Chapter 8 Justtice and the Law

　　1.What are the primary sources of British law？

　　The primary‘ sources of British law include statutes， a large amount of “unwritten”or common law，equity law and European Community law.

　　2.What are the common features of all systems of law in Britain？

　　A feature common to all systems of law is that there is no complete code. Another common feature is the distinction made between criminal law and civil law.

　　3.How do you spanide the British courts according to the nature of cases.

　　The British courts can be spanided into criminal courts and civil court according to the nature of cases.

　　4.Why do the criminal convicts like to be tried first before the magistrates‘ courts.

　　All criminal trials are held in open courts because the crimianl law presumes the innocence of the accused until he has been proved guilty beyond reasonable doubt；every possible step is taken to deny to the prosecution any advantage over the defence.

　　5.What does the civil courts system do？

　　The civil courts system does the following jurisdiction：1）actions founded upon contract and tort；2）trust and mortgages cases；3）actions for the recovery of land；4）cases involving disputes between landlords and tenants；5）admiralty cases and patent cases；and6）spanorce cases and other family matters.

　　6.What is the jury‘s job？

　　In criminal cases，the jury‘s job is to decide the issue of guilt or innocence.

　　7.What is the function of the High Court？How many spanisions is it spanided into？What does each spanision deal with？

　　The High Court deals with the more complicated civil cases.Its jurisdiction covers mainly civil and some criminal cases；it also deals with appeals from tribunals and from magistrates‘ courts in both civil and criminal matter.The High Court has three spanisions：1）The Family spanision，which is concerned with family law，including adoption and wills；2）the Chancery spanision，which deals with corporate and personal insolvency；disputes in the running of companies，between landlords and tenants and in intellectual property matters；and the interpretation of trusts and contested wills；and 3） the Queen’s Bench spanision，which is concened with contract and tort cases，and deals with applications for judicial review.

　　8.How many police forces are there in the UK？

　　There are 43 police forces in England and Wales，8 in Scotland and one in Northern Ireland.

　　9.Capital Punishment for murder has been abolished in the UK.What do you think of it？

　　Capital Punishment for murder has been abolished in the UK but remained the penalty for treason and piracy.Proposals for its restatement are regularly debated by Parliament，for it‘s a kind of effective way to deter the potential law-breaker and be good to the social stability.

　　10.How different is the Metropolitan Police Force from other police forces in Greant Britain.

　　London‘s Metropolitan Plice Force is directly under the control of the Home Secretary，while other police forces in Great Britain is organized and controlled on a local basis under the Home Secretary and the Scottish and Northern Ireland Secretaries.