2. The Budget and Parliament Law of the United Kingdom

Wales[edit]

Main article: Welsh law
See also: Proposed Wales criminal justice system

The main entrance to Cardiff Crown Court
Welsh law is the primary and secondary legislation generated by the Senedd, using the devolved authority granted in the Government of Wales Act 2006, amended substantially by Wales Act 2014 and Wales Act 2017, and in effect since May 2007. Each piece of Welsh legislation is known as an Act of Senedd Cymru.
As there is no criminal law within contemporary Welsh law, Wales is not generally considered a fourth jurisdiction of the United Kingdom. This is because the judiciary and the courts follow England and Wales law, which is made by the Parliament at Westminster, and is not specific to Wales. Although Welsh law is recognised as separate in operation, this is not sufficient for Wales to constitute a separate legal jurisdiction.
A commission set up in 2017 by the First Minister of Wales known as "The Commission on Justice in Wales" and chaired by Lord Thomas of Cwmgiedd, looked into the operation of justice in the country. Its aim was to further clarify the legal and political identity of Wales within the UK constitution. The commission's report was released in October 2019 and recommended the full devolution of the justice system. This would formalise Wales as the fourth jurisdiction of the UK.^[13]
There have been multiple calls from both academics and politicians however for a Wales criminal justice system.^[14][15][4]

Northern Ireland[edit]

Main article: Law of Northern Ireland

The Royal Courts of Justice in Belfast, Northern Ireland
The law of Northern Ireland is a common law system. It is administered by the courts of Northern Ireland, with ultimate appeal to the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom in both civil and criminal matters. The law of Northern Ireland is closely similar to English law, the rules of common law having been imported into the Kingdom of Ireland under English rule. However, there are important differences.
The sources of the law of Northern Ireland are Irish common law, and statute law. Of the latter, statutes of the Parliaments of Ireland, of the United Kingdom and of Northern Ireland are in force, and latterly statutes of the devolved Northern Ireland Assembly. The courts of Northern Ireland are headed by the Court of Judicature of Northern Ireland, consisting of the Northern Ireland Court of Appeal, the Northern Ireland High Court of Justice and the Northern Ireland Crown Court.
Below that are county courts and magistrates' courts. The Supreme Court is the highest court in the land for both criminal and civil appeal cases in Northern Ireland and any decision it makes is binding on every other court in the same jurisdiction and often has persuasive effect in its other jurisdictions.
Northern Ireland Assembly

Scotland[edit]

Main article: Scots law

Parliament House in Edinburgh is the seat of the Supreme Courts of Scotland.
Scots law is a unique legal system with an ancient basis in Roman law. Grounded in uncodified civil law dating back to the Corpus Juris Civilis, it also features elements of common law with medieval sources. Thus Scotland has a pluralistic, or 'mixed', legal system, comparable to that of South Africa, and, to a lesser degree, the partly codified pluralistic systems of Louisiana and Quebec.
Since the formation of the Kingdom of Great Britain under the 1707 Acts of Union, Scots law has shared a legislature with England and Wales. While each retained fundamentally different legal systems, the 1707 Union brought English and Welsh influence upon Scots law, and vice versa. Since the accession of the United Kingdom to the European Communities in 1973, Scots law has been affected by European law under the Treaty of Rome. The establishment of Scottish Parliament in 1999, which legislates within domestic areas of legislative competence, has created a further major source of Scots law.
The chief courts are the Court of Session, for civil cases,^[16] and the High Court of Justiciary, for criminal cases.^[17] The Supreme Court of the United Kingdom serves as the highest court of appeal for civil cases under Scots law, with leave to appeal from the Court of Session not required as a general rule.^[18] However, unlike in the rest of the United Kingdom, the Supreme Court has no role as the highest court of appeal for Scottish criminal cases: this is forbidden by Article XIX of the Treaty of Union between Scotland and England.^[19]
Sheriff courts deal with most civil and criminal cases including conducting criminal trials with a jury, known as sheriff solemn court, or with a sheriff and no jury, known as sheriff summary court. The sheriff courts provide a local court service with 49 sheriff courts organised across six sheriffdoms.^[20] The Scottish legal system is unique in having three possible verdicts for a criminal trial: "guilty", "not guilty" and "not proven". Both "not guilty" and "not proven" result in an acquittal with no possibility of retrial.^[21]
In very rare circumstances, the High Court of Justiciary can create new criminal offences without reference to Parliament, using its declaratory power to do so.
The Cabinet Secretary for Justice is the member of the Scottish Government responsible for Police Scotland, the courts and criminal justice, and the Scottish Prison Service, which manages the prisons in Scotland.^[22]