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Law - GlossaryAActual Bodily Harm (ABH) [full name: Assault Occasioning Actual Bodily Harm) – definition found in s47 of the Offences Against the Person Act 1861 (maximum punishment is 5 years in prison); assault = common assault (=assault and battery); occasioning = causing = prove causation; actual bodily harm = a person has actually been hurt; a hurt that is more than transient or trifling and interferes with comfort and health [R v Miller (1954); MR is when D intended to apply unlawful force, or was reckless and took a risk to apply unlawful force anyway; e.g. minor breaks/bruises/burns/psychiatric harm and grazes/scratches.Actus reus (AR) – physical element of a crime; this is the actual conduct of the crime; AR can be an act, an omission, or state of affairs.Administrative Tribunals – established to enforce social rights, e.g. the right to a payment if one is made redundant.Advocacy – the art of speaking in court on behalf of another, conducting a case in court as a legal representative of another person.Advocacy rights – rights to appear in different courts; legal executive have some rights of audience (can appear to make applications where the case is not defended in family matters and civil cases in the Country Courts); solicitors can appear in the Magistrates and Country courts (if they obtain a certificate for advocacy enables them to appear in higher courts); barristers have full rights of audience and can present cases in England and Wales.Advocate Generals – the 11 Advocate Generals of the EU research and publicly present the legal points involved.Affirmative resolution – when a small number of statutory instruments will be subject to affirmative resolution; e.g. required before new or revised police Codes of Practice under the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984; BUT Parliament cannot amend the statutory instrument, it can only be approved, annulled or withdrawn. Aggravating factors – factors that make the sentence harsher; include violence, use of weapons, age of the victim, disability, no remorse, hate crimes.Alternative dispute resolution (ADR) – any method of resolving a dispute without resorting to using the courts (e.g. negotiation, mediation, arbitration, conciliation and tribunals).Appeal – when one of the parties (prosecution or defence) challenges the judgement; there are three types of appeals: appeal against sentence, appeal against conviction and appeal against case stated (technicality in law/law not applied correctly). Appeal courts – a synonym of the Superior courts, which include the ECJ, the Supreme, the Courts of Appeal (criminal and civil), the QBD, Family and Chancery courts.Appeal routes – appeals against conviction/sentence in a summary cases are appealed to the Crown Court; in summary offences cases all appeals against case stated go to the High Court (QBD) and from then if a point of general public importance is raised they go to the Supreme Court; in indictable offences cases the defence can appeal against sentence/conviction to the Court of Appeal and the prosecution – under the Attorney General’s Reference against an unduly lenient sentence or on a point of law to the Court of Appeal; from the Court of Appeal appeals go to the Supreme Court if a point of general public importance is raised. Assault – s39 Criminal Justice Act 1987 (maximum penalty is 6 months imprisonment/?5,000 fine/both); an act that causes V to apprehend immediate unlawful force intentionally or recklessly (MR); apprehend = believe that you are about to be harmed; immediate = in the near future; force = does not necessarily mean physical violence, assault can be in a written or spoken form; unlawful = without the V’s consent; MR of assault is to intend to cause V to apprehend immediate unlawful force or be reckless, D takes risk V would apprehend immediate unlawful force and go ahead anyway.Attempts – where D tries to commit an offence but fails for some reason; a person does an act which is more than merely preparatory to the commission of the offence; D intents to commit the main offence.Automatism – also known as non-insane automatism; used when a crime is committed through an involuntary act caused by an external factor; if successful, the defence is a complete one and D will be found ‘not guilty’.BBar Council – represents barristers, promotes high standards of work, acts as a ‘trade union’ for barristers, promotes fair access to justice, promotes business opportunity, disciplines barristers when they breach the code of practice, ensures high working standards.Bar Standards Board – regulates work of barristers; sets entry/training standards, sets out the Code of Conduct; disciplines barristers, imposes sanctions, can disbar a barrister.Basic intent offences – crimes which have recklessness in the mens rea; examples include manslaughter, s. 20 OAPA 1861, s.47 OAPA 1861, assault s.39 CJA 1988, battery s.39 CJA 1988, criminal damage.Battery – s39 Criminal Justice Act 1987 (maximum penalty is 6 months imprisonment/?5,000 fine/both); causing V to receive immediate unlawful force/harm; AR is the application of unlawful force; unlawful = lack of consent (although you cannot consent to serious harms); battery can be the ‘merest’ (slightest touch).‘Beyond reasonable doubt’ – a criminal law case must be proved continually and logically; otherwise an inappropriate conviction may lead to a long prison sentence.Binding precedent – a precedent from a previous case that must be followed even if a judge disagrees with its legal principles; only used when the facts of a second case are sufficiently similar to the original case + decision is made by courts superior to/at the same level as the courts hearing the latter case; ex: Grant v Australian Knitting Mills. Bill – the name of a draft law going through Parliament before it passes all the parliamentary stages to become an Act of Parliament. Brief – a summary of case, which is presented to barristers by solicitors; briefs are tied in a pink/red ribbon.Burden of proof – who has to prove the case (a prosecutor or a claimant).‘But for’ test – but for D’s actions, the consequence would not have happened (same as ‘if D had not acted, this would not have happened); e.g. but for Person A stabbing Person B, Person B would not have sustained serious injuries.By-laws (also spelled ‘bye-laws’) – made by local authorities to cover matters within their own area; can regard (for example), rubbish collection, road cleaning, parking and abinet – includes the c.22 most senior government ministers from the ruling party; it is responsible for its departments; disputes are held in their meetings; puts policies into action and takes a collective responsibility for the implemented policies; chosen by the Prime Minister to lead specific policy areas, e.g. Health, Transport, Foreign Affairs or Defence. Cabinet Committee – acts when the Cabinet is overloaded with work/business/information; ensures that matters are properly investigated; considers particular questions and recommends policies.Challenging a jury – both the prosecution and the defence side have the right to challenge the members being selected in a jury; three types: challenging to the array (challenging the whole jury because it was chosen in a biased or unrepresentative way), challenging for cause (challenging the right of an individual juror to sit in the jury based on a valid reason) and the prosecution have the right to stand by jurors (allows the prosecution to challenge jurors and they can be put at the end of the list of the 15 provisional jurors so as to ensure they will not be included in the list of the 12 official).CILEX – provides education, training, and development of skills for legal executives; protects status and interests of legal executives; publishes a Code of Conduct for Legal Executives; investigates against Legal executives; can reprimand or warn a member; can refer a member to the Disciplinary Tribunal; can fine up to ?3,000.Circuit judges – full-time judges in the Crown and County Courts, who have certain responsibilities; they are inferior judges, who decide facts of law and make a decision about who has won the case in civil trials; they also sit with a jury in criminal cases and decide sentencing and go around a circuit of courts. Civil law - the purpose of civil law is to uphold the rights of individuals/resolve disputes between parties; a claimant is the legal person, who stars the case and cases are heard and the County (smaller offences) and High Courts(offences with a bigger value); the standard of proof is the balance of probabilities; usually a judge (only in rare cases a jury) makes the