The English Legal System - Softcover

Slapper, Gary; Kelly, David

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1859417558 ISBN 13: 9781859417553

Publisher: Routledge-Cavendish, 2003

Since the fifth edition of this book in 2001,The English legal System has undergone many major changes. Human rights cases have altered many aspects of criminal and civil law and legal procedure, the Community Legal Service has developed substantially and there have been significant changes to the law of civil liberties. Changes and proposed changes to the criminal justice system have provoked many important debates on juries, sentencing, police bail powers and hearsay evidence, and there have been many significant case decisions. The working practices of solicitors and barristers have undergone considerable change. Sir Colin Campbell's report on judicial appointments has provoked animated discussion about the changes proposed for the process of selecting judges, and the report of Sir Andrew Leggatt's review of tribunals will change the way the tribunal system works. The effects on the legal system of the Ant-Terrorism, Crime and Security Act 2001, the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 and the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002 have been significant. Cases with an important constitutional and political element such as R v Secretary of State for the Home Department ex p Saad, and R (on the Application of Q) v Secretary of State for the Home Department have been incorporated into the relevant chapters. This new edition digests and assesses all of these changes. It explains what the law is, how the legal system operates and sets the law and system in a social context, presenting a range of critical views on these legal matters. In the preface, the book also charts and comments upon the June 2003 proposals for the UK to abolish the office of the Lord Chancellor and to institute a Supreme Court. The debates are digested in Chapter 1 of the book. Any relevant developments in this area in 2004, as in other areas, will be posted on to the book's companion website.

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From the Back Cover:

A good comprehension of the English legal system requires knowledge and skill in a number of disciplines. The system itself is the result of developments in law, economy, politics, sociological change and the theories which feed all these bodies of knowledge. This book assists students of the English legal system in the achievement of a good understanding of the law, its institutions and processes and sets the law and system in a social context, presenting a range of critical views.

Being proficient in this subject also means being familiar with contemporary changes and proposed changes, and this new edition has been comprehensively revised and updated to take these into account.

Since the last edition of this book, the changes to the English legal system have been major and manifold. This new 8th edition for 2006 includes important changes made to the law and legal system by the Constitutional Reform Act 2005. The book includes a new chapter on The Jury, and analysis of the Prevention of Terrorism Act 2005, the House of Lords decision in A (and others) v The Secretary of State for the Home Department, the continued development of human rights law, and the Court of Appeal case of R v (on the application of Gillan) v Metropolitan Police Commissioner. The edition also includes an updated version of the court system, the rules of civil procedure, developments in the legal profession, publicly funded law, and European law.

About the Author:

Gary Slapper, LLB, LLM, PhD, PGCE (HE), is Professor of Law and Director of the Law Programme, at The Open University. Professor Slapper read Law at University College London, and studied for his doctorate at the London School of Economics. He is UK representative of the International Bar Association's Academics' Forum. He has published widely in academic journals and writes a legal column for The Times.

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