OCR A-Level Law: the legal system (Component 1, Section A) complete overview

The legal system is the first half of OCR A-Level Law Component 1 (H418/01). It is the institutional backdrop to the whole course: the courts, the people who run them, and how ordinary citizens reach justice. This overview ties the four topics together and shows how Section A and Section B test them. Each topic has a matching dot-point page.

The civil and criminal courts

Civil claims (contract and tort) are brought by a claimant in the County Court or High Court and allocated to the small claims, fast or multi-track under the Civil Procedure Rules 1998. Criminal cases are classified as summary, either-way or indictable, tried in the Magistrates' Court (about 94 per cent of cases) or the Crown Court. Disputes can also be resolved outside court by ADR: negotiation, mediation, conciliation and arbitration.

Lay people

Lay magistrates are unpaid volunteers who try summary and either-way cases as a bench of three, advised on law by a legal adviser. Juries of 12, selected at random from the electoral register under the Juries Act 1974, decide the facts in Crown Court trials. Both bring legitimacy and community values, and both attract criticism over consistency and competence.

Legal personnel and the judiciary

Solicitors (regulated by the SRA) are the first point of contact and advise, draft and litigate; barristers (regulated by the BSB) are specialist advocates; legal executives (CILEx) specialise in one area. The judiciary ranges from the Supreme Court Justices to District Judges, appointed on merit by the Judicial Appointments Commission. Judicial independence is protected by security of tenure, guaranteed salaries, immunity from suit and the separation of powers strengthened by the Constitutional Reform Act 2005.

Access to justice

People fund legal help through legal aid (cut for civil cases by LASPO 2012), private funding including conditional fee agreements, and free advice agencies. Access to justice now depends heavily on the area of law and ability to pay.

How the legal system is examined

• Section A (AO1, medium tariff). Describe an institution or process accurately, with the right statute and an example (for example the three tracks, the Juries Act 1974, the funding routes).
• Section B (AO3, evaluation). Judge the extent to which something works (ADR versus the courts, the use of juries, judicial independence, access to justice), arguing both sides and concluding.