decisions and they are either liable or not liable; the burden of proof is made by the claimant; Courts can award injunctions or usually a punishment over damages (financial compensation).Claimant – the legal name for a person or organisation starting a civil claim in courts.Codification – a process that involves reviewing all the law on the particular topic and then creating a code to cover all aspects on the law of that topic.Consolidation – combining the law from several Acts of Parliament into a single mission of the EU – each member state sends one Commissioner; act independently form their national origin; Commissioners are appointed for a 5-year term (can be removed by a vote of the European Parliament); each Commissioner is responsible for a particular department; Commission proposes new laws to be adopted by the European Parliament and the Council; has executive powers; responsible for the administration of the Union; ensures that Treaties are implemented correctly by member states; issues are resolved in the mittee Stage – each section of a Bill is taken by a group of 16-50 MPs (standing Committee) and is examined in detail; the Standing Committee scrutinises the Bill; Finance Bills require the whole House of Commons to sit and examine mon (case) law – unwritten law developed form customs and judicial decisions/precedents may judges for cases; made by judges for cases (case law); does not create laws; not defined in an official Act of Parliament; ex: murder and involuntary manslaughter; if a crime has not been defined in an Act of Parliament, but D faces consequences, we have a common law case).Conditional Fee Agreements ‘no win = no fee’; unless the client wins the case, he would not have to pay for legal services.Constitutional Reform Act 2005 – an Act of Parliament initiated by Gordon Brown under the Labour government, which created a separate Supreme Court (previously it was part of the House of Lords).Contemporaneous act – when AR and MR coincide.Council of the European Union – government of each member state sends a representative to the meetings (it is usually the foreign Minister, but it can be any minister); each member state takes it in turn to provide the president of the council for a 6-month rotation; principal law making body of the union; double majority voting (55% of the members states must vote in favour of a proposed new law + proposal must be supported by member states representing at least 65% of the total EU population.County Court – a court, which deals with less serious civil law cases; up to ?25,000; a judge will try the case.Court of Appeal – criminal and civil divisions; bound by the decisions of the ECJ and Supreme Court, Criminal Division of the Appeal Court is more flexible in terms of following decisions; ‘Young v Bristol Aeroplane Co. LTD’ from 1944 governs the position of the two divisions of the CA in relation to its previous precedents; CA can overrule its decisions in the following situations: 1) the court can choose which past decision to accept/reject if the decisions have been conflicting 2) SC/HofL decisions that overrule CA decisions must be followed 3) a per incurium has been made because neither a relevant Act of Parliament, nor any other regulations have been considered by the courts; criminal division may overrule its decisions if the law has been ‘misapplied or misunderstood’ as in ‘R v Taylor 1950’=>people’s liberty is involved at a high stake; has an odd number of judges (3, 5, 7, 9) in the criminal division trials)Constitutional Reform Act 2005 – s.23 of the Act states that the judicial function of the House of Lords as the highest appeal court in the UK was removed and transferred to a new Supreme Court in the munity sentences – courts can ‘mix and match’ (combine) any of the following requirements and create an appropriate sentence for the defendant: an unpaid work requirement; an activity requirement; a programme requirement; a prohibited activity requirement; a curfew requirement; an exclusion requirement; a residence requirement; a mental health requirement; a drug rehabilitation requirement; a supervision requirement; an alcohol treatment requirement; an attendance centre requirement (if the defendant is aged under 25).Complete defence – a defence that removes responsibility for an offence completely; D would not be guilty if it were proven.Criminal law - criminal law is meant to maintain order and law in a society so as to guarantee its safety; it punishes the guilty and protects the innocent; the person/institution starting the case is the state via the Crown Prosecution Services (CPS); a prosecutor represents the state and cases are heard in the Magistrates’ and Crown Courts; the standard of proof is beyond reasonable doubt; the people who make the decisions in the already mentioned courts are Magistrates and a judge and jury; the burden of proof is made by the prosecution; the final decisions are guilty or acquitted (not-guilty); the Courts can order imprisonment, a ban, a fine and community order. Cross Examination – the Prosecution calls witnesses and asks them questions then the Defence challenges the witnesses and vice versa Crown Court – a court, which deals with more serious criminal law cases.Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) – in criminal law cases it will automatically start a procedure against the defendant; bring prosecution in the name of the Queen.Curfew requirement – the offender can be ordered to remain at an address between 2-12 hours a day (this can last up to 6 months); can be enforced by electronic tagging.Custodial sentence – the most serious punishment that can be imposed; includes mandatory sentence, discretionary sentence, intermittent custody, suspended prison sentence and fixed term sentence; its aim of sentencing is deterrence.Custom – a rule of behaviour which develops in a community without being deliberately invented; a historical source, which is unlikely to create new laws today; basis of common law (precedents, customs, historic traditions).DDamages – that is a sum of money to compensate a person; award money compensation.Defence barrister – does not try and prove innocence, but shows that the prosecution’s points are invalid.Delegated (secondary) legislation – legislation made by ministers under powers given to them by an Act of Parliament; regards a specific region; this is when Parliament passes responsibility to another organisation to make law; done through a statute called an Enabling Act.Delegated Powers Scrutiny Committee – established in 1993 in the House of Lords; considers whether the provisions of any Bills going through Parliament delegate legislative power inappropriately; reports its findings to the HofL before the Committee stage of the Bill; no power to amend Bills.Deterrence – an aim of sentencing that is aimed at reducing future levels of crime by putting offenders off committing crime again; split into 2 categories: general (designed to stop society from committing crime) and individual (to stop a particular person from re-offending); examples: life sentence or a fine.Devolution – this is when a central government shares (delegates to) its powers to different sub-governments, e.g. the central government in London has devolved powers to the local Scottish and Welsh assemblies via the Scotland Act and Wales Act, both from 1998.Dictionaries – a type of extrinsic aids; can be used to find the literal meaning of words used in a statute; must be from the time the statute was created; ex: Vaughan v Vaughan 1973.Diminished responsibility – a special defence to murder which can lower a murder conviction to voluntary manslaughter; set out in s.52 of the Coroners and Justice Act (2009); D must have killed due to having an abnormality of the mental functioning arising from a recognised medical condition, impairing D’s abilities to understand the nature of his conduct/exercise self-control/form a rational judgement and providing an explanation for D’s act or omissionNB! For a detailed explanation of the definition check the Diminished responsibility file in the ‘Learning materials’ section Direct intention – D desired the consequence; R v Mohan (1975); R v Hancock and Shankland (1985).Director of Public Prosecutions – head of the CPS.Discharges – two types: conditional (the court discharges the offender that no offence is committed during a set period of up to 3 years; if an offence is committed during that period the sentence are added together) and absolute (all charges are abandoned and despite that the defendant is guilty it is not morally right to punish them).Discretionary excusals – people in the following categories can apply for such an excusal: