Why is England called Britain? Where does England come from?

Name of the country

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (English: The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland). Abbreviations: The United Kingdom or Britain.

Flag

The flag of the United Kingdom is a horizontal rectangle, with a length to width ratio of 2:1. It is a "m" flag, consisting of a dark blue background with red and white "m" letters. The red cross with a white border represents St. George, the patron saint of England, the white cross represents St. Andrew, the patron saint of Scotland, and the red cross represents St. Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland. The flag was created in 1801 as an overlap of the original red square ten on a white field of England, the white crossed cross on a blue field of Scotland and the red crossed cross on a white field of Ireland.

Coat of arms

The coat of arms of the United Kingdom is the King's Coat of Arms. The centerpiece is a coat of arms, the upper left and lower right corners of the shield for the three golden lions on a red ground, symbolizing England; the upper right corner of the red lion half standing on a gold ground, symbolizing Scotland; the lower left corner of the golden harp on a blue ground, symbolizing Northern Ireland. The coat of arms is supported on each side by a lion wearing a crown, representing England, and a unicorn, representing Scotland. The coat of arms is surrounded by a motto in French, meaning "What goes around comes around"; at the lower end hangs the Order of the Guardian, with the ribbon reading "God in Heaven, I have the right". At the top of the coat of arms is a jeweled gold and silver helmet, the Imperial Crown and a lion wearing the crown.

Motto

Dieu et mon droit (French: There is a God in heaven, and I have rights)

National anthem

"God Save the Queen". If the reigning monarch is male, the anthem is changed to "God Save the King". God Save the Queen is the national anthem and royal anthem of the Commonwealth of Nations.

Capital city

London. Britain's largest city and first port, one of the largest metropolitan areas in Europe and one of the world's three major financial centers. It has a population of 7,512,400 and an area of 1,577.3 square kilometers.

Language

The official language is English (non-statutory). There are also Welsh, Irish, Ulster Scots, Scots, Scottish Gaelic, and Celtic as official languages in the regions of the UK.

Area

244,820 square kilometers (79th in the world for countries and regions). Of this area, 1.34% is water.

Population

60,943,912 (2008 statistics), with a population density of 246 people per square kilometer (48th in the world for countries and regions). The male to female ratio is 0.98:1.

Ethnicity

The population of the United Kingdom is 85.67% White British, 6.47% White Other, 4.00% South Asian, 2.00% Black, 1.20% Mixed, and 0.80% East Asian and Other (2001).

Political system

Parliamentary democracy, constitutional monarchy

Political dignitaries

Head of state HM Queen Elizabeth II. 1952. Reached the throne on February 6, 1952, and was crowned on June 2, 1953; Prime Minister Gordon Brown (UKIP). formally assumed office on June 27, 2007

History

May 1, 1707, England was united with Scotland;

January 1, 1801, with Ireland;

April 12, 1922, the Anglo-Irish Treaty came into force, and the southern part of Ireland broke away from its domination to form an independent state;

January 1, 1973, it entered into the European **** Commonwealth.

Administrative divisions

The United Kingdom is divided into four parts: England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. England is divided into 43 counties, 29 districts and 3 special jurisdictions under Scotland, 26 districts under Northern Ireland and 22 districts under Wales. The Scottish and Welsh assemblies and their administrations have overall responsibility for local affairs, while foreign affairs, defense, general economic and monetary policy, employment policy, and social security remain under the control of the central government. In addition, the UK has 12 overseas dependencies.

Gross Domestic Product (Purchasing Power Parity)

$2.270 trillion (2007, 6th largest country and region in the world). GDP per capita $37,328 (13th in the world for countries and territories).

Gross Domestic Product (nominal)

$2.772 trillion (2007, 5th in the world for countries and regions). GDP per capita $45,845 (9th in the world for countries and regions).

Gini coefficient

0.34 (2005)

Human development index

0.946 (high, 2005, 16th in the world for countries and territories)

Currency

Pound sterling. Currency code GBP.

Time

Greenwich Mean Time (GMT). 0 UTC.

Summer Time is British Summer Time (BST). 1 UTC.

