Marcin Legeżyński British and American Judicial Systems

The UK and the U.S.A. are countries that share many common elements of culture, similar customs, and the same language. However, some things in the UK also differ from those ‘across the pond’. One of them is the legallegallegal system. The most important difference is that while the whole territory of the United Kingdom shares the same lawslaws [law]laws, the U.S. is divided into states. This means that some set up general laws are federalfederalfederal ones and apply in the whole country, and some are for each state. Consequently, if you are taken to courttaken to court [take to court]taken to court, you may receive a different punishmentpunishmentpunishment for certain crimes in Texas and New York, while you will face similar consequences of your actions in London and Glasgow.

The names of legal jobs also differ between these two countries. Any legal professional in the U.S. is called a lawyerlawyer [lawyers]lawyer. Lawyers that represent the state in criminal cases are prosecutorsprosecutors [prosecutor]prosecutors, and those whose job is to defenddefenddefend criminals are attorneysattorneys [attorney]attorneys. On the other hand, UK legal practitioners are divided into solicitorssolicitors [solicitor]solicitors and barristersbarristers [barrister]barristers. Solicitors provide legal advice to their clients and help them prepare legal documentation or suesuesue another person. When the case is taken to courtcourtcourt, barristers will represent their clients before the judge, examine evidenceevidenceevidence, witnesseswitnesses [witness]witnesses, defendantsdefendants [defendant]defendants and victims of a crime.

Courts are where trialstrials [trial]trials take place. Judgesjudges [judge]Judges listen to both sides in a case, consider the evidence, and declare the sentencesentence [sentences]sentence. In the UK, minor cases are considered in Magistrate CourtsMagistrate Courts [Magistrate Court]Magistrate Courts, which are called State CourtsState Courts [State Court]State Courts in the U.S. Serious criminal and civil cases find their end in Crown CourtsCrown Courts [Crown Court]Crown Courts in the United Kingdom, and District CourtsDistrict Courts [District Court]District Courts in the U.S.A. Both countries use common lawcommon lawcommon law in the way they judge cases. This means that judges’ decisions are often based on similar cases which happened in the past. These are called precedentsprecedents [precedent]precedents. Sometimes, court rulingsrulings [ruling]rulings are based on precedents dating back hundreds of years, which may seem very surprising to residents of other countries. Another distinctive feature of the UK and U.S. courts is that they often employ juriesjuries [jury]juries. Juries are groups of ordinary people who advise the judge or issue a verdictverdictverdict in some cases. They usually decide whether someone is guiltyguiltyguilty or not guilty of a crime, and the judge’s job is to declare the sentence and decide on a type of punishment. Jury members in the UK are randomlyrandomlyrandomly selected, while in the U.S. they are chosen by both the prosecutors and attorneys.

The interesting difference is also the use of cameras in courts. While it is very common that U.S. court proceedings are filmed and shown on TV, this is very rarely done in the UK. Most UK courts employ artists who draw pictures showing people in the court, but the first court case that was filmed in a UK court took place in 2013 and it was the first such event in 90 years! Another surprising element of UK courts are wigswigs [wig]wigs! Senior judges and barristers in the United Kingdom must wear them as a sign of the dignitydignitydignity of their positions. No wigs are worn by judges in the U.S.A., although in both countries judges and lawyers often wear special robesrobes [robe]robes. These make them look very serious and give more importance to court proceedingscourt proceedings [court proceeding]court proceedings.

1 Źródło: Marcin Legeżyński, licencja: CC BY-SA 3.0.