if a person is too ill and unable to attend court; mothers with small babies; people on pre-booked holidays; people, who cannot be substituted to undertake a business appointment; if a person is not excused and does not attend he can be fined up to ?1,000.! Lawyers, police officers and judges can become jurors. This is widely considered as bias and influencing. Example: R v Abdroikof, R v Green and R v Williamson (2007). Distinguishing (of cases) – a method by which a judge avoids having to follow what would otherwise be a binding precedent; ex: Balfour v Balfour 1919 and Merritt v Merritt 1971.District judges – inferior judges, who serve in the Magistrates’ Court; they are paid as a judge; sit on their own to decide facts and law; decide sentencing if D pleads/is found guilty; practically they are paid magistrates; 1st rank on the civil hierarchy; deal with small claims cases of under ?10,000 and can also hear other cases for larger amounts; need to have been a lawyer for at least 7 years to become a district judge.Divisional Courts – include the QBD, Family and Chancery Courts; bound by the decisions of the ECJ, Supreme Court and Appeal Courts + bound by their own past decisions.Doctrine of precedent – following the decisions of previous cases, especially of higher courts; promotes fairness and provides certainty in the law.Doctrine of ultra vires – courts will presume that unless the enabling Act expressly allows it, there is no power to make unreasonable regulations/levy taxes/allow sub-delegation.Domestic tribunals – ‘in-house’ tribunals that are often set up by professional bodies to resolve disputes I their organisation (e.g. The Bar Council, the General Medical Council, the Football Association). Double majority vote - 55% of the EU members states must vote in favour of a proposed new law + proposal must be supported by member states representing at least 65% of the total EU population.Duties – duty arising from contract [R v Pittwood (1902)]; duty arising from specific relationships [(R v Gibbins and Proctor (1938)]; voluntary assumption of a duty/responsibility [R v Stone and Dobinson (1977)]; duty arising from dangerous conduct/situation [R v Miller (1983)]; duty arising from public office [R v Dytham (1979)].Duty solicitor – provides representation for free (if a person cannot find a solicitor).EEmployment Tribunals – operate separately from the first-tier tribunals; cover all work-related disputes, e.g. unfair dismissal. Enabling Act – an Act by Parliament enabling another body to make laws within a guidelines set.European Court of Justice (ECJ / Court of Justice of the EU) – until Britain leaves the EU it will need to abide all laws passed by the ECJ; this is the highest court in the hierarchy; sits in Luxembourg; each member state sends the highest-ranked judge in the country; ‘must ensure that in the interpretation and application of the Treaty the law is observed’; 11 judges sit for a full court; 3 or 5 judges sit for other cases; judges are appointed for 6 years and can serve an additional 6 years; 11 Advocates General assist the judges (the AGs research and publicly present legal points); ECJ hears cases under which the members states have failed to fulfil its obligations set by treaties; hears preliminary rulings and ensures that EU laws are implemented in all member states; case precedents are non-binding; wide use of the purposive approach; judges deliberate in secret and decide by majority (if necessary; cases are presented on paper due to the wide number of languages.European Parliament – MEPS (members of the EP) are selected for a period of 5 years; number of MEPs per country depends on its population size; total of 751 MEPs; grouped by parties, not countries; MEPs meet in the EP once a month for about a week; co-legislative role with the Council; decide international agreements, decide whether to admit a new member state, review the Commissions work programme and ask it to propose legislation; can remove members; when not in the EP, MEPs sit on different standing committees to discuss Commission proposals and report them to the EP to be debated. Explanatory notes – a type of extrinsic aids; not part of the statute itself; written by the government department responsible for the Act once the Act has been given Royal Assent.Express malice – this is an intention to kill; to wilfully and with premeditation intend to cause harm to another; R v Huntley (2001).Extrinsic aids – modern statutes contain a definition section explaining the meaning of key words used in a statute; extrinsic aids include the Interpretation Act 1978, dictionaries, the Human Rights Act 1998, Law Commission reports, Hansard, official government papers, publications of (insider) pressure groups and explanatory notes.FFactual causation proves criminal liability; in order for D to be liable his conduct must be the cause of that consequence + it was the legal cause of that consequence; D factually performed the physical element of the crime, but for D’s actions, the consequence would not have happened; use of ‘but for’ test [R v Pagett (1902) and R v White (1910)].Fines – issued by the Magistrates Court, can be unlimited; biggest problem with them is that a number of them remain unpaid and the punishment is ineffective; the defendant can then be imprisoned for non-payment, the Courts Act 2003 introduced the idea of discharging fines by unpaid work with the fine being remitted at ?6 per hour of unpaid work; the aim of sentencing is reparation.First Reading – a formal procedure during which the name of the Bill is read out and no discussions or votes take place. First-tier Tribunals – hear most social welfare cases in the first instance; divided into seven chambers: Social Entitlement, General Regulatory, Taxation, Land/Property/Housing, Asylum/Immigration and Health/Education/Social Care.Following a precedent – when a judge decides that a relevant past precedent can be used in a present case.Foreman – the speaker of the jury (chosen by the jury); he/she announces the verdict.Formalised settlement contract – a formal process of a ‘mini trial’; each sides presents a case to a panel of decisions making executives representing each side and a neutral mediator; the executives and the mediator will try to evaluate the two sides and reach an agreement.GGeneral malice – in some cases D may not have a specific V in mind (e.g. in terrorism); MR is applied to the injured V and in general in ernment – includes only democratically elected representatives (Members of Parliament). Golden rule – a rule of statutory interpretation, which developed because the literal rule led to absurdities and repugnant decisions; only used after the literal rule has failed; narrow approach (looks at the different possible meanings of a work/phrase and chooses the one that is least likely to cause absurdities, ex: R v Allen 1872); broad (may change the whole meaning of the word to avoid repugnant decisions, ex: Re Sigsworth 1935).Green paper – a consultative document issued by the government, which puts forward proposals for a law reform; the Government, private individuals, companies, organisations can think of new ideas for laws; serves as a consulting document).Grievous Bodily Harm or Wounding – s20 and s18 of the Offences Against the Person Act (1861); maximum punishment under s20 is 5 years in prison, and under s18 – life sentence; Grievous Bodily Harm or Wounding (s20) – also known as s20 offence from the Offences Against the Person Act (1861) [OAPA (1861)]; less serious (compared to s18); AR = to ‘inflict’ grievous bodily harm or wound V; MR = intentionally or recklessly realising the risk of some harm; e.g. fractured skull, broken leg/arm, serious psychiatric harm, culminative ABH.Grievous Bodily Harm or Wounding (s18) – s18 from the OAPA; AR = to cause grievous bodily harm or wounding V; BUT it can also be resisting or preventing arrest; MR = prove intention to cause GBH/wounding + when avoiding arrest, intention or recklessness, must be proven as to causing some harm! Under s20 GBH/wounding must be inflicted by D. Under s18 GBH/wounding must be caused by D.HHansard – extrinsic aid; official report of what was said in Parliament when the Act was debated; ex: used in Davis Johnson 1979 (interpretation of the Domestic Violence and Matrimonial Proceedings Act 1976).High Court – a court, which deals with more serious civil law cases; larger amounts of money; a judge will try the case.High Court Judges – superior judges; try cases of first instance (never been tried before) on their own; hear witness evidence, decide what the law is and make the decision as to which side has won the case; decide how much should be awarded to