National Flower

Rose

National Bird

Red-breasted Dove

National Stone

Diamond

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International domain name abbreviation

.uk

Long-distance telephone code

+44

The United Kingdom (UK) is the United Kingdom consisting of England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland, united under one central government and head of state. The country is a stable and peaceful place to live, with a low crime rate and very little violence. The United Kingdom has a mild climate with no extremes of heat or cold and four seasons of spring. Transportation is easy, road and rail systems are safe and efficient, and telecommunications are among the most advanced in the world. Large cities have not risen rapidly over time, which has preserved many historic buildings and monuments and ensured that large areas of parkland and green space remain unoccupied. As Europe's largest and most cosmopolitan city, London is the political and cultural center of the United Kingdom, an unapologetically cosmopolitan city, and home to the headquarters of many international organizations and corporations.

The UK is a multicultural and open-minded society. Britain's art, music, culture and food have been influenced by the customs of people and nations from different countries around the world, and it has long and close links with many of them. Until now, it maintains strong relations with English-speaking countries such as the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. The UK is a member of the European Union (EU) and has been a consistent and enthusiastic supporter of maintaining and developing EU-China relations for over 25 years. The UK is the largest investor in China from an EU country.

The UK was the first industrialized country in the world, with many scientific discoveries and inventions, such as penicillin, deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), the first computer and jet engines, among others. Britain has the fifth largest economy in the world and is Europe's largest financial center. London's financial markets attract companies from all over the world to take advantage of Britain's business opportunities. For more than 200 years, Britain's schools and colleges have grown in tandem with the country's remarkable technological, industrial and financial revolution. But its history of first-class education is even longer, dating back to the days when the universities of Oxford and Cambridge were founded more than 500 years ago.

I. Geography

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Geography

The United Kingdom is located in Europe, and is made up of the island of Great Britain (which includes England, Scotland, and Wales), as well as Northern Ireland in the northeast of the island of Ireland, and a number of small islands (overseas territories). The British mainland is located in the British Isles in the northwest of mainland Europe, surrounded by the North Sea, the English Channel, the Celtic Sea, the Irish Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. 243,600 square kilometers (including inland waters), England area of 13. 04,000 square kilometers, Scotland, 7. 88,000 square kilometers, Wales, 2. 08,000 square kilometers, and Northern Ireland, 1. 36,000 square kilometers. An island nation located in the western part of Europe. It consists of the island of Great Britain (including England, Scotland, and Wales), the northeastern part of the island of Ireland, and some small islands. It is separated from mainland Europe by the North Sea, the Strait of Dover, and the English Channel. Its land border is with Ireland*** and the country. The total length of the coastline is 11,450 kilometers. The territory is divided into four parts: the plains of south-east England, the mountains of the west-central region, the mountains of Scotland, and the highlands and mountains of Northern Ireland.

Hydrology

The rivers Severn (354 km) and Thames (346 km). Northern Ireland's Lough Neagh, with an area of 396 square kilometers, is the largest in the country.

Climate

It has an oceanic temperate broad-leaved forest climate, which is mild and humid all year round. Usually the highest temperature does not exceed 32 ℃, the lowest temperature is not less than -10 ℃, the average temperature in January 4 ~ 7 ℃, July 13 ~ 17 ℃. Much rain and fog, especially in the fall and winter. Therefore, London is known as the city of fog. The average annual precipitation is about 1,000 millimeters. The annual precipitation in the mountainous areas in the north and west exceeds 2,000 millimeters, while that in the central and eastern parts of the country is less than 800 millimeters. It is driest from February to March and wettest from October to January. The country's climate is temperate maritime.

Resources

The main mineral resources of the UK are coal, iron, oil and gas. The total reserves of hard coal are 170 billion tons. Iron reserves are about 3.8 billion tons. There are tin mines in the Cornwall Peninsula in the southwest. There are large deposits of rock salt in Cheshire and Durham. Staffordshire has fine clays. The Cornwall Peninsula produces white clay. Dolomite can be mined on the eastern slopes of the Pennines. Quartz deposits are found near the Schildley Hills in southwestern Lancashire. In the British North Sea continental shelf oil reserves of about 10 to 4 billion tons. Natural gas reserves range from 8,600 to 2,585 billion cubic meters.

