The Study Legal English Podcast

🗒️ About this episode: Today's episode focuses on the court system of England and Wales as it is today. We find out about how we can categorise the courts including: into a hierarchy of inferior and senior courts; into criminal and civil courts; into trial and appellate courts. 🙏This podcast is free to help people around the world. Please help support me and the podcast with a donation⁠. 📙Ep...

🗒️ About this episode: Today I’ll be reading the second part of an article about the history of the judiciary in England and Wales. The first part read in Episode 44 covered the first 500 years of evolution and today we’ll be covering the next 500 years. 🙏This podcast is free to help people around the world. Please help support me and the podcast with a donation⁠. 📙Episode links Website page Thi...

🗒️ About this episode: Today's episode features the first part of an article published here  about the history of the judiciary in England and Wales. Today we’ll be covering the first 500 years of evolution and in the next episode we’ll deal with the next 500 years. You'll learn about the slow evolution of the judiciary including the first judges, judicial corruption, trial by ordeal and t...

🗒️ About this episode: In today's episode we are looking at some legal English grammar – yes!!! It’s time for the subjunctive! The subjunctive is a mark of an educated speaker and it can also be very effective in persuasive legal discourse both in writing and spoken language. In this episode we find out: how the subjunctive is formed; when we use it; why we use it. We also practise some exerci...

🗒️ About this episode: Today's episode looks at some of the Legal English terms which feature in this week's blog post from guest blogger Dmitry. Dmitry's blog post features vocabulary he learnt in the pilot episode of Judge John Deed. In this podcast episode look at more detail at some of three terms - Plead, Order, Sentence - but of course we cover much more along the way, especially...

🗒️ About this episode: Today I interview Dr Jan Bamford, Head of Student Experience and Academic Outcomes at the Guildhall School of Business and Law at London Metropolitan University. Jan carries out research related to international learning and international students' experiences in the UK. This interview is particular interesting for international students studying in the UK or for prospec...

🗒️ About this episode: Today's episode is an introduction to International Law as a source of law in the English Legal System. We answer some basic questions like: What is international law? What are the sources of international law? How does it work? Who does it involve? The episode contains lots of legal English vocabulary and Podcast Pro Members can access further materials. Additionally, t...

🗒️ About this episode: When I was at the LEX ESP V Conference at Alicante University I was lucky enough to interview David Best, the President of the European Legal English Teachers' Association ( EULETA ) and course coordinator and teacher for legal English at The Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB). We talk about: How David became a legal English teacher; How David teaches legal English incl...

🗒️ About this episode: "...the Human Rights Act 1998 is incredibly important and has been hailed as one of the most important pieces of UK legislation this century! But why so?" Today's episode is an introduction to human rights law as a source of law in the English legal system. We talk about: The European Convention on Human Rights The Human Rights Act 1998 Why human rights are imp...

🗒️ About this episode: "Parliamentary supremacy is a very old principle of the UK’s unique uncodified constitution and it refers to Parliament being the ultimate law-maker." Today's episode is about Parliamentary Supremacy, the Supremacy of EU Law, and Brexit. We look at: What Parliamentary supremacy is and how it is limited. What EU supremacy is and how it operates in relation to Pa...

🗒️ About this episode: "The Treaty Establishing the European Economic Community talks about maintaining economic and social progress and eliminating barriers which divide Europe. In order to achieve these goals of course, laws are necessary...." Today's episode includes: Primary sources of EU law Treaties Secondary sources of EU law Regulations Directives Recommendations Opinions Sup...

🗒️ About this episode: "The European Union has a range of institutions which help it to achieve its objectives and through which it creates and implements law and policy..." Today's episode is about the institutions of the European Union. It covers the 7 institutions what they consist of and what they do: The European Parliament The European Council The Council of the European Union...

🗒️ About this episode: "There was a recognition in Europe of the need for countries to work together in politics, economics and security..." Today's episode is about the development of the European Union. It covers: The history of the EU; The reasons why the EU was set up; The treaties which the EU is founded on. 🙏This podcast is free to help people around the world. Please help sup...

🗒️ About this episode: "Historically it operated totally separately from the common law, with separate courts and totally separate cases. But nowadays things are a little bit different... " Today's episode is about equity. The episode includes: What equity is; The origins of equity; Equitable maxims and equitable remedies; Equity today. 🙏This podcast is free to help people around th...

🗒️ About this episode: Today's episode is about the doctrine of judicial precedent. The episode includes: What precedent is; The different types of precedent; How precedent is applied in the courts. 🙏This podcast is free to help people around the world. Please help support me and the podcast with a donation⁠. 📙Episode links Website page This episode is part of the English Legal System (Modul...

🗒️ About this episode: "The common law has played an extremely important role in shaping the English legal system that we know today." Today's episode is about the common law. The episode includes: The origins of common law; Comparing common law to civil law; Learning about the way case law is reported; Discussing some key legal English vocabulary. 🙏This podcast is free to help peop...

🗒️ About this episode: "...It's crazy that books are being thrown away when they could be sent to Uganda, for example, to provide useful resources to the judges..." In this episode I interview Katrina Crossley the CEO of the International Law Book Facility (ILBF). The ILBF provides all kinds of secondhand law books to public and not-for-profit organisations around the world. We talk...

🗒️ About this episode: "What is 'expressio unius est exclusio alterius'? It's not a spell from Harry Potter but it actually means 'to specify one thing excludes the others'." In this episode we look again at how courts interpret legislation. This time we’re looking at two specific things: rules of language; ejusdem generis, expressio unius est exclusio alterius and no...

🗒️ About this episode: 'The laws passed by Parliament...should be clear and easy to apply. However, sometimes this isn't the case and instead, the wording is unclear and ambiguous....the courts cannot simply apply the law... instead they must interpret it. But how do they do this?' In today’s episode we’re looking at how courts interpret legislation. First, we’ll look at why courts mus...

🗒️ About this episode: 'I was sitting in the Old Bailey one day, listening to a very interesting case.... I looked up into the public gallery and there was not a soul in there. And I thought, people would like to listen to this' An interview with Tim Wood who worked for many years as a successful journalist, reporting on some of the most important criminal court cases. Tim went on to set u...

🗒️ About this episode: 'AIJA betters people' An interview with Xavier Costa, Vice-President of AIJA (The International Association of Young Lawyers) and Senior Associate at leading law firm  Roca Junyent , Barcelona, Spain. We talk about how Xavier became a lawyer, his role as the Vice-President of AIJA and what AIJA is. We find out why Xavier is so passionate about AIJA and international...

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🗒️ About this episode: If you're a law student studying a law course in English you may have to read an Act of Parliament or if you're a lawyer working for international clients you may from time-to-time have to consult U.K. legislation. In today's episode we look at how to read an Act of Parliament using the Criminal Finances Acts 2017 as an example. We learn about: The different part...