the wining claimant in claims for damages; hear County Court appeals; High Court judges in the QBD division hear criminal appeals from the Magistrate’s Court by a special case stated method (appeals only); two judges hear appeals; also known as ‘puisne’ judges.Horizontal Direct Effect – directive has not yet been implemented => individuals cannot claima gainst each other [Frankovich v Italian Republic (1991)]; connected to the implementation of EU directives.House of Commons – the lower house of the legislature; 641 constituencies => 641 democratically elected MPs; Speaker of the Commons is neutral and establishes order; the Masters at Arms keeps order and escorts people out of the Chamber, carries a weapon, which shall be put on a hook; the seats are green; the distance between the benches is two swords wide; if it rejects a Bill it does not become an Act of Parliament and is not further debated. House of Lords – upper house of the legislature; c. 750 Lords; 92 hereditary (inherit title) + the 26 most senior Bishops of the Anglican Church + life peers (appointed); gold throne in the middle of the House of Lords on which sits the Queen; the seats are red; may veto laws; serves as a check on the House of Commons. House of Lords (statute creation) – the same stages of statute making in the House of Commons are repeated in the House of Lord, if any amendments are made the Bill is returned to the Commons and vice versa (the process is likewise ping pong); during the Third Reading in the House of Lords the whole chamber sits together and debates the Bill – it accepts or rejects it. Hybrid Bill – a Bill, which is introduced by the government; it is a combination between a Private and Public Bill; ex: various Crossrail Bills.IImplied malice – malice is implied when no considerable provocation appears, or when the circumstances attending the killing show an abandoned and malignant heart; R v Vickers (1957)Immunity from trial – judges are given immunity from prosecution for any acts they carry out in performance of their judicial function; allows judges to perform his duties without a fear of repercussions; superior judges cannot be sued for their decisions.Incapacitation – an aim of sentence that should serve a useful purpose, either for the defendant or for society; by incapacitating the defendant he is unable to re-offend again; examples: death penalty (most severe and irreversible sentence) and prison sentence (slightly less extreme measure).Inchoate offence – this type of offences is concerned with the preparation of another criminal offence; enables the police to prevent a crime and still be able to prosecute D; for D to be charged with such an offence, this must be done in conjunction with the main offence; D can be guilty of inchoate offences even if it was impossible for him to complete the actual offence; ex: conspiracy, encouraging and assisting offences Independence from case – judges must not try any cases where they have a particular interest in.Independence from the executive – superior judges cannot be dismissed by the government, can make decisions which may displace the government without the threat of dismissal; can make decisions which may displease the government without the threat of being dismissed.Independence from the legislature – judges are generally not involved into Parliament; judiciary was separated from the legislature after the creation of the Supreme Court in 2009; independence results in fairness. Indictable offences – these are the most serious offences; they are tried in the Crown court (go there from the Magistrates) and include rape, murder, robbery.Indirect intention (oblique intention) – D did not desire the result but should have foreseen it was likely to happen; R v Woollin (1999); for murder D should have foreseen that in performing the act it was a ‘virtual certainty’ that the death or serious injury of the victim would occur. Inferior courts – known as Trial courts + courts of first instance, include the Crown, Magistrates and Country courts, bound to the precedents se by higher courts; cannot create precedent; follow the decisions of the ECJ, Supreme Court and Appeal Court. Injunction – an official legal order carried out by a judge/jury prohibiting/allowing something to be done.Intoxication – a defence with 4 possibilities:Involuntary Intoxication (II) and Specific Intent Crimes – covers situations where D is unaware that he is taking an intoxicating substance, e.g. a soft drink ‘laced’/‘spiked’ with drugs/alcohol or when a prescribed drug has the unexpected effect of making D intoxicated and D doesn’t realised its effect;Involuntary Intoxication and Basic Intent Crimes – if involuntarily intoxicated, D will not be guilty of a basic intent crime as he has not been reckless in becoming intoxicated; also true if D does not know the effect of an intoxicating substance;Voluntary Intoxication (VI) and Specific Intent Crimes – VI can negate the mens rea for a specific intent offence => D having become intoxicated might make D unable to form the required MR for an offence; and Voluntary Intoxication and Basic Intent Crimes – VI will not be a defence to basic intent crimes.Injustice – the failure of the judicial system to establish the authority of the rule of lawInterpretation section – outlines the different interpretations of a word/phrase; this is an intrinsic aid to statutory interpretation, so consequently is found within a statute.Insanity – following R v M’Naghten (1843), insanity is a defect of reason from a disease of the mind so that D does not know the nature and quality of what he is doing or that what he is doing is wrong.Institutional racism – when an institution or organisation shows racist tendencies.Intention – ‘highest’ level of MR and can sometimes be called specific intention; two types: direct and indirect.Interests of Justice – used to check if D can qualify for funding in criminal cases; the following categories qualify: 1) D would potentially lose liberty/livelihood, or suffer serious damage to his reputation; 2) Case will consider a point of law; 3) individual is unable to understand proceedings; 4) Case may involve tracing, interviewing or expert cross-examination of witness; 5) It is in the interests of the other person that D is represented.Interpretation Act 1978 – an extrinsic aid; this Act contains the meanings of words which will be used in many statutes; section 6 says that unless otherwise stated, all words which appear in the singular will include the plural form, and ‘he’ will also refer to, and include ‘she’.Interpretation definition sections – intrinsic aids that explain the meaning of key words used in a statute; ex: Law Reform (Year and a Day Rule) Act 1996.Intrinsic aids – internal aids that help a judge find the purpose or meaning of a word or phrase in a statute by using the statute itself; intrinsic aids include the long title/preamble, definition sectors, interpretation sectors, explanatory notes, schedules, marginal notes and headings.JJudge – a legal person, who enforces law and suggests that an appeal can be made to another court; protects the authority of the law and ensures our laws are not abused; powers in a criminal trial: sets a date for the trial, sets a venue for the trial, makes a timetable by which certain things should be done; can arrange bail, decides issues of law; keeps court order; listens to evidence; applies relevant statues follows binding precedents, decides sentence (if D is found guilty), sumps up facts of the case and evidence to the jury, passes a sentence often in a separate hearing; advises jury on relevant issues of law, powers include issuing a fine or community orders or deciding whether the sentence is correct, decides whether the decision of the jury will stand or decide to change the jury’s decision; when cases are appealed, he considers new evidence and any points of lawpowers in a civil trial: helps parties prepare for the trial and advises on ADR, sets a timetable by which certain things must be done (e.g. exchanging witness statements), holds meetings between the parties to check everything is on track and makes any necessary changes to the timetable, sets a date for the trial, sets a venue for the trial, presides over court, hears evidence, decides legal issues, applies relevant statutes, follows precedents, weights up the evidence and comes to an unbiased, independent decision in favour of one of the parties, if D is liable the judge makes an order/compensation/injunction/parties to behave in a certain way; if the case is appealed the judge reviews the liability of D/the amount of compensation by considering points of lawJudicial precedents – decisions made by senior