The environment

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Ancient monuments

The numerous castles and country houses are a testament to the fact that for a long time Britain's landed estates were owned by aristocratic families. A large number of valuable old buildings have been preserved intact, including the Duke of Marlborough's Blenheim Palace, the Duke of Devonshire's Chatsworth Palace and the Marquis of Bath's Longleat House, which are still in use today, and were constructed by these princes and nobles in the Georgian, Tudor, Elizabethan and other periods of history. These private estates and mansions built by the princes and nobles in the Georgian, Tudor, Elizabethan and other historical periods are typical representatives of British historical buildings. Many private estates and houses scattered in towns and villages, as well as old walls, towers, unique buildings and other monumental buildings are actively protected as Britain's historical heritage, and the protected historical buildings also include old mining towers, mills and factories of the Industrial Revolution, the Iron Bridge and other bridges built by Thomas Telford, the Firth of Forth Bridge, and the masterpieces of iron and steel architecture. -Forsyth Bridge, and the graceful Clifton Suspension Bridge, to name a few.

Gardens

The National Trust for England and the National Trust for Scotland look after some 240 gardens in England and develop them for the public. English Heritage is also the custodian of some of Britain's most important landscapes, including the Charles Darwin Garden at Downhouse in Kent, the 18th-century landscaped gardens designed by the multi-talented Browne at Alderley Manor in Essex, and Queen Elizabeth's Queen Mother's Garden at Wormull Castle in Kent, designed by Penelope Hobhouse, to name but a few. In addition to this, there is the South Moat Garden designed by designer Isabelle von Groeneneggen for Eltham Palace (ELTHAM) in South London, the walled flower and fruit garden designed by Rupert Golbey in the Osborne Estate, and Queen Victoria's Home Garden on the Isle of Wight, among others.

Britain's major cities, especially London, are renowned for their beautiful and well-protected parks. Including Hyde Park, St. James's Park and Green Park, London's Royal Gardens represent the highest level of European garden art, not only that, in Greater London can be seen everywhere in the shape of the beautiful, well cared for gardens for public recreation and leisure use. The Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew in south-west London contain a vast collection of surviving and protected trees, seeds and plants, and the gardens themselves are an encyclopedia of the plant kingdom, as well as serving as a scientific center for botanical research around the globe. In Cornwall, the Millennium Commission provided ￡40 million of funding to transform a disused clay pit into a new and unique garden in the world, known as the Eden Project. In addition, there are seven National Parks in England and three in Wales, each preserving large areas of natural beauty, most of which are privately owned. Scotland is to establish a National Park at LOCH LOMOND and TROSSACHS, with plans for a further National Park at Carn Gorms.

Transportation

The prosperity of the British Isles since the fourteenth century has been increasingly dependent on the ability of its people to fight foreign wars, explore and pioneer, colonize vigorously and expand trade. The hegemony that the British Isles achieved at sea largely empowered their people to do this. The large-scale, systematic shipbuilding industry in England began during the reign of King John, who established the Royal Naval Shipyard in Portsmouth Harbor in the early thirteenth century. This was followed by the establishment of the East India Company in 1600, and the ensuing expeditions and exploratory expeditions to the Far East, Southeast Asia, the Americas, and Australia. However, a greater contribution to Britain's maritime hegemony than its shipbuilding capabilities was the invention of navigational technology and navigational instruments, including the sextant, used to determine longitude and latitude, which was successfully invented in the second half of the nineteenth century in the imposing Belfast Clyde Shipyards, the Tyne and Wear Shipyard.

The invention of the steam engine sparked a revolution in British transportation and launched the era of railroads and steamships, and in 1825 the world's first railroad service hauled by a steam locomotive opened between Stockton and Darlington. The achievements of steam locomotives on land were limited by the fact that a large amount of land surface was unsuitable for steam locomotives, but, at sea, steamships were a great success. In the early and mid-nineteenth century, British engineer Isambard Kyndham Brunel designed three intergenerational steamships that changed the previous design of the steamship and made ocean voyages possible. In the history of road construction, McAdam was the first engineer to introduce hard-wearing surfaced roads, using compacted gravel; Thomas Telford and Brunel were involved in the construction of many of Britain's classic bridges, including the Great Iron Bridge in Shropshire and the Clifton Suspension Bridge in Bristol, and they were involved in building culverts and tunnels with a high level of engineering skill. Thus was born a mode of transportation capable of meeting the needs of the Industrial Revolution.

