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The Court System of England and Wales

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If you are interested in the field of law, you might want to consider a career as a lawyer or a legal assistant. In the United States, the demand for these professionals is increasing. In fact, the field of legal assistants is one of the ten fastest-growing occupations in the United States.

What does it take to enter the legal profession? If you want to become a lawyer in most states, you must first complete four years of undergraduate study in a college or university. While in college, you should lake courses in a variety of areas; you do not have to take law courses at this time. After finishing your undergraduate studies, you must then complete three years of law school. In law school, you will have to take required courses on topics such as contracts, criminal law, and property. In your second and third years of law school, however, you may choose specialized courses in your area of interest. Once you have graduated from law school, you are still not ready to practice law. You must be admitted to the bar of the stale in which you want to practice law. In order to be admitted to the bar, you must take a written examination. If you pass the examination, you can practice law in that state.

If you are interested in the profession of law, but you do not want to spend so many years in school, you might consider becoming a legal assistant. Legal assistants research laws and do the background work for a lawyer. In fact, legal assistants do much of the routine work that lawyers used to do. To become a legal assistant, you do not have to have formal training. However, most employers prefer to hire someone who has completed a special academic program. These programs can last from one to three years and are offered by four-year colleges and universities as well as private business schools. To get into some legal assistant programs, you must already have a bachelor’s degree. For other programs, a college education is not required.

JUDGES IN GREAT BRITAIN

In Britain, the vast majority of judges (that is, the people who decide what should be done with people who commit crimes) are unpaid. They are called «Magistrates», or «Justices of the Peace». They are ordinary citizens who are selected not because they have any legal training but because they have «sound common sense» and understand their human beings. They give up time voluntarily.

A small proportion of judges are not Magistrates. They are called «High Court Judges» and they deal with the most serious crimes, such as those for which the criminal might be sent to prison for more than a year. High Court Judges, unlike Magistrates, are paid salaries by the State and have considerable legal training.

Magistrates are selected by special committees in every town and district. Nobody, not even the Magistrates themselves, knows who is on the special committees in their area. The committee tries to draw Magistrates from as wide a variety of professions and social classes as possible.

On this tape, a Magistrate describes the sort of people who come before him, gives of a few typical cases and finally talks about the difficulty of deciding between when to help a person and when to punish him.

The Court System of England and Wales

The most common type of law court in England and Wales is the magistrates’ court. There are 700 magistrates' courts about 30,000 magistrates.

More serious criminal cases then go to the Crown Court, which has 90 branches in different towns and cities. Civil cases (for example, divorce or bankruptcy cases) are dealt with in County courts.

Appeals are heard by higher courts. For example, appeals from magistrates’ courts are heard in the Crown Court, unless they are appeals on points of law. The highest court of appeal in England and Wales is the House of Lords. (Scotland has its own High Court in Edinburgh, which hears all appeals from Scottish courts.) Certain cases may be referred to the European Court of Justice in Luxemburg. In addition, individuals have made the British Government change its practices in a number ot areas as a result of petition to the European Court of Human Rights.

The legal system also includes juvenile courts (which deal with offenders under seventeen) and coroners’ courts (which investigate violent, sudden or unnatural deaths). There are administrative tribunals which make quick, cheap and fair decisions with much less formality. Tribunals deal with professional standards, disputes between individuals, and disputes between individuals and government departments (for example, over taxation).