Review: The English Legal System 2012-3 (description here) (10th edition), authors Prof Gary Slapper and Dr David Kelly, published Routledge Law.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I can well imagine that Prof Gary Slapper and Dr David Kelly are superb lecturers, as is widely well known. I have long admired @garyslapper for his willingness in putting his neck above the parapet in explaining issues which mere mortals would shy away from; his vast intelligence and ability to share enthusiasm for law means that many more people probably are in law in one capacity or another than would otherwise be the case.

‘Do it yourself law’ is an extremely difficult notion – even the most ardent critics of ‘feckless people’ find unease at diminished access-to-justice, what Slapper calls being “decitizenised”. As he argues (with substantially the same examples), you can possibly do many things in a DIY manner in medicine, such as with antiseptic cream or healthy eating, but nobody (reasonable) would recommend a DIY laparoscopic cholecystectomy for example. Law is therefore extremely relevant to all of our lives, whatever we do; whilst indeed law is held to be, by some, as “the noble profession”, it does in fact regulate everything we do for our protection and safety. Whilst a comparison of the English legal system with other systems of law is outside of the scope of this book, Slapper and Kelly manage to convey a real sense of justified pride and enthusiasm about the evolution of our particular legal system, its institutions and its processes, with sincerity, humbleness and modesty.

That law is an intrinsic part of English society is deeply pervasive in this incredible guide to the English legal system. This admittedly quite large tome combines detail with a writing style that is extremely easy to follow. The use of text boxes is very clever, and it is a nice touch the authors are able to glide effortlessly from a relatively ancient case to a contemporaneous commentary from the Guardian, for example, within the space of only a few sentences. I like the way the book manages to approach topics which might have been considered by some as ‘taboo’ or ‘off limits’ topics, such as diversity (problems) in judicial appointments, judicial activism or the racial ‘make-up’ of juries. I look forward to seeing what the authors make of our non-legally trained Lord Chancellor in future editions of this book (and presumably so will he!)

The first edition came out in 1994, but, indeed to this day, Slapper and Kelly’s “The English Legal System” explains and critically assesses how our law is made and applied through thorough updates. This authoritative textbook, which is in fact part of a much wider ‘resource base’, is updated annually, and clearly describes the legal rules of England and Wales. As a work of scholarship, it is indeed remarkable for a text of this nature to be written by only two people. It is abundantly clear that this is not a multi-author chain-letter of mismatched writing styles and arguments; it is instead a tour guide to the English legal system which has clarity, is fully accessible, meticulously well-evidenced and is brilliantly up-to-date. I think a massive contributing factor in this is the overarching structure of this work. There’s absolutely no doubt as well that this is a truly inclusive text: for example, law and contentious litigation are not topics at the exclusion of others, as Slapper and Kelly give due consideration of alternative forms of dispute resolution, including mediation and arbitration, as indeed reflected in the current civil procedure rules which practitioners observe.

There are of course many sources of law now, and for the ‘reasonable man on the Clapham Omnibus’ possibly now additionally the “smartphone Twitter app”. In picking up my copy, I first had a skim-read of the table of cases, statutes, statutory instruments and European legislation to get an idea of the type of material that the book would be covering, and I was immediately struck by the depth and diversity of the sources of law. Like a wedding reception, it was like re-acquaintainting myself with some familiar people, but it was also full of new encounters. The beauty about Slapper and Kelly’s book is how this authoritative book provides a very accessible guide to the rich tapestry of the English legal system, for academics, practitioners and citizens alike.

The chapters are law and legal study, rule of law and human rights, sources of law, the civil courts, the civil process, the criminal courts, the criminal process: the investigation of crime (1) and the prosecution (2), the judiciary, judicial reasoning (including judicial review), the jury, arbitration, legal services, the funding of legal services, and the European context. It is therefore immediately clear that it is the perfect student companion for anyone throughout a course of legal studies, at whatever stage of his or her training, and potentially a pleasant guide to the profession for practising lawyers. As a law student, I personally found the description of civil litigation extremely useful as I was negotiating this as a core module on the Legal Practice Course, but other chapters will be directly relevant for some on their GDL/LLB(Hons), particularly students of constitutional and administrative law (or ‘public law’), for example the separation of powers, rule of law and judicial review. On reflection, the textbook is probably more useful for that particular compulsory component of the GDL than the equally compulsory short test in the English legal system right at the beginning of the GDL (which is assessed on a competent/not-yet-competent basis). Students about to negotiate their compulsory statute analysis exercise will also find the overview of statutory interpretation extremely helpful. Especially, I happened to find the evolution of the civil procedure rules particularly interesting, as they had been briefly alluded to on our course, and you really do get the impression of the English law as “work in progress” from following the various strands in this book. Readers of the Charonqc blog will in fact be aware that the civil procedure rules are continually themselves in a flux (see for example this blogpost from 5 December 2012). As it happened, I also happened to be studying criminal litigation at that time, and I found the chapters on bail, appeals, arrest, confessions and admissibility of evidence (all indeed highly examinable subjects on the Legal Practice Course) effective ‘proxy-revision'; reading the chapters did not feel like “work” in the same way that reading my course manual might have done. Finally, anyone with an interest in pro bono publico will find fascinating also the chapter on the funding of legal services extremely helpful.

This latest edition of The English Legal System furthermore presents and analyses changes made to the legal system by the coalition government, and digests recent legislation and case law. The Constitutional Reform and Governance Act 2010, the Crime and Security Act 2010, the Coroners and Justice Act 2009, new European law, and the latest decisions of the Supreme Court are all incorporated into the text, and this edition also digests recent research on the work of juries and the criminal courts, and the 2011 changes to the regulation of, and Government contributions towards, legal services.

Key learning features include:

• a clear and logical structure with short, manageable, well-structured individual chapters;
• diagrams (particularly useful for ‘visual learners’ like me);
• useful chapter summaries which act as a good check point for students;
• 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.

Slapper and Kelly’s “The English Legal System” is indeed the authoritative overview of this subject, so much so I anticipate that it will be referred to by senior judges in the course of their detailed judgments, if this has not happened already. Its popularity is additionally demonstrated by the ‘business analytics’ of Amazon [a rather different world]:

However, its value and worth are a great deal more than that.

For a podcast discussion between @garyslapper and @charonqc on the English legal system, please click here. Also, this is a helpful video on a previous edition:

 

 

For further books on the English legal system published by Routledge, please refer to this page.