Three, history

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Beginning of the Mediterranean Sea, the Iberians, Bikers, Celts, came to Britain. The southeastern part of the island of Great Britain was ruled by the Roman Empire in the 1st-5th centuries AD. After the withdrawal of the Romans, the Angles, Saxons, Jutes in the north of Europe invaded and settled. 7 century began to form a feudal system, many small countries and into seven kingdoms, fighting for 200 years, known as the "Anglo-Saxon era". 829 Wessex King Egbert At the end of the 8th century, England was invaded by the Danes, and from 1016 to 1042 it was part of the Danish pirate empire. After a short period of rule by the English kings, England was conquered by the Duke of Normandy in 1066. 1215 King John was forced to sign the Magna Carta, which curtailed the power of the king, and the Hundred Years' War was fought between England and France from 1338 to 1453, with England first winning and then losing. 1536 saw the union of Wales with England, and the defeat of Spain's "Invincible Armada" in 1588. "In 1640 Britain was the first country in the world to break out in the bourgeois revolution and became the forerunner of the bourgeois revolution. 1649 May 19th proclaimed the establishment of the State of **** and the State. 1660 saw the restoration of the dynasty, and the Glorious Revolution took place in 1668, which established the monarchical rule. "In 1707 England was united with Scotland and then with Ireland in 1801. from the second half of the 18th century to the first half of the 19th century, it became the first country in the world to complete the Industrial Revolution. the 19th century was the heyday of the British Empire, occupying in 1914 colonies 111 times larger than the mainland, and it was the first colonial power, calling itself the It was the first colonial power and called itself the "Sunset Empire". It began to decline after the First World War. Britain set up the County of Northern Ireland in 1920 and allowed the southern part of Ireland to break away from its rule and set up an independent country from 1921 to 1922. 1931 saw the promulgation of the Westminster Act, which forced the British Empire to recognize the autonomy of its self-governing territories in terms of internal and external affairs, and the colonial system of the British Empire was shaken up from that time onwards. In the Second World War, Britain's economic power was greatly weakened and its political status declined. With the independence of India and Pakistan in 1947, the colonial system of the British Empire collapsed in the 1960s, and in January 1973 the United Kingdom joined the European ****s. Historically, England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland were four countries. Later, England and Wales were united by marriage, and later, when the last Tudor king, Elizabeth I, was left without a queen, she passed the throne to her nephew, King Junckers of Scotland, and Scotland and England were united. Later, Charles, son of Junckers, was overthrown by the revolutionary army of Cromwell, who conquered Ireland by force of arms during his reign. In 1923, the British Parliament decided to divide Ireland into 2 parts, with the 23 counties in the south becoming independent as the **** and State of Ireland, while the 4 counties in the north remained in the United Kingdom as Northern Ireland. Great Britain is an island, is England, Scotland and Wales *** with the composition of the so-called UK is the abbreviation of Unit kingdom, that is, the United Kingdom means.

Monarchy

The monarchy is the oldest system of government in the world today. Since taking the throne in 1952, Queen Elizabeth II has been the head of the United Kingdom, and she is also a direct descendant of King Egbert. During her reign, King Egbert united England in 829 AD. The monarchy had existed in Britain for hundreds of years before the birth of Parliament, with only one interruption during that time, from 1649 to 1660, when Britain adopted the system of **** and state. Over the centuries, the absolute power of the monarch has been steadily eroded and weakened, but despite this, the monarch has retained an important symbolic importance as the head of state in the constitutional sense.

Over the centuries, the personality traits of the reigning monarch have had a significant impact on state affairs. At the end of the ninth century A.D., King Alfred of West Sussex defeated invaders led by King Gudrun of Denmark and converted the Danish king to Christianity, thus bringing about a major change in the political map of England and laying the foundation for the unification of the Anglo-Saxon race in Britain.

