Scots Law
The Scots law has its basis brought up from Roman law, that includes uncodifed civil law and common law with medieval sources. Scots law is the legal system of Scotland. The Scots law has two types of courts responsible for justice; criminal and civil. The supreme civil court is the Court of Session, also, certain civil appeals can be moved to the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom. The High Court of Justiciary is the supreme criminal court in Scotland. Apart from these, the Sheriff Court is the main civil and criminal court that hear most of the cases. There roughly are about 49 Sheriff Courts in the country. Also, the District Courts had been introduced in 1975 for very minor and small claims.
ANSWER (A)
The Law of Agency
Agency is defined as a bilateral, consensual and onerous contract where one party(principal), authorizes another party, known as the agent, to create relations with third parties. Here the principal authorizes the agent to work under their behalf.
This branch of law separates and control the connections between;
• Agents and principals, which is called agent-principal relationship.
• Agents and third parties with whom they bargain on behalf of the principal.
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This is similar to the case of Kelner v Baxter (1866), where a team of directors had entered into a contract for a new hotel business, where the hotel business had not been registered, in order to purchase wine. Later when the company got registered, the contract got ratified. Unfortunately, the wine had been consumed before paying the bills, and later the company went into liquidation. The members had been sued. This is because the directors acted without any principal, as the company was not registered at that time of the
“Agency relationships are formed by the mutual consent of a principal and an agent.” (Cheeseman, p.487) Our book goes on to cite the Restatement (Second) of Agency,
The government had to play a role in Thomas and Jane Weirs’ trials because they are the authority figures that tend to convict people of their misdemeanours. “After both Dittays were read and found relevant by the Justices, the King’s Advocate caused interrogate the Major judicially anent his Guilt…the King’s Advocate takes Instruments that he refuses to answer positively.” The trial itself is a testament to the workings of the government, parliament and authority figure of Scotland in the case of witch hunting of men and women.
The system of crime and law enforcement had hardly changed in Britain since the medieval times. Justices of the Peace or JPs were appointed by the Crown since 1361. Before the night watchmen and parish constables were introduced a primitive police force was introduced and the JPs were assisted by constables who only worked part time and were very unreliable as the pay was really bad. The early stages of the force consisted of a night watchmen and parish constables, who were prior to the creation of the main police force. Watchmen were groups of men, usually authorised by a state, government, or society, to deter criminal activity and provide law enforcement. Constables were required to apprehend anyone accused of a felony and bring criminals to a justice of the peace. They also had a general responsibility to keep the peace. There was no expectation that they would investigate and prosecute crimes because of limited responsibility and training. Night watchmen patrolled the streets between 9 or 10pm until sunrise and were expected to examine all suspicious characters. In the City of London, the City Marshall and the Beadles (Parish wardens) conducted daytime patrols. Similar to the night watchmen, primary responsibilities were to patrol and deter, drunkenness, beggars, vagrants and prostitutes and to act as a deterrent against more serious offences. Over the course of this period, the arrangements by which men served as constables and watchmen changed significantly, to incorporate how felons were detected and apprehended.
Scotland had a high number of casualties in their witch trials, with thousands of supposed witches tried, convicted, and executed. The number of accused is estimated to be 3,837. Sixty-seven percent of people accused were executed mainly by strangling followed by burning. Some were simply burned alive. A select few were beheaded or hanged. Those beheaded or hanged typically committed more crimes than just witchcraft. The percentage of executed is based on 305 cases where the outcome is known. “205 of these were to be executed, 52 were acquitted, 27 were banished, 11 were declared fugitive, 6 were excommunicated, 2 were put to the horn (outlawed), 1 person was to be kept in prison and 1 person was to be publicly humiliated” (“Survey of Scottish Witchcraft”). Therefore, it is not thought to be very accurate. 84% of the accused were women, 15% were men, and for the
The Australian Legal System has a rich and detailed history dating from 1066. Law is made in Parliament. We have four sources of law and three courts with different jurisdictions that interpret the law when giving out justice. Important doctrines act as the corner-stones of our legal system. There is a procedure in the courts for making appeals. Separation of powers exists between officials in the courts, the parliament and the Executive. Everyone in Australia is treated equally under the Rule of Law, no matter their office or status. The Law is always changing as society changes, but it can never be perfect and cannot please everyone.
