Cases and Materials on the English Legal System

by Zander, Michael

• ISBN13: 9780406081766
• ISBN10: 040608176X
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1997-04-01
• Publisher: Butterworth Legal Pub

Summary

"Combining materials from a wide variety of sources with Michael Zander's authoritative commentary, this book provides the tools with which an observer of the English legal system can discover how it functions, the problems it faces and the current reforms proposed."--BOOK JACKET.

Author Biography

Michael Zander is Emeritus Professor of Law at the London School of Economics and Political Science.

Table of Contents

Preface to the seventh edition	v
Preface to the first edition	vii
Acknowledgments	ix
Command papers, Hansard, House of Commons papers and other official publications excerpted	xi
Books, pamphlets, memoranda and articles excerpted	xiii
Table of statutes	xxi
Table of cases	xxvii
The organisation of trial courts	1	(30)
The work handled by the courts	3	(10)
The civil courts	3	(6)
The criminal courts	9	(4)
Managing the courts	13	(4)
Problems of trial courts' organisation	17	(11)
The allocation of cases between higher and lower trial courts-criminal cases	17	(5)
The allocation of cases between higher and lower trial courts-civil courts	22	(5)
The distribution of family law work	27	(1)
The tribunal system	28	(3)
Pre-trial civil proceedings	31	(72)
To what extent can one find out what happened before the issue of proceedings?	32	(2)
Is there any property in a witness?	32	(2)
Can the injured person inspect the premises or machinery where the accident occurred?	34	(1)
Most cases do not reach court	34	(5)
Initiation of proceedings	39	(8)
Who has the right to initiate legal proceedings for others?	39	(1)
Should proceedings be started in the High Court or the county court?	39	(2)
What kind of proceedings should be started?	41	(2)
Venue	43	(1)
Issue and service of proceedings	43	(1)
Representative, class and group or multi-party actions	44	(3)
Interlocutory proceedings	47	(56)
Acknowledgment of service and judgment in default	47	(1)
Summary judgment after no defence or bogus defence	48	(1)
Pleadings	49	(5)
Payment into court	54	(3)
Discovery of documents and `cards on the table'	57	(17)
Woolf on the expert witness in the pre-trial process	74	(3)
Pre-trial hearings: summons for directions, pre-trial reviews/hearings/conferences	77	(6)
Delay	83	(20)
Pre-trial criminal proceedings	103	(180)
Questioning of suspects by the police	105	(23)
The importance and quality of police questioning	105	(2)
The danger of false confessions	107	(1)
The Judges' Rules	108	(1)
Whom can the police question?	109	(1)
Is the citizen obliged to answer police questions?	109	(5)
The legal consequences of silence in the face of police questioning	114	(1)
The recommendations of the Criminal Law Revision Committee, 1972	115	(1)
The Philips Royal Commission's proposals	116	(2)
The right to silence debate reopened, 1987--1989	118	(2)
The Runciman Royal Commission's proposals	120	(1)
The Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994	121	(3)
What is the likely impact of the right to silence changes?	124	(4)
Safeguards for the suspect	128	(15)
Access to a lawyer	128	(7)
Informing someone that one has been arrested	135	(1)
Tape-recording of interviews	136	(3)
The regime in the police station-the Codes of Practice and the custody officer	139	(4)
Rules preventing improper pressure on suspects	143	(1)
Detention and arrest	143	(22)
Can a person be held in the police station if he is not under arrest?	143	(1)
In what circumstances can someone be stopped on the street?	144	(4)
The Philips Royal Commission's proposals	148	(3)
PACE	151	(4)
What constitutes an arrest?	155	(2)
Procedure on arrest	157	(3)
Can an arrested person be held without charges?	160	(1)
What are the time-limits on police detention without charges?	160	(5)
Police powers of search and seizure	165	(17)
On arrest	165	(5)
Powers to enter premises other than after an arrest	170	(5)
Getting a search warrant	175	(1)
Executing a search warrant and search by consent	176	(3)
Bugging by MI5 and the police	179	(1)
Seizure of evidence	180	(1)
The power to freeze the suspect's assets	181	(1)
The prosecution process	182	(30)
Who prosecutes?	182	(2)
Who should prosecute?	184	(3)
Establishment of the Crown Prosecution Service	187	(2)
The police have a wide discretion	189	(7)
The CPS decision whether to prosecute	196	(3)
Is the prosecutor genuinely independent of the police?	199	(2)
Discontinuance by the CPS	201	(3)
Judicial control of police discretion in prosecution policy	204	(4)
Duties of prosecuting lawyers	208	(3)
The duties of defence counsel	211	(1)
Bail	212	(13)
Bail from the police station	214	(2)
Bail decisions by courts	216	(4)
