Public Service Course

Unit Title: Law and the Legal System

Assessment no: 1

Assessment title: Types of Offence and Courts

Introduction

This assignment is set out to explain how courts deal with both criminal and civil matters. It is sets out the role of the Police Service, Fire Service and the Army within the English legal system.

Task One:

There are three types of Criminal offences that the Criminal Courts deal with. The three types of Criminal offence are;

Summary

Either Way
Indictable

Summary Offences

These are dealt only within the Magistrates Court. They are generally offences that are considered less serious and maximum punishment is six months imprisonment and/or £5,000 fine. Examples of Summary offences are;

Minor assaults
Driving without a insurance
Assault on a Police Officer
Taking without owners consent

Either Way Offences

Either Way offences can be tried in either the Magistrates or the Crown Court, depending on where the prosecution think is appropriate, what the defendant wishes and the nature of the case involved. The offences included are:

Indecent assault
Making off without payment
Obtaining services by deception
Going equipped for stealing
Handling stolen good
Possession of a controlled drug.

Indictable Offences

Indictable offences appear firstly in the Magistrates Court, but are tried in the Crown Court. Indictable offences are generally serious offences. They are punishable by the penalty prescribed by the law; the maximum punishment is life imprisonment. Some indictable offences are;

Murder
Manslaughter
Rape
Blackmail
Aggravated burglary

Task Two:

The purpose of civil law is to resolve disputes between individuals and/or companies rather than individuals and the state. When there is a breach in civil law, an individual or a company will sue another company or individual. They usually sue for money or compensation.

Smaller cases are heard in the County Court and lager cases are heard in the High Court. For example claims under £5,000 are dealt with by the small claims court (that is within the County Court). Claims under £25,000 would usually be held in the County Court and claims over £50,000 are heard in the High Court. However, claims between £25,000 - £50,000 the difficulty of the case would be taken into consideration to decide which court the case would be heard in.

However, there are different procedures for each court.

The Small Claims Procedure

The Small Claims court is part of County court and designed to deal what claims under £5,000.the stage of the procedure is to take out a summons and pay a small fee based on the amount being claimed. This summons must include details of the claim; it has to be clear to the defendant and the court why the claim is being made. When the summons has been ‘served’ the defendant have fourteen days to send back a defence.

The defendant then has several options:

They can choose to pay the claim
They may make an admission and agree arrangements to pay at a later date
They may make a defence to the claim
They may choose to do nothing.

This is a preview of the whole essay

The defendant then has several options:

They can choose to pay the claim
They may make an admission and agree arrangements to pay at a later date
They may make a defence to the claim
They may choose to do nothing.

However, if the court receives no response, the court may choose to rule in favour of the plaintiff. If the defendant does choose to defend himself, an informal trial is held. This trial is held in private and each party will have a fair and equal opportunity to state their side of the dispute to the judge (the judge may be a district or deputy district judge). This procedure can be quick and straightforward. When all parties have had the opportunity to state their side the judge will then make a decision whether to award the claim or not. It is however, to possible appeal against small claims judgements.

County Court Procedure

In England and Wales, there are around 230 county courts. These courts deal with matters such as contract, recovery of land, partnerships trusts and inheritance. There is a fast track procedure used to reduce waiting time in county court procedure, this is used for cases between £5,000 and £15,000. The county courts procedures for small claims are the same as for the small claims, however, in the trial there is some differences. Small claims are dealt with in an informal manner by a judge who undertakes the role of the arbitrator, while in the county court, procedures are heard in an open court in a formal manner.

High Court Procedure

The first stage of the procedure is to issue a writ; this is drafted by a barrister of a solicitor and is then served on the defendant. A writ is a document similar to a county court summons. The writ tells the defendant the person who is making the claim and why. The defendant has to respond within 14 days if not the judge may make a decision by default on behalf of the plaintiff. However, if the defendant intends to defend himself or herself against the claim they must complete and return an ‘acknowledgements of service’ form that state that they intend to defend themselves. The defendant must then submit a document called a ‘defence’, which must answer the claims made by the plaintiff. It also has to set out any new facts the plaintiff did not know or did not disclose. The plaintiff can then deny the defendant’s ‘facts’ or reply to them on a document called a ‘reply’. This continues until both parties have exchanged every fact that is relevant to the case. When this has been completed the pleadings are closed and the judge can see the matter that he/she must decide on. Following this a trial is conducted, and with each party having their own witnesses. The judge then makes an appropriate decision on the case. A high court procedure can be very expensive and is often restricted.

Task 3:

The Police pay a vital role in the English Legal system. They have the responsibility for upholding and administering the law. The Police help to keep the Queen’s peace by dealing with non-law tasks that help communities deal with local problems, for example youth nuisance. The Police are heavily involved in crime prevention, working alone, part of multi-agency taskforce and as part of the community. This crime prevention work may cover education on drugs in schools and neighbourhood watch.

Police also pay a role in detection of crime. Although members of the public report crimes, by detecting crime and intelligence, some crimes may be prevented and others solved more quickly. Meaning that suspects can be processed more efficiently.

