courts．Cases are heard by three Lords Justices of Appeal, each of whom reaches an individual decision that may consist of a lengthy speech．The Court's decision may be reached either by unanimity or by a 2:1 majority.
Appeals from the Court of Appeal are heard by the Supreme Court, which is the highest court in the UK．It hears civil appeals from all four countries, and criminal appeals from England, Wales and Northern Ireland．Permission to appeal to the Supreme Court will be given only if a case raises a point of general public importance．Cases are heard by five, seven or nine of the 12 Justices of the Supreme Court, each of whom reaches an individual decision that may consist of a lengthy speech．The Court's decision may be reached either by unanimity or by a simple majority.
Decisions made in the Court of Appeal, the Supreme Court and the Supreme Court's predecessor, the Appellate Committee of the House of Lords become precedents that must be followed by courts in all future cases．This ensures that similar cases are treated similarly, which many people regard as one of the most important aspects of justice.
The Royal Coat of Arms came into being in 1399 under King Henry IV．It is used by the reigning monarch.
The Royal Arms appear in every courtroom in England and Wales, with the exception of the magistrates' court in the City of London, demonstrating that justice comes from the monarch, and a law court is part of the Royal Court (hence its name).
Judges and magistrates are therefore officially representatives of the Crown.
The presence of the Royal Arms explains why lawyers and court officials bow to the judge or magistrates' bench when they enter the room．They are not bowing to the judge, but to the coat of arms, to show respect for the Queen's justice.
Although they're often seen in cartoons and TV programmes and mentioned in almost everything else involving judges, the one place you won't see a gavel is an English or Welsh courtroom—they are not used there and have never been used in the criminal courts.
The black cap, based on court headgear in Tudor times, was traditionally put on by judges passing sentence of death.
Since the permanent abolition of capital punishment in 1969, there has been no need for the cap to be worn．High Court judges still carry the black cap, but only on an occasion where they are wearing full ceremonial dress.
Red or “pink”tape was once used to tie up official papers; indeed, that is where the term “red tape”to describe excessive bureaucracy comes from．The tape is still used by the legal profession for briefs (the documents outlining a case) from private citizens．White tape is used for briefs from the Crown.
Judges, magistrates and tribunal members take two oaths when they are sworn in．The first is the oath of allegiance to the reigning monarch, and the second the judicial oath; these are collectively referred to as the judicial oath.
Witnesses giving evidence in court also take an oath, which can be religious (different versions exist for members of different faiths) or secular—where the witness simply affirms that they will tell the truth.
Oaths were used at least as far back as Anglo-Saxon and Roman times.
The costumes worn by judges are just about the most distinctive working wardrobe in existence．But that's not altogether surprising: after all, not many uniforms have had seven centuries to evolve….
Strange as it might seem now, when judges first started wearing robes and wigs they probably wouldn't have stood out on the street.
The costume of a High Court judge, for example—a long robe, a full hood with a cowl covering the shoulders and a mantle (or cloak)—was more or less established by the time of Edward III (1327—1377) and was based on the correct dress for attending the royal court.
The material for these robes was originally given to judges as a grant from the Crown, and included ermine and taffeta or silk．The colours were violet for winter and green in summer, with scarlet for best, but the last mention of green robes dates back to 1534.
In 1635 the definitive guide to court dress was published in the Judges Rules．But this didn't introduce new costumes; it just set out what existing robes should be worn, and when.
So after 1635, the correctly-dressed judge would have worn a black robe faced with miniver (a light-coloured fur) in winter, and violet or scarlet robes, faced with shot-pink taffeta, in summer．A black girdle, or cincture, was worn with all robes.
Not that these guidelines made the matter of correct court dress simple.
By the mid-eighteenth century, the rules of 1635 were not being stuck to as strictly as the author might have hoped.
A less formal version of the robes—a scarlet robe, black scarf and scarlet casting-hood, also known as a tippet or stole, was used for criminal trials, and for civil trials some judges had begun to wear a black silk gown.
