Essay Example on Roles and responsibilities of the judiciary in the English Legal System

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What are the roles and responsibilities of the judiciary in the English Legal System The definition of judiciary is the section of the government s country which is under obligation for its legal system in conjunction with all the judges in the country's court In the United Kingdom the judiciary are a group of people who apply the law to the facts of the cases before them This essay will outline the purposes and positions of the judiciary in the English Legal System Furthermore it will then consider the responsibilities of the judiciary Independence of judiciary is a significant responsibility to ensure justice is fair however to also make sure its not influenced by any improper purposes This is achieved by the Constitutional Reform Act 2005 now hereafter referred to as the CRA 2005 attempting to encapsulate the protection of judicial independence with factors such as securing independence salary tenure financial issues political issues and judicial immunity Moreover

CRA 2005 places a statutory duty on the government for the need to defend judiciary independence and to support judiciary to enable them to exercise their functions Nonetheless there are also factors which interfere with judicial independence such as the occupation of judges salary and how they re disciplined However the protection of the tenancy of judges are different for different judges For example the superior judges have significant more protection compared to inferior judges such as circuit judges who must retire at the age of 70 but are able to be removed by the Lord Chancellor on the ground of incapacity or misbehaviour Judicial immunity is another important factor to the independence of judiciary which protects judges from re litigating each matter Judicial independence is important to secure that judges solely judge cases from the evidence presented and relevant law as well as applying the law and they must not bring political considerations into the decision but in addition to the judicial independence has long been regarded as a key principle in our constitution

The judiciary are able to interpret the law as it stands effectively with the role of judges The role of the judge is that they must define and interpret the law and parliamentary statutes Furthermore the role of judges is to preside over court proceedings Most importantly to protect the citizens from an overpowering state which is significant role of the judiciary Additionally judges are required to have various qualities as Lord Mackay suggests good sound judgement based upon knowledge of the law a willingness to study all sides of an argument with an acceptable degree of openness an an ability to reach a firm conclusion and to articulate clearly the reasons for the conclusion In addition to this the judiciary has a political role compromising of making sure to interpret the meaning of law when there is conflict to create case law and declare common law Likewise deciding whether punishments are appropriate to the crime and citizens are able to appeal against the government's rights or powers with judicial review House of Lords was the supreme court of appeal for both the criminal and civil cases in the United Kingdom however later on the judicial powers was transferred to the Supreme Court 2009 Judiciary can be divided into three categories namely Senior judiciary most senior roles whom carry with them judicial leadership functions Superior judiciary judges who sit in the higher courts and inferior judiciary all other judges

Those who can be judges are barristers eligible for all appointments and solicitors however they must be solicitor advocates with rights of audience The Queen with the advice of the Prime minister appoints the senior judges The lower levels of the judiciary compromises of both district judges and magistrates Moving up the tier of judiciary is circuit judges and high court judges there both are part of the superior judiciary The most senior judiciary is composed of the 12 judges in the Supreme court Magistrates being with those trying lower level cases as well as district judges Circuit judges and high court judges here crown court cases in addition to some high court judges sitting in the Court of Appeal The Lord Chancellor will appoint those for candidates for judicial office despite factors such as ethnic origin gender marital status sexual orientation political affiliation or religion The judiciary are also a very powerful body who significantly impact the creation of law in the United Kingdom through the common law precedents systems When the application of the statute is ambiguous it is the role of the judiciary to attempt to find the intentions of the legislature when statute was passed The judiciary is seen to create new legal principles including the judgement of Lord Denning in Central London Property Trust Ltd v High Trees House Ltd which created the doctrine of equitable estoppel Hence the judiciary has an effect on the lawmaking structure of the UK In conclusion the purpose the judiciary has in the English legal system is to examine cases where citizens are accused of breaking the law and to make a judgement on whether they have or not to settle disputes acting as an arbitrator and to explore the law and interpret the law as it stands

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