SQE1 Consolidation: The Legal System of England and Wales and Sources of Law

Comprehensive practice flashcards covering the court structures, criminal offence classifications, doctrine of precedent, and methods of statutory interpretation within the legal system of England and Wales.

Superior courts

Courts with unlimited jurisdiction both geographically and financially that generally try the most important and difficult cases, including the Supreme Court, Court of Appeal, High Court, and Crown Court.

Inferior courts

Courts with limited geographical and financial jurisdiction that deal with less important cases, including the County Court, Magistrates’ courts, and the Family Court.

Trial court

A court that hears cases at first instance (for the first time) and rules on issues of both fact and law.

Appellate court

A court that reconsiders the application of legal principles to a case already heard by a lower court to correct errors of law, fact, or procedure.

Summary only offences

Minor criminal offences, such as driving without insurance or common assault, which must be dealt with in the magistrates’ court.

Indictable only offences

The most serious criminal offences, such as murder or robbery, which can be tried only in the Crown Court in front of a jury.

Either way offences

Offences that may be dealt with in either the magistrates’ court or the Crown Court depending on the seriousness of how they were committed, such as theft.

High Court financial threshold (Civil)

Claims must generally be valued at $£100,000+$ ($£50,000$ for personal injury) to be commenced in the High Court.

Right of audience

The right of a person to appear and conduct proceedings in court.

Ratio decidendi

The central legal reasoning of a case which forms a binding proposition of law for later cases.

Obiter dicta

Statements made by a judge that are unimportant to the outcome, such as dissenting judgments or speculation on hypothetical facts; these are persuasive but not binding.

Per incuriam

A decision made where the court neglected to consider a statutory provision or a binding precedent, serving as an exception to the Court of Appeal binding itself.

Distinguishing

When a court considers a case before it to be different in some material way—on facts or law—from a cited precedent, allowing the court to not follow the earlier case.

Overruling

When a higher court comments on a previous unrelated decision by a lower court and declares it to have been wrong.

Reversing

When a higher court disagrees with the earlier decision of a lower court within the same proceedings.

Literal rule

A method of statutory interpretation where words must be given their plain and ordinary meaning.

Golden rule (narrow)

If a word is capable of more than one meaning, the court chooses the meaning that does not produce an absurd result.

Golden rule (wide)

Where a word has only one meaning, the court interprets it in a way that avoids a result obnoxious to public policy.

Mischief rule

A method where the court considers what defect in the existing law the statute was intended to remedy.

Purposive approach

A method where the court considers the reasons why the statute was passed and its purpose, interpreting the law on that basis.

Intrinsic aids

Internal sources for statutory interpretation, including reading the statute as a whole, interpretation sections, and the long title.

Extrinsic aids

External sources for statutory interpretation, such as dictionaries, other statutes, Hansard, and the Interpretation Acts.

Hansard

The official record of Parliamentary debates, used as an aid to interpretation if a statute is ambiguous and the material consists of clear statements by a Minister.

Practice Statement (HL: Judicial Precedent) [1966] 1 WLR 1234

The authority stating that the Supreme Court (formerly House of Lords) does not bind itself, although it ordinarily follows its own decisions.

Young v Bristol Aeroplane Co Ltd [1944] KB 718

The case that established the rule that the Court of Appeal is bound by its own previous decisions, subject to specific limited exceptions.