uk cours

• England


  The country only
• Great Britain


  Ireland (all Ireland), Scotland, England, Wales
• UK


  Northern Ireland (only North), Scotland, England, Wales
• droit coutumier


  Common Law
• jurisprudence


  Case Law
• droit pénal


  Criminal Law
• to keep records


  enregistrer/tenir des archives
• to try a case

  juger une affaire
• a trial


  un procès
• to be under oath

  être sous serment
• the plaintiff (a claimant in UK)

  le plaignant/le demandeur
• the defendant


  le défendeur
• statute


  a written law passed by a legislative body (Parliament)
• stare decisis


  the legal of following a precedent/previous court decision (doctrine)
• a matter of first impression


  the facts/circumstances are different from any previous court's decision (landmark cases)
• to bind/be binding on the court

  the court is obliged to follow a decision of a previous case
• widespread


  répandu, généralisé
• a plea/to plead


  une plaidoirie, plaider
• to sit in court

  siéger/assister aux audiences
• trial by ordeal


  jugement par épreuve (ex: de feu ou d'eau)
• a statement of the facts

  énoncé des faits
• to place great weight on...

  accorder une grande importance à...
• to pledge


  to promise
• a bishop


  un évêque
• a peer (or be judged by one's peers)

  un pair/égal
• a writ


  un mandat/assignation/ordonnance
• The Common Law: What is Common Law? How important is it? Why and how did the principles of it developed in England?
• Common Law


  part of English law based on rules developed by the Royal Courts during the 3 centuries after the Norman Conquest (1066)
• Common Law


  rules of law developed by the Courts as opposed by those created by statutes
• Common Law


  general system of law deriving exclusively from Court's decisions
• Common Law


  droit coutumier/common law (no translation) → not droit commun
• Common Law


  • It's a legal system that gives great weight to precedent (jurisprudence) on the principle that it's unfair to treat similar facts differently on different occasions
• Common Law


  • Similar facts treated in the same way
• Common Law


  • When the parties disagree on what the law is, a Common Law Court refers to past/precedent decisions
• Common Law


  • If a case has been resolved in the past, the Court is bound to follow the reasoning used in the old cases (stare decisis)
• Common Law


  • If the Court finds that the current dispute is completely distinct from all the old cases (matter of first impression), judges have the authority/duty (devoir) to make a law by creating precedent (it will bind future course)
• Common law systems vs Civil law systems

  • Court decisions have the same force of law as statutes
  • Based on History and English law
  • Adversarial procedure: 2 parties facing each other and defending themselves, neutral judge, jury
  • Courts don't have authority to act where there is no statute
• Civil law systems


  • Based on History, Roman law and the Napoleonic Code
  • Inquisitorial procedure: examining magistrate studies evidence on both sides during preliminary inquiry/the investigation phase (ask questions to find out what happened)
• Common Law is the base of the legal systems of the UK (not only England or Great Britain), of the United States (except Louisiana because it was a colony of France; 1731: Louisiana is French, 1763: Louisiana sold to Spain, 1800: Louisiana came back to France and was sold by Napoleon (1803)), and of all the English speaking countries
• Composition of the British Constitutional Law: legislation (Parliament), judicial precedents, constitutional conventions