ENGLAND & WALES Law and Practice Contributed by: Damian Taylor, Olga Ladrowska, Christy Conlon and Nathan Barrow, Slaughter and May
Slaughter and May One Bunhill Row London EC1Y 8YY UK
Tel: +44 20 7600 1200 Fax: +44 20 7090 5000 Email: Damian.Taylor@SlaughterandMay.com Web: www.slaughterandmay.com
1. General 1.1 General Characteristics of the Legal System The legal system of England and Wales is a common law system. The law is derived from both binding judi- cial decisions and legislation. Legislation usually takes precedence over binding judicial decisions if there is any conflict. The legal process in England and Wales is adversarial, which means that cases are presented to a judge as disputes between opposing parties. The judge deter- mines cases based on the evidence submitted by the litigants (and not his or her own inquiries). The legal process is conducted through both written and oral submissions. Written submissions set out key issues in the proceedings; as such, they are particu- larly important at an early stage in the proceedings. The written pleadings and skeleton arguments from both sides will be the judge’s first introduction to the case. Written submissions are supplemented by oral advocacy in the courtroom (at trial, oral advocacy includes opening and closing submissions as well as cross-examination of factual and expert witnesses). 1.2 Court System The court system of England and Wales is hierarchi- cal, with lower courts being bound by the decisions of higher courts. The UK Supreme Court is the highest court, followed by the Court of Appeal, High Court and County Court for civil (non-criminal) cases. All criminal cases start in the magistrates’ courts. Cases involving more serious offences are then sent to the
Crown Court. Both the magistrates’ courts and the Crown Court are positioned below the Court of Appeal in the hierarchy. There are also tribunals, which cover specialist matters such as employment, competition and tax law. Civil cases are primarily heard in the County Court or the High Court, depending on the complexity and value of the case. The High Court handles more com- plex and higher value cases, typically those involving claims over GBP100,000. It is divided into three divi- sions:
• the King’s Bench Division; • the Chancery Division; and • the Family Division.
Cases related to contracts and torts (civil wrongs) are generally heard in the King’s Bench Division, while the Chancery Division handles matters concerning busi- ness, insolvency, intellectual property, trusts, proper- ty or land and probate law, among other things. The Family Division deals with cases concerning family law. The Business and Property Courts are specialist courts within the High Court, constituted of several judges from the King’s Bench Division and the Chan- cery Division. These courts handle specialist business and international civil disputes, including cases involv- ing commercial, property, technology and construc- tion law. The basic timetable for proceedings is dictated by the Civil Procedure Rules, but the courts have reason-
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