Supreme Court of the United Kingdom
The Supreme Court is the final court of appeal in the UK for civil cases, and for criminal cases from England, Wales and Northern Ireland. It hears cases of the greatest public or constitutional importance affecting the whole population.
Supreme Court of the United Kingdom
United Kingdom Constitution:
The constitution of the United Kingdom is the set of rules that determine the political governance of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Unlike most modern states, Britain does not have a codified constitution but an unwritten one formed of Acts of Parliament, court judgments and conventions. With the oldest continuous political system on Earth, the UK constitution is not contained in a single code but principles have emerged over the centuries from statute, case law, political conventions and social consensus.
Over the past century there have been a number of Acts of Parliament on major constitutional subjects that, taken together, could be viewed as creating a tier of constitutional legislation, albeit patchy in their range and with no special status or priority in law. They include:
The Parliament Acts (1911–49) that regulate the respective powers of the two Houses of Parliament.
The Representation of the People Acts (1918) (as amended) providing for universal voting and other matters of political representation.
The European Communities Act (1972) making the UK a legal partner in the European Union.
The Scottish, Welsh and Northern Ireland devolution Acts of 1998 (as amended) creating an executive and legislature for each of those three nations in the UK.
The Human Rights Act (1998) establishing a bill of rights and freedoms actionable by individuals through the courts.
Recently, too, some conventions have been subject to an ad hoc codification, such as the principles of ministerial responsibilities in the Ministerial Code.
UK Bar Council:
The Bar of England and Wales is a unique legal profession of specialist advocates and advisers. There are now approximately 16,000 practising barristers, employed and self-employed, in England and Wales.
The Bar provides solutions to any legal problem and is very good value for money. Relatively recent rule changes to the way in which barristers work mean that the Bar is more accessible than ever through Public Access and Licensed Access.
BAILII: British and Irish Legal Information Institute
BAILII is a source to find "British and Irish case law & legislation, European Union case law, Law Commission reports, and other law-related British and Irish material."
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The official home of UK legislation, statutory instruments, and explanatory documents. Replaces the former Statute Law Database.
Sources for current and historical UK statutes.
Hansard - Official Report of Parliamentary Debates
Debates in the House of Commons and House of Lords from 1803 to the present.
Browseable back to 1995-96.
Browseable back to 1988.
Contains all bills, draft bills and secondary legislation since the late 1980s. Also has a helpful tutorial on the passage of a bill.
Replaced the Judicial House of Lords in 2009. Contains information about the current cases before the court, as well as all of the full decisions that have been delivered.
Contains all judgements between November 1996 and July 30, 2009, when the Judicial House of Lords was replaced by the UK Supreme Court.
All Select Committee Publications
All Committee Publications from both the House of Lords and the House of Commons dating back to the 1990s.