W101 16J Tutorial 5 – Student Activities
W101: An introduction to law
Tutorial 5: Student activities
Date of Tutorial: 11th March 2017
Time: 10am -1pm
Venue: Cambridge Regional College, King Hedges Road, CB4 2QT
This tutorial will consolidate your knowledge and understanding of the materials in Units 11, 12, 13 & 14. It will also focus on developing your skills in answering problem-style questions in preparation for TMA03.
KNOWLEDGE
Activity 1 – Tribunals
In Unit 11 you learned about administrative tribunals.
In this activity, your tutor will read aloud a number of statements about administrative tribunals. Your task is to decide whether each statement is true or false.
Your tutor will explain how this activity will be organised.
Activity 2 – Strengths and weaknesses of the tribunal system
In Unit 11 you were asked to weigh up the tribunal system.
For this activity consider the words in list below and identify in the chart which represent strengths and which weaknesses. Then think about why you have made that choice.
Strength / Weakness / Why?Cost
Lack of public knowledge
Advice
Speed
Informality
‘Cinderella service’
Delays
Expertise
Representation
Improved structure
Loss of specialist expertise
Activity 3 - Employment Tribunals
You learned about Employment Tribunals in Unit 11.
Answer the following questions and be ready to discuss your responses with the rest of the group.
1. What is the function of Employment Tribunals?
2. What were the main reforms to Employment Tribunals that were introduced in 2013?
3. What criticisms are made of these reforms?
Activity 4 - Judicial roles and appointments
You learned about the judiciary in Unit 12. This activity will consolidate your understanding of senior judicial roles, and you will consider which qualities you think should be, and which qualities actually are, regarded as important in people who wish to be considered for judicial posts.
Part 1
Match the role descriptions with the senior positions relating to the judiciary in the table below.
Position / RoleLord Chief Justice
Lord Chancellor
Master of the Rolls
President of the Supreme Court
Lord/Lady Justice of Appeal
Lords of Appeal in Ordinary
Supreme Court Justice
Roles
A. Heads the Supreme Court judiciary as its most senior member and sits as a Supreme Court Justice and on the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council. Has leadership, administrative and ambassadorial responsibilities in relation to the Supreme Court.
B. The most senior judge in England and Wales, the head of the judiciary, President of the Senior Courts of England and Wales and President of the Criminal Division of the Court of Appeal.
C. Member of the Supreme Court.
D. Ordinary member of the Court of Appeal.
E. The second most senior member of the judiciary, head of Civil Justice in England and Wales and President of the Civil Division of the Court of Appeal, as well as a judge in the Court of Appeal.
F. The ‘Law Lords’, judges who sat in the Appellate Committee of the House of Lords and the Privy Council, prior to the creation of the Supreme Court pursuant to the Constitutional Reform Act 2005.
G. Now occupied by the Minister of Justice. Prior to the Constitutional Reform Act 2005 reforms, this role included a number of judicial and other functions including head of the judiciary and speaker of the House of Lords. Most of these functions have now been removed in order to enhance the separation of powers. The role maintains some functions in relation to judicial appointments and constitutional affairs.
Activity 5 - Judicial independence
a)The Courts and Tribunals Judiciary website (http://www.judiciary.gov.uk/about-the-judiciary/the-judiciary-the-government-and-the-constitution/jud-acc-ind/independence/ accessed 28 January 2015) says the following about judicial independence:
It is vitally important in a democracy that individual judges and the judiciary as a whole are impartial and independent of all external pressures and of each other so that those who appear before them and the wider public can have confidence that their cases will be decided fairly and in accordance with the law. When carrying out their judicial function they must be free of any improper influence. Such influence could come from any number of sources. It could arise from improper pressure by the executive or the legislature, by individual litigants, particular pressure groups, the media, self-interest or other judges, in particular more senior judges.
Judicial independence is now guaranteed by Section 3 of the Constitutional Reform Act 2005, which states that government ministers ‘must uphold the continued independence of the judiciary’.
Your tutor will explain how this activity will be organised, but you will be asked to define each of the concepts highlighted in your own words and explain how each relates to the idea of judicial independence. You may wish to make notes in the table during or after the activity.
Concept / Definition / Relationship to Judicial IndependenceSeparation of powers
Parliamentary sovereignty
Declaratory theory of law
Judicial Deference
6. b.Please consider and discuss in pairs the diversity of the judiciary
Activity 6.a. - The essentials of criminal and civil liability
Consider the following terms. Which relate to criminal liability? Which relate to civil liability? Which relate to both?
Term / Criminal or Civil liability or BothMens rea
Proof on the balance of probabilities
Intentional
Reckless
Negligent
Guilty
Prosecution
Defendant
Claimant
Activity 6b - Explaining the terms
Can you explain the meaning of each of the terms considered in Activity 6?
Activity 7 - Civil and Criminal liability
Dr Hall is a surgeon at Charmingwood Hospital.
(a) Dr Hall operates on Ms White, who is the last patient at the end of an 18-hour shift. Dr Hall is having trouble concentrating, the knife slips and Ms White suffers damage.
(b) Dr Hall operates on Mr Patel after having consumed five glasses of wine at the hospital Christmas drinks party. The knife slips and Mr Patel suffers damage.
(c) Dr Hall performs a complex operation on an inaccessible part of Mrs Smith’s spinal cord, the knife slips and Mrs Smith suffers damage.
(d) Dr Hall operates on Mr Wood who has a serious heart condition and should not be under general anaesthetic for a long time. In an effort to get the operation over quickly, Dr Hall rushes and the knife slips causing damage to Mr Wood.
