ENGLAND & WALES Law and Practice Contributed by: Damian Taylor, Olga Ladrowska, Lawal Ijaodola and Eleanor Higginson, 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 com- mon law system. The law is derived from both binding judicial decisions and legislation. Leg- islation usually takes precedence over binding judicial decisions if there is any conflict. The legal process in England and Wales is adver- sarial, which means that cases are presented to a judge as disputes between opposing parties. The judge determines cases based on the evi- dence submitted by the litigants (and not his or her own inquiries). The legal process is conducted through both written and oral submissions. Written submis- sions set out key issues in the proceedings; as such, they are particularly important at an early stage in the proceedings. The written plead- ings 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 advoca- cy 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 hier- archical, 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. Criminal cases start in the Magistrates’ Courts or the Crown Courts, both of which 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 complex and higher value cases, typically those involving claims over GBP100,000. It is
divided into three divisions: • 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 business, insolvency, intel- lectual property, trusts, property or land and
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