A scholar of law and religion uncovers a surprising origin story behind the idea of the separation of powers. The separation of powers is a bedrock of modern constitutionalism, but striking antecedents were developed centuries earlier, by Jewish scholars and rabbis of antiquity. Attending carefully to their seminal works and the historical milieu, David Flatto shows how a foundation of democratic rule was contemplated and justified long before liberal democracy was born. During the formative Second Temple and early rabbinic eras (the fourth century BCE to the third century CE), Jewish thinkers had to confront the nature of legal authority from the standpoint of the disempowered. Jews struggled against the idea that a legal authority stemming from God could reside in the hands of an imperious ruler (even a hypothetical Judaic monarch). Instead scholars and rabbis argued that such authority lay with independent courts and the law itself. Over time, they proposed various permutations of this ideal. Many of these envisioned distinct juridical and political powers, with a supreme law demarcating the respective jurisdictions of each sphere. Flatto explores key Second Temple and rabbinic writings—the Qumran scrolls; the philosophy and history of Philo and Josephus; the Mishnah, Tosefta, Midrash, and Talmud—to uncover these transformative notions of governance. The Crown and the Courts argues that by proclaiming the supremacy of law in the absence of power, postbiblical thinkers emphasized the centrality of law in the people’s covenant with God, helping to revitalize Jewish life and establish allegiance to legal order. These scholars proved not only creative but also prescient. Their profound ideas about the autonomy of law reverberate to this day.

With a new Foreword by David Ormerod of the Law Commission. Within the criminal justice system of England and Wales, the Crown Court is the arena in which serious criminal offences are prosecuted and sentenced. On the basis of up-to-date ethnographic research, this timely book provides a vivid description of what it is like to attend court as a victim, a witness or a defendant; the interplay between the different players in the courtroom; and the extent to which the court process is viewed as legitimate by those involved in it. This valuable addition to the field brings to life the range of issues involved and is aimed at students and scholars of criminal justice, policy-makers and practitioners, and interested members of the general public.

Publisher Description

Cases are not objects at hand for legal decision-making; cases are not echoes from a past crime. Cases are, first of all, made within compound discourse apparatus, here the English Crown Court and the procedure/s attached to it. This book reveals the legal production of cases including their relevant features. The socio-legal ethnography visits the natural sites of adversarial case-making: law firms, barristers’ chambers, and Crown Courts. It examines the role and dynamics of client-lawyer meetings, pre-trial hearings, plea bargaining sessions, and jury trials. It focuses on the lawyers’ case-making activities, their procedural contexts, and the resulting cases. As an ethnographic discourse study, the book develops a trans-sequential perspective on the interrelated events and processes of case-making – and by doing so, overcomes the shortcomings of talk-bias and text-bias. The trans-sequential approach pays out in detailed case studies on an alibi, on guilt, or the barrister’s notes; it pays out as well in cross-case studies dealing with legal care, procedural infrastructure, or the case system in the common law tradition.

It is generally considered that the requirement of unanimity results in more hung juries than does the alternative system of requiring only a majority of jurors to agree on a verdict. What constitutes a majority differs between jurisdictions that have embraced the concept, and may also depend on the type of offence being tried. This Report examines arguments for and against preserving the unanimity rule.

Within the criminal justice systems of England and Wales, the Crown Court is the arena in which serious criminal offenses are prosecuted and sentenced. Based on up-to-date ethnographic research, including interviews and field observations, this timely book provides a vivid description of what it is like to attend court as a victim, a witness, or a defendant; the interplay between the different players in the courtroom; and the extent to which the court process is viewed as legitimate by those involved in it. While its research is focused on the Crown Court, the book's findings are far from narrow. This valuable addition to the field brings to life the range of issues involved in jurisprudence and will be of great interest to students and scholars of criminal justice, policy makers and practitioners, and interested members of the general public the world over.

Criminal Litigation & Sentencing gives the reader a detailed understanding of the key laws, rules, and procedures underpinning the criminal justice system from arrest and charge of a suspect, to trial, sentencing, and appeal. Prosecution cases in the magistrates', Crown, youth, and appellant courts are each fully covered.

Slapper and Kelly’s The English Legal System explains and critically assesses how our law is made and applied. Trusted by generations of academics and students, this authoritative textbook clearly describes the legal rules of England and Wales and their collective influence as a sociocultural institution. This latest edition of The English Legal System has been substantially updated to include changes to the civil and criminal justice systems, changes in legal funding, developments in European law, and recent applications of human rights law. Key learning features include: useful chapter summaries which act as a good check point for students ‘food for thought’ questions at the end of each chapter to prompt critical thinking and reflection sources for further reading and suggested websites at the end of each chapter to point students towards further learning pathways; an online skills network including how tos, practical examples, tips, advice and interactive examples of English law in action. Relied upon by generations of students, Slapper and Kelly’s The English Legal System is a permanent fixture in this ever-evolving subject.

This text offers an engaging and wide-ranging account of crime and criminology. It provides a clear and comprehensive consideration of the theoretical, practical, and political aspects of the subject, including the influence of physical, biological, psychological, and social factors on criminality.

Fully updated with all of the latest developments, this will give you a full understanding of the English Legal System.