UK Law and Justice: Principles and Challenges

📋 Course Outline

1. UK Legal Foundations
2. Human Rights Protections
3. Parliamentary Sovereignty
4. International Law Conflicts
5. Policing History and Development
6. Police and Rule of Law
7. Policing and Civil Liberties
8. Prison System and Overcrowding
9. Prison Conditions and Safety
10. Systemic Bias and Law
11. Anti-Discrimination Law
12. Equality Act 2010

📖 1. UK Legal Foundations

🔑 Key Concepts & Definitions

• Common Law: Judicially created law originating in medieval England, developed through court decisions rather than statutes, forming the basis of the UK legal system.
• Rule of Law: Principle that all individuals and authorities, including the government, are subject to and accountable under the law, ensuring legal equality and legitimacy.
• Parliamentary Sovereignty: Doctrine that Parliament is the supreme law-making authority in the UK, capable of creating or ending any law, with courts unable to strike down Acts of Parliament.
• European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR): International treaty adopted in 1950 to protect fundamental rights and freedoms; incorporated into UK law via the Human Rights Act 1998.
• Human Rights Act 1998: UK legislation that integrates the ECHR into domestic law, allowing courts to interpret legislation compatibly with Convention rights and issue declarations of incompatibility.
• Legal Sovereignty vs Judicial Oversight: Tension where Parliament retains ultimate legislative power, but courts…