Devolution is the transfer of powers from a central body to subordinate regional bodies. In Scotland, Devolution was set up to restore legitimacy to a system of government that reflected Scottish preferences. The reason behind the demand for Scottish self-government is that Scotland had the historic status of nationhood before the Union of 1707 and within the Union, has a different set of legal, educational and religious institutions that reinforce a Scottish identity.
Judiciary.gov.uk. 2014. Judges, Tribunals and Magistrates | Introduction to the justice system | Traditions of the courts. [online] Available at: http://www.judiciary.gov.uk/about-the-judiciary/introduction-to-justice-system/court-traditions [Accessed: 2 Apr 2014].
Now, the district court system is the beginning step of the judicial system. A good amount of the case handled by the district court system is either criminal or civil trial cases. According to Roger Miller, “trial courts that have general jurisdiction as to the subject matter may be called county, district, superior, or circuit courts.” The majority of their cases are to be handled in-county first before proceeding further through the court system. Just as businesses and organizations have a chain-of-command or protocol system the government has the
The Political System of Scotland Unlike Wales, which was subdued by conquest in the thirteenth century,
The Independent Judiciary in the United Kingdom Q. Is there an independent judiciary in the United Kingdom? What obstacles, if any, hinder this independence? Although judges in the English Legal System are not part of the law making process, and full time judges are not allowed to be members of the House of Commons, they are still thought to be independent in a number of ways, as an independent judiciary plays an important role in protecting the liberty of an individual from abuse of power by the executive. There is flexibility in the law for part time judges and they are allowed to be members of the Parliament. Judges can be members of the House of Lords in its legislative function, and can take part in debates on new laws.
“…separate legal entity possessed of separate legal rights and liabilities so that the rights of one company in a group cannot be exercised by another company in that group …”
In “A Narratological Approach to Witchcraft Trial: A Scottish Case”, Willumsen uses primary sources in the form of historical documents that were narrated by a scribe. However, this source may provide bias as the scribe had authority over the contexts of the texts (Willumsen, 2011). She emphasizes the importance of understanding the language of the interpreters in order to make sense of witchcraft. Willumsen highlights the importance of this source by referring to other authors narratological works. Narratological approaches get closer to the spectrum of meanings that occur in a complex situation. This differentiates from a source such as a confession or testimony by individuals, as readers are focusing on what the narrator is discussing, as
The rule of law, simply put, is a principle that no one is above the law. This means that there should be no leniency for a person because of peerage, sex, religion or financial standing. England and Wales do not have a written constitution therefore the Rule of Law, which along with the parliamentary Sovereignty was regarded by legal analyst A.C Dicey, as the pillars of the UK Constitution. The Rule of Law was said to be adopted as the “unwritten constitution of Great Britain”.
An agency relationship is formed between two parties when one party (the agent) agrees to represent another party (the principal). Normally, all employees who deal with third parties are considered agents. Principal-Agent relationships are defined as the understanding that the agent will act for and on behalf of the principal. (Cheeseman) The agent assumes an obligation of loyalty to the principal that he will follow the principal’s instructions and will neither intentionally nor negligently act improperly in the performance of the act. An agent cannot take personal advantage of the business opportunities the agency position uncovers. A principal-agent relationship is fiduciary, meaning these obligations bring forth a fiduciary relationship of trust and confidence. As such, an agency relationship is governed by employment law.
Based on Judicature Acts of 1873 and 1875 , the High Court is divided into few specialist divisions which are the King’s Bench, Common Pleas, Exchequer and Admiralty Division.