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The English legal system - Coggle Diagram
The English legal system
General
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Westminster - The Parliament of the UK, and can pass legislation in Scotland and N.I (though, the convention of 'Extent' means that Parliament must be expressly state their intention to do so.
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Classification of laws
Substantive v Procedural
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Procedural - These set out the circumstances when a police officer may arrest someone for a breach/or who is about to breach a substantive law
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Civil v. Criminal
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Criminal - Public law matters (Via the State as 'prosecutor' (e.g. Rex) or through DPP/CPS, etc)
Criminal law may be 'private law matter' if a citizen acts as the prosecutor and brings court proceedings
What is Law
"An ordinance of reason for the common good, made by him who has power over a community"
Common law
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This differs from the continental system: -This system has primary of written law (codified) - e.g. The American Penal code.
In the Continental system, judges only interpret the laws set out by the legislature, and cannot create new laws/rights (iura)
Adversarial system
This is when the adjudication is seen as a content between two (or more) sides, 'fought out' before a neutral umpire (judge/jury)
This is the UK's approach, and an Inquisitorial approach has previously been rejected
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Inquisitorial system - Here the Court is the investigator itself: Judge seeks out the truth by asking questions of the witnesses (Though, this process is controlled by procedural rules)