Publisher's Synopsis
Since the fourth edition of this book in 1999, the English legal system has undergone major and comprehensive changes.;The Access to Justice Act 1999 has led to the establishment of the Legal Services Commission and the Community Legal Service, and has re-drawn the legal landscape.;;The 1998 Civil Procedure Rules came into force in 1999 and have been amended and updated 21 times since - the rules revolutionise the way the people make civil claims and the way in which the courts deal with them.;;The Human Rights Act 1998 came into force in October 2000, and has already begun to ramify into virtually all aspects of law, and thus how the legal system operates. To prepare it, the judiciary underwent the most comprehensive and detailed formal training in its entire thousand-year history.;;Other changes abound: The Auld Committee has undertaken a root and branch review of the criminal justice system. The Crown Prosecution Service has been re-organised, the nature of judicial impartiality has been authoritatively defined, the role of the jury has been exposed to intense public and legal debate, liability of advocates for courtroom negligence has been established, the appeals system has been altered, Alternative Dispute Resolution has become a major feature of British life, and European law has continued to widen and deepen its application.;The fifth edition incorporates all of these changes. It explains what the law is and how the legal system operates. It also sets the law and system in a social context and presents a range of critical views on these legal matters.