When sitting in Westminster Hall, at the time the home of the courts of law, the mantle was not worn; this was now saved for ceremonial wear．And grey taffeta was becoming increasingly popular as an alternative to the pink taffeta used on summer robes.
Plain linen bands began to be worn at the neck, in place of the ruffs associated with Queen Elizabeth I．These were originally wide collars, but by the 1680s had become what we see today: two rectangles of linen, tied at the throat.
Bands are still usually worn with a winged collar, rather than the turn-down collar seen on a typical shirt today.
Sometimes changes to the court structure itself have had a major effect on what is worn by judges.
The High Court, for example, was created by the Judicature Acts of 1873 and 1875, absorbing the courts of Chancery, Admiralty, Probate and Matrimonial Causes．This led to a new dress dilemma; trial judges in these courts were used to wearing plain black silk gowns.
These judges were allowed to keep the dress code they were used to, and even today, black silk gowns are worn by judges in the Chancery, Probate, Admiralty, Divorce and Family Divisions.
When county courts were created in 1846 the black gown was also worn．However, in 1915 Judge Woodfall suggested that a new robe similar to those worn by High Court judges be introduced.
A violet robe was chosen, faced—to distinguish it from the violet High Court robe—in lilac or mauve taffeta．A lilac tippet and black girdle also formed part of the costume, which due to wartime conditions did not become compulsory until 1919.
A full violet hood for ceremonial occasions was added in 1937, and the creation of the Crown Court in 1971 led to the introduction of a scarlet tippet, to be worn during criminal trials.
However, this was not compulsory; judges could choose to wear a black gown instead．Judges at the Central Criminal Court (the Old Bailey) still wear their black gowns.
The Court of Appeal was created at the same time as the High Court, again combining several existing courts．The Master of the Rolls, head of the Civil Division of the Court of Appeal, and two other members of the Court of Appeal in Chancery were among the new members of this court, which probably explains why a black silk gown was chosen.
The Court of Criminal Appeal, founded in 1908, originally wore the full black, scarlet or violet robes and regalia, but in 1966 the court was abolished and re-formed as the Court of Appeal, namely, Criminal Division．At this point, judges of this court adopted the black silk gown, with the Queen's Bench Division following suit soon afterwards.
Elaborate robes of black flowered silk damask, with gold lace and decorations, have been worn by the two senior Chancery judges, the Master of the Rolls and the Lord Chancellor, for ceremonial occasions since the seventeenth century.
After the Judicature Acts, the same dress was adopted by the Lords Justices of Appeal and the President of the Family Division.
These robes cover an equally ornate suit, including a swallow-tail coat, waistcoat and knee breaches, silk stockings and patent leather pumps with buckles．This would have been ordinary dress in the eighteenth century.
Until the seventeenth century, lawyers were expected to appear in court with clean, short hair and beards.
Wigs made their first appearance in a courtroom purely and simply because that is what was being worn outside it; the reign of Charles II (1660—1685) made wigs essential wear for polite society.
The judiciary, however, took some time to convince; portraits of judges from the early 1680s still show judges defiantly sporting their own natural hair, and wigs do not seem to have been adopted wholesale until 1685.
The reign of George III (1760—1820) saw wigs gradually go out of fashion．By the end of the century they were mainly worn by bishops, coachmen and the legal profession, and even bishops were given permission to stop wearing wigs in the 1830s.
Judges wore only full-bottomed wigs until the 1780s, when the less formal, and smaller, bob-wig, with frizzed sides rather than curls, and a short tail or queue at the back, was adopted for civil trials.
The full-bottomed wig continued to be used for criminal trials until the 1840s, but is today reserved for ceremonial dress; smaller wigs are used on a day-to-day basis.
A distinction is made between public law, which governs the relationship between individual citizens and the state, and private law, which governs relationships between individuals and private organizations.
