English Legal System Assignment
Qualification - BTEC Higher National Diploma in Business (English Legal System Assignment)
Unit number and title - Unit 25 English Legal System Assignment
QFC Level - Level 5
Section 1
Explain the court system and its alternatives
You will need to:
Explain the differences between criminal and civil law
A simple comparison is needed here, with some examples of what is a criminal and what is a civil offence to illustrate the differences
Enalyse the role of individual courts and assess their effectiveness within the court structure Here you need to, briefly describe the role/purpose/jurisdiction/personnel/procedures of:
Criminal courts:Magistrates court; Crown court; Court of Appeal; House of Lords; European Court of Justice
Civil courts: Small Claims court and jurisdiction; County court; High Court; Court of Appeal; House of Lords; European Court of Justice
Evaluate court roles in live cases/case study material and present findings
Select an actual case that you can research - ideally one that has some relevance to your organisation or business sector - and evaluate the role of the court(s) which processed the case
Explain the meaning of ADR and analyse its usefulness
This is about Alternative Dispute Resolution - you will need to discuss its meaning, how it attempts to bring about conciliation; mediation and arbitration processes used; the advantages and disadvantages of the ADR approach
Section 2
Assess the finance of representation
You will need to:
Explain sources of legal advice
Here you will need to describe and explain the purpose of: sources of legal advice; the duty solicitor scheme; funding sources
Assess implications of changes in funding
In the UK recently there have been a number of significant changes to the funding of legal advice and legal defence - including a major change to what is known as "Legal Aid"
Evaluate the role of solicitors, barristers and judges
Just as asked - Describe and evaluate the roles of these
Section 3
Evaluate the different sources of law
You will need to:
Evaluate the current day importance of the sources of law
Briefly describe how these operate and their advantages and disadvantages: judicial precedent, statute, delegated legislation; Rules of Statutory Interpretation; European law
Analyse the application of the sources of law in live situations/a case study and present findings
Select an actual case that you can research - ideally one that has some relevance to your organisation or business sector - and identify and describe the sources of the law which led to the case being brought to court, and on which it was judged
Assess the effectiveness of the rules of interpretation
Here you need to discuss how court interpretations (for example on the meaning of words, phrases, terms, or how a piece of legislation should be applied) and therefore decisions, are made. You will need to refer to Common Law, Statute, European Law, and International Law
Section 4
Evaluate how you would select an appropriate legal entity
You will need to:
Evaluate the legal principles which influence choice of business entity in a given situation
justify your choice of legal entity
Very simply, describe the pros and cons of legal entity: sole trader; partnership; limited liability partnership; limited company; public limited company - and describe why one is the most appropriate choice for a particular type of organisation - and then justify your choice. Be careful, though, as such decisions are not always clear-cut and easy to make.