This course aims to give students a broad overview of the English legal system and how it functions. We will first look at the sources of English law (custom, common law, equity, and the law of the European Convention on Human Rights), and then move on to examine some of the distinctive features of the English legal system. Here we will focus on judicial precedent (case law), the aspect of English law that most obviously distinguishes it from civil-law systems, and then turn our attention to statutory interpretation. Thus, we will work closely with both law “created by judges” and law made by Parliament. We will then consider the structural aspects of English law, looking closely at the English court system and the work done by judges (legally trained professionals) and magistrates and juries (lay persons). In doing so, we will consider the key differences between the English adversarial trial system and the civil inquisitorial one. Finally, we will consider the legal profession itself. We will see that the English legal profession is a split one, with legal work divided between solicitors and barristers. We will finish the course by considering some interesting/ controversial issues or cases that have arisen in English law in recent years.
The course will be assessed by a formal two-hour closed-book examination. Students of the Law Faculty will receive 5 BZQ II points for successful completion of this course.