For practical purposes, the most significant distinction is between civil law and criminal law.
Civil law covers such areas as contracts, negligence, family matters, employment, probate and land law．Criminal law, which is a branch of public law, defines the boundaries of acceptable conduct．A person who breaks the criminal law is regarded as having committed an offence against society as a whole.
A person who believes that another individual or organisation has committed a civil wrong can complete a claim form and send it to the appropriate court．The County Court, which is based at over 200 locations, deals with most claims involving less than 25,000 and claims for less than 50,000 that involve injury to a person．The High Court, which is in London, hears most higher-value cases．In the County and High Courts, each case is heard by a single judge.
The person who starts a civil case is called a claimant, and he or she has the burden of proving that, more probably than not, the defendant committed a civil wrong．If the claimant is successful, the usual remedy is damages, a sum of money paid by the defendant to the claimant．Other remedies, such as a court order that prohibits a person from behaving in a certain way, are available in some circumstances.
Either party to a civil case may appeal to a higher court against the decision.
A person who believes that a crime has been committed contacts the police, who conduct an investigation．If, after arresting and interviewing a person, the police believe that he or she has committed the crime, that individual is charged．A report of the case is then sent to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS).
If the CPS believes that the case has a reasonable prospect of success, and that it would be in the public interest to do so, it will start criminal proceedings against the suspect, who becomes the defendant in the case．In court, the CPS bears the burden of proving, beyond reasonable doubt, that the defendant has committed the crime.
Minor offences, such as speeding, are heard by Magistrates' Courts．Many towns in England and Wales have their own Magistrates' Court, where cases are heard by three magistrates．Magistrates do not need any legal qualifications, and they are advised by a Clerk, who is a qualified lawyer．Magistrates do not state reasons for their decisions.
Very serious offences, such as murder and rape, are heard in the Crown Court．The Crown Court is based in about 90 centres throughout England and Wales．A jury consisting of 12 people chosen at random from the local population will decide, without giving reasons, whether the defendant is guilty of the offence．Usually a jury's decision will be unanimous, but the judge may decide that an 11 to 1 or 10 to 2 majority is sufficient．The jury is advised about the law by the judge, whose role also includes imposing a sentence if the defendant is found guilty.
Some intermediate offences, such as theft, may be tried in a Magistrates' Court or the Crown Court.
The sentences available for criminal offences include fines, payment of a sum of money to the state, imprisonment and community punishments such as unpaid supervised work.
1．England and Wales have a combined judicial system, while Scotland and Northern Ireland have their own judicial systems.
2．The UK Parliament is the only body that has the power to pass laws that apply in all four countries.
3．The Scottish Parliament, the Welsh Assembly, and the Northern Ireland Assembly each hold the power of legislation for their respective jurisdictions over a wide range of matters with no need of the devolution from the national Parliament.
4．Stare decisis, the principle that cases should be decided according to consistent principled rules so that similar facts will yield similar results, lies at the heart of all common law systems.
5．The Supreme Court is the final court of appeal for all civil and criminal cases in the UK.
6．The costumes worn by judges have had an evolution history of nearly seven centuries.
7．The reign of Charles II (1660—1685) made wigs unique wear for bishops, coachmen and the legal profession.
8．What is worn by judges is, sometimes, influenced by changes to the court structure.
9．The person who starts a civil case is called a claimant, and he or she has the burden of proving that, more probably than not, the defendant committed a civil wrong.
10．In the enforcement of criminal justice the function of the jury is to decide, without giving reasons, whether the defendant is guilty of the offence.
1．What are the principal sources of the UK law?
2．Can you introduce the court system in the UK briefly?
3．What do you know about the court traditions in the UK?
4．What is public law?
5．What is private law?
6．What are the basic classifications of the UK law?
1．The politics of the UK;
2．Differences between the sources of law in the UK and those in China;
3．The characteristics of common law system.