How many bail applications?	220	(1)
Appeals against a refusal of bail	221	(1)
Appeals against a grant of bail	222	(1)
Causes for concern	223	(1)
New developments	224	(1)
Information supplied to the opponent	225	(21)
Evidence the prosecution intend to call or use	225	(2)
Evidence the prosecution do not intend to use (`unused material')	227	(11)
Other issues of prosecution disclosure	238	(1)
Disclosure by the defence	239	(7)
The guilty plea	246	(15)
The innocent who plead guilty	247	(3)
The sentence discount	250	(3)
The judge's involvement in plea discussions	253	(5)
The Runciman Royal Commission Report	258	(1)
Taking a plea before mode of trial decision	259	(2)
Committal [not transfer] proceedings	261	(4)
The voluntary bill of indictment	265	(1)
Pre-trial court hearings	266	(4)
Plea and Directions Hearing (PDH)	266	(2)
Preparatory or pre-trial hearings	268	(2)
Preparation of cases by the defence	270	(3)
Publicity and contempt of court	273	(5)
Delays in criminal cases	278	(5)
The trial process	283	(78)
The adversary system compared with the inquisitorial	283	(17)
The adversary system	283	(5)
Exceptions to the rules of the adversary system	288	(3)
The inquisitorial system compared	291	(9)
The advantages of being represented	300	(1)
Handicaps of the unrepresented	301	(9)
In the lower courts	302	(1)
Special procedure for small claims-`arbitration' in county courts	303	(5)
In the tribunals	308	(1)
Litigants in person	309	(1)
Establishing the facts in court: the unreliability of human testimony	310	(4)
The principle of orality	314	(1)
Justice should be conducted in public	315	(2)
The taking of evidence	317	(4)
The exclusionary rules of evidence	321	(40)
Evidence excluded because it might be unduly prejudicial	322	(8)
Evidence excluded because it is inherently unreliable	330	(12)
Evidence excluded because its admissibility would be against the public interest	342	(19)
The jury	361	(58)
The origins of the jury system	361	(1)
Eligibility for jury service	361	(3)
The process of selection	364	(1)
Challenging of jurors	365	(7)
Jury vetting	372	(2)
Who serves on juries?	374	(2)
The extent to which juries are used	376	(8)
Aids to the jury	384	(1)
The quality of jury decision making	385	(9)
Should the jury be retained for long fraud cases?	394	(2)
Respective roles of judge and jury	396	(7)
Majority jury verdicts	403	(2)
Retrials on jury disagreement	405	(1)
Will the Court of Appeal consider what happened in the jury room?	405	(3)
Publication of the secrets of the jury room	408	(1)
Does the jury acquit too many defendants?	409	(3)
Which level of criminal court acquits most defendants?	412	(2)
The operation of the jury (and trials) in former times	414	(5)
Costs and legal aid	419	(60)
Can we afford the cost of British justice?	419	(21)
The level of costs	419	(1)
The categories of costs	420	(4)
Controls on costs	424	(7)
Should costs follow the event?	431	(4)
Exceptions to the indemnity rule of costs	435	(5)
Legal aid	440	(39)
Legal aid in civil proceedings	441	(3)
Legal aid in criminal proceedings	444	(8)
Duty Solicitor schemes	452	(1)
Legal advice and assistance	453	(2)
Quality control, specialisation and franchising	455	(2)
Legal aid for groups	457	(3)
The cost of legal aid	460	(1)
The distribution of legal aid work	460	(1)
Is there a need for legal aid in tribunals?	461	(2)
Lord Mackay's 1995 Green Paper on legal aid	463	(3)
Reactions to the Green Paper	466	(2)
Legal costs insurance	468	(1)
Contingency fees and conditional fees	469	(7)
Pro bono work by the profession	476	(1)
Litigation at public expense outside the legal aid scheme	477	(2)
Appeals	479	(60)
The structure of appeal courts	480	(2)
Civil cases	480	(1)
Criminal cases	481	(1)
The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council	481	(1)
The appeal process	482	(43)
A right to appeal?	482	(3)
Practice and procedure of appeals	485	(10)
The grounds of appeal	495	(2)
Powers of the Court of Appeal	497	(1)
The power of appeal courts to review findings of fact by trial courts	497	(13)
The power of appeal courts to receive fresh evidence	510	(7)
The power to order retrials in criminal cases	517	(3)
Review by the appeal court of discretionary decisions	520	(2)
Rates of appeal and success rates	522	(1)
`Appeal' by way of judicial review	523	(2)
The machinery for avoiding a miscarriage of justice in criminal cases	525	(14)
The legal profession	539	(50)
The component parts of the profession	539	(23)
The bar	540	(13)
The solicitor's branch	553	(6)
The operation of the divided profession	559	(1)
Law centres	560	(2)
The use of lawyers	562	(1)
Reform of the profession	563	(16)
Deregulation, Professionalism and the legal profession	579	(10)
Appendix The Government's White Paper on legal aid	589	(6)
Index	595