Superior courts

The highest court is the House of Lords, which exercises the judicial function of Parliament. In theory appeal to the House of Lords is an appeal to the whole House but in practice, particularly since the Appellate Jurisdiction act, 1876, created a group of salaried life peers, the Lords of appeal in Ordinary, or “law lords”, there is an established convention dating from 1844 that lay peers do not participate in judicial sittings of the House.

The Court of Appeal sits in both civil and criminal divisions. The Civil division hears appeals from the High Court, county courts, certain special courts, and certain tribunals, such as the Lands Tribunal. The Criminal division hears appeals by persons convicted on indictment in the Crown Courts.

The High Court in its civil jurisdiction is divided into three Divisions (Queen’s Bench, Chancery, and Family) to each of which certain kinds of cases are assigned. The criminal jurisdiction of the High Court is exercised exclusively by the Queen’s Bench Division.

Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826)

Thomas Jefferson one of the American President of the past was born in Virginia in 1743. When he was 14 years old, his father died and the young boy was left to choose for himself what to do. Jefferson studied literature and languages. He also studied to be a lawyer, and later he wrote many of the Virginia laws. One of the laws for which he worked very much was a law to allow many children to go to school free. Schools in America were only for the children whose parents were rich.

The author of the Declaration of Independence did another important thing for the American people. He worked out a plan for a university where the students and teachers could live and work together in a village build for them. It was one of the first schools to teach science. Today, it is the University of Virginia. This well known man was also a self-taught architect. He introduced the simple classical design to America when he designed the Virginia State Capital Building. He also designed his own house, he remained the most influential architect of his time.

Дата добавления: 2015-07-19