courts in the court hierarchy which must be followed when a case raising the same point of law reaches a lower court; develops case law.Judicial Review – delegated legislation can be challenged in the High Court QBD through the process of Judicial Review, on the ground that it is ultra vires or that it is unreasonable. Judgement – a speech made by the judge at the end of each case, it may be recorded (written record).Jurisdiction – the official power to make legal decisions and judgements. Jurors - a jury is a group of 12 citizens (aged 18-75 inclusive, registered as a parliamentary or local government voter and ordinarily residents in the UK/Channel Islands/Isle of man for at least 5 years after their 13th birthday), who are summoned to court to serve as arbiter of facts in criminal cases and decide the verdict (guilty or not guilty); jurors swear in the Holy Book or the Queen to give a fair verdict.Jury disqualifications – a person is disqualified from jury service if he has been sentenced to imprisonment for life, detention or custody for life + detention during Her Majesty’s pleasure (prison) or during the pleasure of the Secretary of State (a young offender’s institute) + imprisonment for public protection or detention for public protection + an extended sentence + a term of imprisonment of five years or more or a term of detention for 5 years or more; if someone is currently on bail or criminal proceedings; if a disqualified person fails to disclose the fact and turns up for jury service he can be fined up to ?5,000; people with mental illnesses that reside in institutions/are under guardianship/been determined by a judge for being incapable of administering his property and affairs are also disqualified. Jury disqualifications for 10 years – if at any time for the last 10 years served a sentence of imprisonment; if at any time in the last 10 years had a suspended sentence passed on them; if at any time in the last 10 years had a community order or other community sentence passed on them; if a disqualified person fails to disclose the fact and turns up for jury service he can be fined up to ?5,000; blind and deaf people could not be jurors. Jury excusals – the following people are disqualified: pharmacists and doctors, members of the (army) forces (do their civic duty).Jury selection – a Crown Court official arranges for the juror’s names to be selected at random from electoral registers; a juror is typically called to serve for 2 weeks (some trials can go further than that and the jurors are asked whether they are able to participate); jury summons are sent out to those people whose names have been selected; jurors sit and hear evidence in court, go to deliberate in the so-called jury room and then come up with a ‘guilty’ or ‘not guilty’ verdict.Jury qualifications – no special/proficient law education is needed; in order to become a juror a person needs to be aged 18-75, needs to be registered as a parliamentary or local government elector and needs to be an ordinary resident in the UK, the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man for at least 5 years since their thirteenth birthday.Justices of the Supreme Court – superior judges; hear about 100 cases annually (appeals); usually hear a majority of civil cases; hear cases appealed only on a point of general public importance and have complicated technical areas of law (e.g. planning or tax law); sit at an uneven number panel (min. 7 judges); create binding precedents; highest ranked judge is called Dame Brenda Hale.K‘Knee-jerk reaction’ – a rapid government response; risk of no scrutinising and poor law drafting; e.g. the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 = failed because of wording and there were thousands of dog attacks LLaw – a set of written laws, which guide the behaviour of an individual or society. Law Commission – an independent body of legal experts that suggests areas of law that need reforming. They can choose to research an area themselves or they can be asked to do so by the government; established in 1965 under the Law Commission Act; includes a Chairman (a High Court Judge) and four other Law Commissioners; its brief is the following: ‘systematic development and reform’, codification and repeal; firstly, a topic is chosen by the Commission or referred by the government then the Law Commission researches the law, after that the Law Commission issues a consultative paper and lastly it issues the final report. Law Commission reports – extrinsic aids of statutory interpretation; may be referred to in order to discover the mischief that the legislation based on the report was seeking to deal with; ex: DPP v Bull 1994. Law Reports – a record of judgements, types: Lexis, weekly and monthly Law Reports.Law Society – the governing body of solicitors; promotes and represents all solicitors; ensures no one is above the law and everyone has access to justice; function of the voice of solicitors in appropriate government departments; raises the profile of the profession.Lay magistrates – unpaid, part-time judges who have no legal qualifications and hear cases in the Magistrates’ Court; need to have the following qualifications: a good character, understanding and communication, social awareness, maturity and sound temperament, sound judgement, commitment and reliability; appointed aged 18-65 and retire at the age of 70; appointed by the Lord Chief Justice on recommendations by local advisory committees; anyone can apply and people undergo three stages of training; pass 2 rounds of interviews; include members of ethnic minorities and 53% of the magistrates are women; can be removed for misbehaviour, failure to meet characteristics and neglecting their duty.Lay magistrates’ clerical advisor – this is a senior clerk, who must have been a qualified barrister/solicitor for at least 5 years; not meant to assist in the decision making and should reture with the magistrates when they got to make their decision; deals with routine administrative matters; can issue warrants for arrest, extend a police bail, adjourn criminal proceedings and deal with Early Administrative Hearing.Lay magistrates training – 3 stages (training for new magistrates, training sessions and appraisals); training for new magistrates involves introductory training, core training and activities => all these are aimed at teaching the magistrates administrative work, responsibilities, different organisations, as well as developing their skills and knowledge, activities include observations of court sittings; training sessions develop the process of ‘wingering’; appraisals are held to check whether he magistrate has acquired competences Lead Prosecution barrister – he stands below the Director of Public Prosecutions.Leapfrog appeal – when a case is directly appealed from the High Court to the Supreme Court.Legal aid – legal funding for cases; unavailable for civil cases under the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offences Act 201; higher chances of availability in criminal cases.Legal causation – D’s conduct was legally wrong; D must be the operative + substantial cause of harm + there must be so new intervening act to break the chain of events.Legal Ombudsman(woman) – deals with complaints about the handling of complaints in the legal profession; can order a legal professional to apologise to the client, return documents to the client, put things right if possible, refund or reduce legal fees, pay a compensation up to ?30,000.Legal Services Board – oversees the regulation of Barristers, Solicitors and Legal executives.Legislative and Regulatory Reform Act 2006 – sets procedure for making statutory instruments, which are aimed at repealing an existing law in order to remove a ‘burden’; any minister making a statutory instrument under the powers of this act must consult various people and organisations; includes three types of regulations: negative, affirmative and super affirmative.Lexis – an online record of Law Reports.Literal rule – a way of statutory interpretation in which judges use the pain, ordinary and dictionary meaning of a word/phrase that is included in the statute; may lead to absurdities and repugnant decisions; ex: LNER v Berriman (1946).Litigants – a party engaged in a lawsuit.Lobbying – when pressure groups gather in ‘lobbies’ and try to persuade individuals MPs to support their cause or raise a particular issue.Local Advisory Committees – they are responsible for selecting suitable candidates for the magistracy; all names of the 12 members must be officially published; have regards to the composition of local benches (numbers needed to process the work, balance of gender, ethnic status, geographical