UK Legal Framework: Devolution, Judiciary, Justice

Lecture 5: The Legal Framework

Devolution Settlements

• Scotland – Early devolution of legislative, executive, and judicial power. Note the separate Scottish legal system.
• Wales – Staggered process of devolution of mainly legislative and executive powers. Incremental growth from subordinate to primary legislative power.
• Northern Ireland – Different settlement which includes mainly legislative and executive powers within a collaborative framework.
• However, core authority for all power (legislative, executive, and judicial) remains in the hands of Parliament at Westminster.
• Understanding the separation of powers is now incredibly complex.

Judiciary

• Superior Courts
  • Supreme Court
  • Court of Appeal
  • High Court
  • Crown Courts
• Inferior Courts
  • Magistrates Courts
  • County and District Courts
  • Coroners Courts

Judiciary - Key Constitutional Factors

The flexible nature of the unwritten British constitution has a direct impact on the way the Government works. For example:

• Creation of a Supreme Court and the ending of an historically cherished, ‘High Court of Parliament’.
• Creation, abolition, and reform of specific high offices of state and their attendant authority.
• Greater concentration of specific parts of the state and their roles, i.e., The House of Commons becoming the superior House of Parliament.

The Criminal Justice System

A key facet of Governmental action is maintaining and developing a criminal justice system. The system operates under the auspices of Government, but who are they?

Introducing the Key Actors

• The Home Office
• Ministry of Justice
• 43 Police Forces – and now, Police and Crime Commissioners
• Crown Prosecution Service
• The Court’s Service
• Prisons
• National Offender Management Service
• Lawyers

QUANGO’s and Supporting Actors

• The National Criminal Justice Board
• Youth Justice Board for England and Wales
• Law Society
• Bar Council
• Victim Support

Variety of Aims

• The reduction of crime
• Reduction in the fear of crime
• Reduction in the costs of crime (social and economic)
• Dispensing justice fairly
• Promoting the Rule of Law
• Securing just processes
• Deterring people from committing crime
• Ensuring just and effective outcomes
• Dealing with cases on their merits and in an appropriate fashion.
• Meeting the needs of victims, witnesses, and jurors
• Respecting the rights of the defendant and treating them fairly.
• Promoting confidence in the criminal justice system
• Enabling agencies to work together effectively and efficiently.

Justice for All (2002)

There was a system, but it was a system that needed to improve:

Promoting more integrated working

There are examples where Government has sought to increase opportunities for agencies to collaborate:

• The Crime and Disorder Act (1998) and youth justice.
• This Act created Youth Offending Teams which were multi-agency in nature, led by Local Authorities, but consisting also (at least of) education, health, the Police, social services and Probation Officers.
• Pooled expertise
• Problem solving approaches
• Working across agency boundaries

The Need for Standards – A Fair Trial?

Parliament has acted to ensure that defendants (and plaintiffs) - note the language! - are involved in trial processes that are considered fair.

The Courts Act (2003), for example, imposed a duty on participants within a case to prepare and conduct it in a way that ensures it is dealt with justly.

A Controversial Question

Should the State pay for and offer Legal Aid?

“State legal aid will no longer pay for claims against hospitals and doctors or schools and colleges, over immigration or welfare benefit disputes or for divorce lawyers, said Justice Secretary Ken Clarke. Unprecedented reforms to the £2.1billion-a-year legal aid system will mean that more than half a million court cases annually will no longer be funded by taxpayers.” (Daily Mail, 16th November 2010)