(e) Dr Hall has a seizure whilst operating on Mr Ali and the knife slips causing Mr Ali damage.
Decide whether Dr Hall’s actions in each scenario would give rise to criminal or civil liability.
Activity 8 - Test for negligence- the reasonable person test
Part A
Read the extract below and then answer the following questions:
1. Explain in your own words the reasonable person test
2. If the defendant is performing actions which require a special skill how is the test defined?
Bolam -v Friern hospital management committee [1957] 1 WLR 582, [1957] 2 All ER 118
Coram: McNair J
Negligence was alleged against a doctor.
Held: McNair J directed the jury: ‘Where some special skill is exercised, the test for negligence is not the test of the man on the Clapham omnibus, because he has not got this special skill. The test is the standard of the ordinary skilled man exercising or professing to have that special skill. It is the duty of a professional man to exercise reasonable skill and care in the light of his actual knowledge and whether he exercised reasonable care cannot be answered by reference to a lesser degree of knowledge than he had, on the grounds that the ordinary competent practitioner would only have had that lesser degree of knowledge. This is not a gloss upon the test of negligence as applied to a professional man. That test is only to be applied where the professional man causes damage because he lacks some knowledge or awareness. The test establishes the degree of knowledge or awareness which he ought to have in that context. Where, however, a professional man has knowledge, and acts or fails to act in way which, having that knowledge he ought reasonably to foresee would cause damage, then, if the other aspects of duty are present, he would be liable in negligence by virtue of the direct application of Lord Atkins’ original test in Donoghue v Stevenson. ‘it is not enough to show that another expert would have given a different answer ... the issue is ... whether [the defendant] has acted in accordance with practices which are regarded as acceptable by a respectable body of opinion in his profession’ and ‘How do you test whether this act or failure is negligent? In an ordinary case it is generally said you judge it by the action of the man in the street. He is the ordinary man. But where you get a situation which involves some special skill or competence, then the test of whether there has been negligence or not is not the test of the man on the top of the Clapham omnibus, because he has not got this special skill. The test is the standard of the ordinary skilled man exercising and professing to have that special skill.’
Part B
What do you think the test of a reasonable parent should be?
Mr and Mrs Andrews hired a bouncy castle and a bungee run for a party for their twins- Harry and Carol to celebrate their 10th Birthday. They hire the inflatables from ‘Bouncy Castle World’ with the hire documents is a ‘safety instruction sheet’. On the sheet it says that the inflatables should be supervised by a responsible adult at all times and to limit the number on the inflatable depending on age and size. They invite 18 children to the party who ranged in age from 9 to 13 years old. In addition to the inflatables they set up football nets. The party starts at 11am and the children play on the inflatables and football. Mr Andrews is supervising the football and Mrs Andrews is stood by the inflatables. At about 11.45am there are 4 children on the bouncy castle, including Elizabeth aged 10 and William aged 13. William is very tall for his age. At the same time, one of the children, Grace gets stuck on the bungee run, Mrs Andrews goes over to help her. Whilst Mrs Andrews is helping Grace, there is a loud scream. Mr and Mrs Andrews rush over to the bouncy castle- Elizabeth has been seriously injured- it appears that Elizabeth and William have being doing somersaults on the castle and in the process of somersaulting William has landed on Elizabeth causing her injury.
Thinking about how you answered part A:
1. What standard of proof should the court impose?
2. Are Mr and Mrs Andrews responsible for the injuries to Elizabeth?
Activity 9 - Strict liability in criminal law
1. What is a strict liability offence?
2. Reg owns a shop and he has a franchise to sell lottery tickets. Diane and her friend Lucy come into the shop and want to buy lottery tickets. Diane and Lucy are wearing football tops from their local football team. Reg asks if they are over 16 and they say they are. He sells a ticket to Diane, who is in fact 15. How do the laws relating to strict liability affect Reg?
3. Flavia owns a wine bar and she employs Vincent as a barman and waiter. Flavia tells Vincent to check all customers for proof of age. Vincent’s niece, Chantelle, who is 16, visits the wine bar and asks Vincent for a large glass of white wine. Vincent says he cannot serve her as she is underage. Chantelle asks again and Vincent sells her a large glass of white wine. How do the laws relating to strict liability affect Flavia? Would it make a difference if Chantelle had been accompanied by her parents and was sat at a table eating dinner?
4. What are the advantages and disadvantages of strict liability offences? Do you think they are a good idea?
SKILLS
Activity 10 – Referencing
This activity is designed to help you grasp the principles of referencing. This important academic skill is required in all your future TMAs, and you will gain marks if you reference your materials correctly.
1. Which of the following statements in a TMA would need an in-text citation?
A. The Houses of Parliament are located at Westminster.
B. The Prime Minister is usually the person who leads the party that has most seats in the House of Commons.
C. In order to become an Act, a Bill must pass through five stages in each of the House of Commons and the House of Lords.
D. The rule of law is regarded by some commentators as meaning that everyone is equal before the law, and that no one can be punished unless a law has been broken.
E. The United Kingdom is a member state of the European Union.
2. Which of the following examples would be acceptable ways to provide an in-text citation?
A. The system of judicial precedent means that courts are bound by the decisions of those above them in the hierarchy (The Open University, 2016a, 7.1).
B. Unit 6 states that the system of judicial precedent means that courts are bound by the decisions of those above them in the hierarchy.
C. The Open University (2016a, 7.1) points out that system of judicial precedent means that courts are bound by the decisions of those above them in the hierarchy.
D. The common law system of judicial precedent operates on a hierarchical system, meaning that the lower courts are bound by the decisions of the higher courts (Unit 6).