spread, occupation and social background); they make advertisements for becoming a magistrate.Long (or short) title – an intrinsic aid that may be referred to as a guidance when interpreting the purpose of the statute, ex: Abortion Act 1967 in RCN v DHSS 1981Lord Justices of Appeal – superior judges; sit in both CA divisions and hear appeals.; have a heavier workload than the SC Justices; have over 7,000 applications of appeals against sentence or conviction annually; sit on their own to hear applications, but in a panel of 3 to hear cases; could be a panel of 5 in rare occasions; hear 1,800 criminal and 3,000 civil appeals yearly; may find appeals against the finding of liability or an appeal about the remedy awarded, e.g. the amount of money given as damages; create binding precedents.Loss of control – a special and partial defence that can reduce a murder conviction to voluntary manslaughter; set out in s.54 (1) of the Coroners and Justice Act 2009; to have a defence of loss of control, D kills due to having lost self-control, the loss of self-control had a qualifying trigger and a person of D’s sex and age, would have reacted in the same way as D under the same circumstances.NB! For more details check out the Loss of Control file in the ‘Learning Materials’ section.Lord Chief Justice – most senior judge, who is responsible for making appointments of judges. MMagistrates’ Court – a court which deals with less serious criminal law cases.Mandatory life sentence – D serves a minimum of 15 years in prison.Manifesto – a collection of a party’s policies, which is introduced, for example, before elections.Manslaughter – ?the crime of killing somebody illegally but not deliberately.Master at Arms – keeps order and escorts people out of the Chamber; carries a weapon, which shall be put on a hook.Master of Rolls – president of the CA and is in charge of laws made by judges.Means tests – a way of proving that a person applying for legal aid lacks finances; if a person is receiving universal credit or income-based job seekers allowance, they automatically qualify; means tests consider disposable income and disposable capital.Means tests (Magistrates’ Court) – used to check if D will either be eligible or ineligible for funding; automatic qualification: people under 16 or under 18 + people in full-time education automatically qualify; low income levels.Means tests (Crown Court) – no income limit, thus most defendants can receive legal aid; if D is found guilty he may have to pay extra from his capital (if found not guilty, he will be refunded)Mediation – a form of ADR, where the two sides use a neutral third person in a dispute to help parties come to a compromise solution; the mediator (third person) cannot express his ow opinion, but can guide the two sides towards reaching an agreement.Mediator – a neutral third person helping the parties in a mediation dispute resolution to reach a compromised solution; disputes their solutions back and forth; offers solution to the parties until the problem is resolved; acts as a ‘facilitator’: the mediator does not offer their own opinion, but guides the two parties to reaching an agreement. Mens rea (MR) – mental element of a crime; MR means ‘guilty mind; each offence has its own MR except cases of strict liability; divided into intention, subjective recklessness, negligence.Minimal years of a life sentence – Crown courts may award a life sentence with the minimum years to be spent in prison being 15. Mischief rule – a rule of statutory interpretation that looks back to the gap in the previous law and interprets the Act so as to cover the gap (1. What was the common law before the Act was passed by Parliament? 2. What was the mischief and the defect for which the common law did not provide? 3. What remedies were made so as to cure the commonwealth? 4. What was the purpose of the remedy?); ex: Smith v Hughes 1960; LCN v DHSSMitigating factors – they make a sentence less harsh; include pleading guilty on 1st Instance, mental illnesses, helping the victim, dependence (children, sick people), age of defendant, being a primary carer, showing remorse.Monarch – either a King or a Queen (Rex or Regina); opens and closes the Parliament, allowed only in the House of Lords; giver Royal Assent on Bills, and thus approves them. Murder – the unlawful killing of a reasonable human in being under the Queen’s [King’s] peace with malice aforethought, express or implied; to be unlawful D’s act/omission must cause the death; a ‘reasonable creature in being’ is everyone with an ‘existence independent of the mother’ and not brain-stem dead and on life-support machines (if doctors switch off a life-support machine, they cannot be held liable for the death of the patient); the killing of an enemy in the course of war is not murder, hence it is not ‘under the Queen’s peace’NB! Check the separate terms for express and implied maliceNNegative resolutions – a minister recommends that a procedure should be used; it will be used unless within 30 days one of the Houses of Parliament objects to this; BUT if the negative resolution procedure is adopted, the delegated legislation will not become law until it has been laid before Parliament for 40 days.Negligence – lowest level of MR.Negotiation – a form of ADR; the process of trying to come to an agreement; cheap and quick process; can be done in private; unless the two sides cannot come to an agreement, they can use solicitors (inclusion of costs).Novus Actus Interveniens – new intervening act; in order for D to be liable, an unbroken chain of events must be established from D’s conduct to the consequence; events which take place between D’s conduct are known new intervening act; an intervening at will only break the chain of causation if it is 1) sufficiently independent of the defendant’s actions 2) Serious enough to break the chain of causation; e.g. act of a third party, V’s own actions, natural but unpredictable event (flood, earthquake, tsunami, heart attack)OObiter dicta – everything else said in a judgement, it sets a persuasive precedent.Omission – failure to act; in general no individual is obliged to act unless he/she has a duty.On license – when you are released from prison earlier than your sentence ends/before schedule. Online Court – in 2016 Lord Briggs proposed for the creation of ‘an Online Court for claims up to ?25,000’; this would allow litigants to effectively access justice without having to pay costs to use lawyers; the following can achieve the creation of the Online Court: 1) a largely automated, interactive online process for the identification of the issues and the provision of documentary evidence; 2) conciliation and case management carried out by case managers and 3) unless the case is resolved by the previous stage there will be a resolution by a judge; the Online Court would use documents on screen, telephone video or face-to-face meetings according to the needs of each case; intention is to deal with cases more quickly and less costly; hopefully the Court will start operating by 2020.‘On the balance of probabilities’ – civil law cases have to be proven at a much lower standard of proof, where the judge decides who is more likely to be right. Orders in Council – made by the Queen and the Privy Council; the Civil Contingencies Act 2004 enables them to make Orders in council in emergencies; allows government to make laws without going to Parliament; e.g. the Misuse of Drugs act 1971.Original precedent – a decision on a point of law that has not been decided before, thus they form new precedents for future cases to follow; ex: Donoghue v Stevenson.Overruling (of cases) – where a court in a later case states legal rule decided in an earlier case is wring; ex: R v Shivpuri 1868.PParliament – includes the House of Commons, House of Lords and Her Majesty – the Queen.Parliamentary supremacy (sovereignty) – Parliament is above everything; according to Dicey Parliament can legislate on any subject matter, no Parliament can be bound by any decisions of a previous Parliament and no other body has the right to override or set aside an Act of Parliament.Per incurium – an error.Persuasive precedent – when a decision should not necessarily be followed, but the judge decides to use it; ex: R v R.Practice statement – a written document, which allowed courts to depart form their previous decisions; only can be done under two circumstances: 1) if there is an error (per incurium) and 2) if ‘it appears (morally) right to do so’; firstly used in 1966 in the case of ‘Conway v Rimmer 1968’; first major use in a civil case was in ‘Herriman v BRB 1972’; first major use in a criminal case was in ‘R v Shivpuri 1986’; was not