The police are responsible for processing offenders these include activities such as;

Warrants
Arrests
Stop and search
Entry and seizure
Charging
Gathering evidence
Preparing a case file to send to the Crown Prosecution Services.

Without these activities a case could not lawfully progress to the criminal courts.

It is also the role of the police to uncover information in criminal cases that could help establish the facts of the case. Lawful evidence is that it is made available to both the Crown Prosecution Service and the defence. The information uncovered by the police throughout their investigation forms the foundation of the argument in a court. Officers can also be called upon to given evidence in court.

Task 4:

Fire Service

The role of the Fire Service is that of a limited one within the English Legal System. However, there are some areas where the Fire Service is involved, this being the issuing of fire safety certificates for premises and arson investigation. It is the responsibility of the Fire Service to enforce that all workplaces have the correct fire precautions this is under the Fire Precautions Act 1971. It is an offence to fail to comply with these regulations, could be punishable by a fine, in a Magistrates Court and up to two and half years imprisonment. The Fire Service plays an essential role in the detection and processing of such offences. They can be the first to spot out a breach in regulations and issue warnings with guidance.

The Fire Service also plays a role in the investigation on non-accidental fire also known as arson. They carry out this role with close liaison with the police. The police investigated into a non-accidental fires and are control of the entire investigation. They also control access the to the scene of the fire after it has been extinguished.

The senior fire brigade officer has sole responsibility for extinguishing the fire under the Fire Services Act 1947. They can arrive on a scene prior to the police. It is important the this officer recognise and record any evidence that can vital to indicating whether the fire was non-accidental and that the evidence is available to the police. The fire officers can also provide the police with information and evidence about the origins, growth and decay of a fire. They can also assist with the police in the preservation of evidence at the scene, which can crucial to a police investigation.

It is also the job of a fire officer to provide expert witness testimony in courts in a non-accidental fire case. A forensic scientist can also carry out this task.

Army

In times of war the Army play a role of ensuring the effectiveness and safety of our country. In 1914 the Defence of the Realm Act was passed it allowed the Government to suppress published criticism, imprison without trial and commandeer economic resources for the war effort. However, in Peacetime the Army’s role of administration of justice is limited to the prosecution of military personnel in criminal and military cases.

Task 5:

In the English Legal system the Public services play a major role. The Police Service plays the most dominant role in the English Legal system, this is because they are the main agency responsible for upholding and administering the law. However, other Public Services also play apart in the English Legal system. The Immigration Service and the Army may not be the first major role of the English Legal system, but they do have a role in their own right.

The Immigration Service although not a direct Public Service still have close links with the legal system and can also enforce the law under a variety of statutes, for example the Immigration Act 1971 and the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999. Just as the Police enforce the law, the Immigration Service have a wide range of powers in order o uphold the immigration law. The Police are the main body of upholding the law, they also have the role of detection of crime, which also the Immigration Service find a useful role in cutting down crime. The Immigration Service can;

Lay fines on haulage companies, airlines and individual carriers who carry undocumented passengers into the UK.

They can also;

Enter property
Take fingerprints without police assistance
Make arrests without police assistance
Detain asylum seekers without limit
Impose forced dispersal’s
Forcibly remove people from the UK

The Immigration Service have many of the same powers exercised by the police and like the police they are considered to enforce the law and order onto people wishing to get entry into the legal system and the UK.

The Army has also got a role in the English legal system. Like the police they can prosecute military personnel as the Police prosecute members of the public for committing criminal offences this carried out in both peacetime and times of war. However, unlike the Police the Army can also prosecute military personnel in military cases as well as criminal. The Army also upholds and administers the law on the battlefield, this is done to ensure the effectiveness and safety of the military personnel. They also help uphold the law in different countries.

Task 6:

The dominant role of the Police Service in the English legal system has its pros and cons. Having such a massive responsibility can make it more susceptible to the blame of the Country’s problems in society. Also being a public service means that they are under the control of the Government and Queen giving it a direct link to the running of the Legal system. It also means that having one agency responsible for the upholding and administration of the law gives the country a stable knowledge within this agency, creating an easier and more efficient run force.

The Army’s role is not as important as the Police, but is still vital to the upholding the law. The Army not only has to be responsible for the upholding and administration of the law within the military but also when the Army is out on operations aboard. This can lead to a more public acknowledgement to mistakes made in criminal offences.

The Immigration Service’s role in the English legal system is not that known, but is still crucial in the application of the law, with asylum seekers for example. By having a separate service to administer the immigration law makes it a more efficient service. However, having a separate service also makes it more difficult for knowledge and information to be passed between the services.

For a better and more efficient Legal System, some improvements could be made. By having a national database that all services share information on for example criminal activities and newly released criminals, would make it easier for all services to prevent crime. Also by making it easier and quicker to prosecute criminal would leave more police officers at work, by giving the Police better and more modern equipment such as cameras in the Patrol vehicles would make it easier to prosecute criminals.

Bibliography:

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