used by the SC in ‘Austin v Borough of Southwalk 2010’ (strengthen certainty in law); Preamble – an intrinsic aid; older statutes have a preamble, which is a statement before the main body of the Act that sets out the aims or purposes of the statute; ex: Climate and Sustainable Energy Act 2006.Pre-sentence reports – they give judges all case information.Pressure groups – there are four different types of groups: 1) sectional – represent the interests of a particular group of people; 2) cause – promote a particular cause (e.g. Greenpeace); 3) insider and 4) outsider – insider groups are the most influential and have a direct impact on the government; the outsider are the least; an example of an insider pressure group is the British Medical Association.Private Bill – a Bill, which is introduced on behalf of private individuals/companies/organisations; ex: University Colleges of London Act 1966.Private members’ Bill – a Bill, which is introduced by the backbenchers (less influential MPs); it is either introduced via a ballot (20 private members are selected on each parliamentary session, who take turns and present a Bill; due to lack of time only the first few have a chance of introducing a Bill) or the 10-minute rule (a backbencher has 10 minutes to present a Bill; ex: Bail Act 1993); ex: Abortion Act 1967, Marriage Act 1994, Household Waste Recycling Act 2003.Privy Council – made up of the Prime Minister and other leading members of the government; can advise the Queen.Procedural ultra vires – this is where the courts hold that delegated legislation is ultra vires because the correct procedure has not been followed; e.g. Aylesbury Mushroom case (1972) and R v SSEE, ex parte NUT (2000).Prosecution – groups of people bringing the action against the defendant in crime.Prosecution barrister – presents the evidences and calls witnesses.Prosecutor – the legal term for the person or organisation bringing a criminal charge against a defendant.Public Bill – a Bill that is introduced by the government and; it affects the whole society or a big part of it; ex: Legal Services Act 2007, Legal Aid Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012; Criminal Justice and Courts Act 2015.Punctuation – an intrinsic aid; statutes are usually written with limited punctuation so that interpretation can be left open; may affect the meanings of words as in Hanlon v Law Society 1981.Pupillage – a trainee barrister becomes a pupil to a qualified barrister for 1 year; ‘on the job training’; shadowing a barrister as their pupil; 1 placement for 12 months or 2 placements for 6 months each,Purposive approach – a rule of statutory interpretation that finds the intention of Parliament when passing a statute; most favoured rule and is used by the EU; ex: Jones v Tower Boot Co LTD.QQCs – more senior barristers; ‘talking silk’; usually earn more than judges.Qualification as a barrister – A-Levels (2 years) + LLB Diploma + join one of four Inns of Court (Inner Temple, Middle Temple, Gray’s Inn, Lincoln’s Inn) + pass Bar Professional Training Course [case preparation and legal research, written skills, opinion writing (written advice), drafting documents, conference skills (intervening clients), negotiating, advocacy] + pupillageQualifying as a Legal Executive – complete GCSEs + apply as a trainee + PHDL examinations + work in a solicitor’s firm/another legal organisation (e.g. CPS or local government) for 5 years join CILEXQualifying as a solicitors – A-Levels (2 years) + LLB Law degree (3 years) + Conversion course (1 year, if not done a Law Degree) + Legal Practice Course (1 year) + Training contract (2 years) + join the Law Society; everyone willing to become a solicitors must study the 7 LLB subjects (Tort, Crime, Contract, Land, Trusts and Equity, Family, Crime).Questioning government ministers – individual minister may be questioned my MPs in Parliament on the work of their departments; can include questions about proposed regulations. RRatio dicidendi – the reason for the decision found in a judgement, creates the binding precedent; problems: it may be time-consuming, outdated, ambiguous, may have misunderstandings and might decide the reason as something else. Reasoning by analogy – if there are no precedents for a judge to base his decision on, a judge will look at similar precedents and decide whether to use them.Recklessness – lower level of mens rea that intention; taking of an unjustifiable risk; case of Cunningham (1957) established the principle of subjective recklessness.Recorders – part-time inferior judges, who are appointed for 5 years; mainly used in criminal cases, but can be used in civil trials as well; must have been barristers or solicitors for at least 7 years. Regina/Rex – Queen/King, criminal law cases are stated as the following: R v (surname of person).Rehabilitation – an aim of sentencing that is concerned with reforming the offender so as to break the pattern of illegal behaviour; most forward-looking; hopes to reduce crime so the offender will not re-offend again; ex: community sentence.Remedies – means with which a court of law (usually exercising a civil jurisdiction) enforces a right, imposes a penalty, or makes another court order to impose its will.Reparation – an aim of sentence that is victim focused; aimed at repaying the victim of a crime, either by ordering the defendant to pay the victim a sum of money, ordering the defendant to return stolen property, or even arranging the defendant to meet the victim; ex: community sentence.Retribution – an aim of sentencing based on the idea of punishment; it is the most backward-looking and does not seek to reform the offender or prevent crime in general; it aims to punish the defendant proportionally to his crime; ex: prison sentence.Rule of law – it exists when the government’s powers are limited and citizens have a core of rights that the government are bound to uphold; the rule of law safeguards society against dictatorship by supporting the principles of democracy; it has three main principles: 1. No person shall be sanctioned except in accordance with the law (both criminal and civil law cases); 2. There should be equality before the law and no discrimination of any grounds shall be made; 3. There should be fairness in the clarity of the law; we should be guided by the rule of law – nobody is above the law; applies to everyone; binds together society and state; laws must take effect I the future; laws must be transparent.Report Stage – if any amendments have been made in the Committee Stage they are reported, debated and accepted/rejected; if no amendments have been made the Bill automatically goes to the Third Reading Stage. Robbery – stealing, and immediately before or at the time of doing so, and in order to do so, using force on any person or putting or seeking to put any person in fear of being then and there subjected to violence; set in s.8 of the Theft Act 1968; we must have a complete theft first in order this to be followed by robbery; if one theft element is missing, then we can’t have the offence of robbery; in order for the offence to be robbery, force must be present (even if minimal) at all costs; the punishment for robbery is maximum life imprisonment.Royal Assent – a formal approval of a Bill by the monarch; the last time a Royal Assent was declined was in 1707 when Queen Anne declined to approve the Scottish Militia Bill. SSchedules – intrinsic aids, which are additions to the main body of an Act; they can sometimes be referred to in order to make sense of the main text so that a judge can understand the statute; ex: Hunting Act 2004.Scrutiny Committee – formed in 1973; reviews all statutory instruments and (if necessary) draws the attention of both Houses of Parliament to points that need further consideration; grounds for referring a statutory instrument back to the Houses of Parliament are-it imposes a tax or charge – this is because only an elected body has such a right-it appears to have retrospective effect which was not provided for by the Enabling Act-it appears to have gone beyond the powers given under the enabling legislation-makes some unusual or unexpected use of those powers-it is unclear or defective in some way;BUT 1) the review is only technical and is limited to the five points set above 2) even if the Committee discovers breach of one of these points, the Committee discovers a breach of one of these points, the Committee cannot alter the regulations or stop them from becoming law, the Committee can only draw the attention of Parliament to the matter.Second Reading – this is the main debate over the primary principles of a Bill; MPs vote by saying ‘Aye’ or ‘No’; if the verbal vote cannot be determined the MPs leave the chamber and whilst entering it come through two doors – there are ‘tellers’ at the doors, who make a record of the votes; the tellers present the final vote to the Speaker. Security of tenure – judges cannot be dismissed by the government; can only be removed by the monarch following a petition presented by her to both Houses of Parliament; protection from political whims.Solicitors – legal personnel, who give clients advice on legal issues, interview clients, negotiate on behalf of clients, write letters on behalf of clients, draft contracts/legal documents/wills, deal with conveyancing, create a brief for the barrister, specialise in a particular area, prepare case, do all administrative work. Solicitors Regulation Authority – handles complaints about professional misconduct of solicitors; investigates complaints; refers complaints to the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal; can suspend (for a certain period of time, solicitors can continue working after it) / strike off (no longer a solicitor); can reprimand the solicitor; can uphold the complaint; can issue a fine.Specific intent offences – crimes where D requires the mens rea of intention (direct and indirect) only to be criminally liable; examples include wounding with intent, robbery, theft, GBH s.18 and s.20 OAPA 1861, murder.Standard of proof – how much evidence you need in order to prove someone is guilty or not guilty (acquitted)/liable or not liable.Stare decisis et non quita movere – stay by what has been decided and do not unsettle the established (regards judicial precedents); the binding rule of law, hierarchy of courts and law reports ensure the principle of stare decisis.State of affairs – when D participates in an involuntary act; situation D finds themselves in and it does not look at the MR of the crime, but primarily at the AR.Statute – a written law passed by a legislative body.Statute creation (advantages) – statute creation is made by elected representatives, thus it is democratic; each section of a Bill is thoroughly scrutinised; whole areas of law can be reformed in one Act (e.g. Fraud Act 2006); Acts of Parliament can set broad policies and give the power to others to make detailed regulations (delegated legislation); consultations are made on any proposed law changes; law made by Parliament is certain as it cannot be challenged under the doctrine of parliamentary supremacy.Statute creation (disadvantages) – representatives in the House of Lords are appointed, therefore this is undemocratic; statute creation is a very time-consuming process and it is usually prolonged, Parliament does not always have enough time to deal with ‘lawyers’ law’ (criminal law or law of contract; ex: law on assaults and other offences against the person); little time for presenting Private member’s Bills; Acts of Parliament are long and complex => difficult to understand. Statute law – legal written acts created by Parliament, which are officially defined (if not defined = common law); an Act of Parliament, which has been passed through both the House of Commons and the House of Lords and received a Royal Assent; can create, change or revoke any law; examples: theft (Theft Act 1968), computer hijacking, in-vitro fertilisation.Statutory instruments – rules and regulations made by government ministers; each minister is responsible for a different government department; e.g. the Code of Practice under PACE.Statutory interpretation – this is the way judges interpret a certain word/phrase used in a statute; sometimes words/phrases have ambiguous meanings or are a broad term; there may be drafting errors or new inventions, as well as changes in the use of language.Strict liability – offence where D is guilty because he/she did the AR; no need to prove MR.Subjective recklessness – when D does not intended to cause harm nor had he taken a risk he new about.Summary offences – these are the least serious type of offences; they are tried in the Magistrates Court; ex: common assaults, shoplifting for ?200+ and criminal damage for less than ?5000.Superior Courts – include the ECJ, the Supreme, the Courts of Appeal (criminal and civil), the QBD, Family and Chancery courts.Super-affirmative resolution procedure – the minister has regards to any representation, any HofP resolutions and any recommendations by a committee asked to report on a draft order of either HofP.Supreme Court – created in October, 2009; highest court of appeal in the UK, bound only to the decisions of the ECJ; Dame Brenda Hale is the most senior judge in the UK, created by the Constitutional Reform Act 2005Swearing in a jury – formal process of a juror promising to trial the defendant fairly and according to the evidences resented; two types: religious (swearing in the Holy Book) and non-religious (swearing in the name of the Queen)TTechnical lawyers – they write statutes, or the speech for the judge’s judgement.Theft – a conduct crime (action of committing the offence is the crime) set out in s.1 of the Theft Act 1968; a person if guilty of theft when he dishonestly appropriates property belonging to another, with the intention of permanently depriving him of it; maximum punishment is up to 7 years imprisonment.Third Reading – this is a formal procedure during which the Bill is unlikely to fail, however it at least 6 MPs request it can be further debated in the House of Commons.Transferred malice – D with the MR of one particular crime performs the AR of that same crime but in a different way than intended, victims must be of the same kind (e.g. two people, not a window and a person).Triable-either-way-offences – medium class offences that are tried in either the Magistrates or Crown Court (the defendant chooses where to be tried); ex: ABH (s.47) and theft.Tribunal Judge – a legally qualified person, who hears cases in the First-Tier Tribunals; can hear the cases with two lay people.Tribunals – a form of ADR; they are outside of the court system (do not go to courts); firstly established to give people a method on enforcing their entitlement to certain social rights (e.g. right to work-free from discrimination); legally binding; e.g. Administrative, Domestic, Employment, First-tier and Upper tier.Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Act 2007 – created a unified structure with two main tiers for all tribunals.UUltra vires – Parliament exceeds its powers granted by the Enabling Act; if a delegated legislation is ultra vires, then it is not a valid law.Unlawful act manslaughter (Involuntary manslaughter) – this offence occurs when D does not intend to kill or do grievous bodily harm, but he has committed an unlawful act which has led to the death of V; the four elements which need to be proved are: that the accused had committed an unlawful act; that the act was dangerous in the sense that a sober and reasonable person would inevitably recognise that it carried some risk of harm; that the act was a substantial cause of death; and; that the accused intended to commit the act as distinct from intending its consequenceUnpaid work requirement – the offender must work between 40 and 300 hours on a suitable project organised by the probation service, usually in 8 hour weekend shifts.Upper Tribunals – hear appeals from the first-tier; divided into four Chambers: Asylum, Lands, Administrative Appeals and Tax and Chancery; further appeals can be made to the Court of Appeal, and then to the Supreme CourtV Vertical direct effect – individuals can claim against the state if it has not implemented the directive in time (Marshall v Southampton and Southampton Hampshire AHA); connected to the implementation of EU directives.Vetting – the sustainability of judges in a list is checked either by the prosecution or by the defence; there are two types of vetting: police check [made on prospective jurors to eliminate those, who are disqualified, ex: R v Mason (1980)] and wider background check (on the political affiliations; vetting can only be carried under the Attorney General’s permission and be used only in exceptional cases e.g. terrorist cases or national security cases where information is given to camera).Victim – person in a case, whose rights have been affected; often abbreviated to V.WWhite paper - a document issued by the government stating how they are going to reform the law; official law reform proposal.Wingering – junior magistrates sit on the two sides of an experienced magistrate and hold a trial.Wounding – breaking the continuity of skin.XYYouth court – it is within the Magistrates Court; deals with cases to do with youth offences and children.Z ................
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