Many years later, the reign of King Henry VIII triggered major social changes. In order to fulfill his dynastic aims, Henry VIII reformed the Church, which sowed the seeds of later divisions between Protestants and Catholics, and increased the power of Parliament. During the reign of Henry VIII, the economic power of the nobility was strengthened, which laid the economic foundation for their internal struggles in the subsequent Tudor dynasty. In the second half of the sixteenth century, in the face of multiple crises at home and abroad, the reigning Elizabeth I proved herself to be an astute and resolute political leader. In the nineteenth century, during the reign of Queen Victoria, Britain once again entered a period of major social and political change that established and developed the British Empire's position and influence in the world. At the same time, Queen Victoria's husband, Prince Albert, had an equally profound impact on the development of British society by actively encouraging the development of the arts, sciences, and industry during Queen Victoria's long reign, which lasted from 1837 to 1901.

In 2002 Britain celebrated the golden jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II's fifty-year reign. During this period, despite the enormous social and technological changes that have taken place in the UK and around the world, Queen Elizabeth II has remained at the unwavering helm of British society as a sacred representative of traditional values such as public service and public **** duty.

IV. Politics

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The system of government is a constitutional monarchy. The king is the head of state, the supreme judicial officer, the commander-in-chief of the armed forces and the "supreme leader" of the Anglican Communion, and formally has the power to appoint and remove the prime minister, ministers, senior judges, military officers, governors of the dependencies, diplomats, bishops, and senior clergy of the Anglican Communion, etc., and has the power to convene, prorogate, and dissolve the parliament, to ratify the laws, and to declare war and make peace. The power to summon, stop and dissolve Parliament, approve laws, declare war and make peace, etc., but the real power was in the Cabinet. Parliament was the highest judicial and legislative body, consisting of the King, the House of Lords and the House of Commons. The House of Lords (the House of Peers) consists of the descendants of the royal family, hereditary peers, newly ordained peers, judges of the Court of Appeal, and the archbishops and bishops of the Church. in November 1999, a bill to reform the House of Lords was passed, which disqualified more than 600 hereditary peers from the House of Lords except for 92 who remained in office, and non-politically appointed members of the House of Lords were to be recommended by a special royal commission. The House of Commons, also known as the House of Commoners, has members elected by universal suffrage in small constituencies with the largest number of votes, for a five-year term. However, the Government may decide to call an early general election. The government has a cabinet system, with the Queen appointing the leader of the party that wins a majority of seats in the parliamentary elections to be the Prime Minister and forming a cabinet, which is accountable to Parliament. The history of the jury in the United Kingdom dates back to the Middle Ages and has been an ingrained part of its criminal legal system ever since. In terms of value choices, it is not difficult to realize that this is in fact also an institutional design that artificially combines jurisprudence and reasoning. The law is certainly the regulator of social relations, but the inherent contradiction of "law is limited and emotion is infinite" has never disappeared; judges are certainly well versed in the law, but there is the possibility of mechanical law enforcement and disregard for reason. Jurors from the community, although they do not know the law, but understand the social reasoning. It is difficult for one person to represent the complexities of the social psyche, but 12 people from all walks of life should be considered about right. The combination of a jury that understands sentiments and a judge that is well versed in the law cannot but be an ingenious combination. This is not the same as criticizing the model of litigation without a jury, still less is it the same as saying that the absence of a jury system will inevitably lead to a conflict between sentiment and law. So many civil law countries do not have a jury, there must be other ways of combination, such as the institutional level and operational level. Forms can be varied, but the concept should be similar, that is, the rigidity of the law and the flexibility of the rationale of the overall balance. One point should also be noted that the reason is flexible and non-specific, but the way to absorb the reason and the scope of the reason should be rigid and specific, to prevent the arbitrary erosion of the law of love.

Political parties

(1) Labor Party (Labour Party): the ruling party. founded in 1900, originally known as the Labor Representation Committee, changed to its current name in 1906. The party was in power in 1924, 1929~1931, 1945~1951, 1964~1970, and 1974~1979. It won the 1997 general election and was re-elected after the June 2001 election. The Labor Party has tended to favor the interests of the middle class more in recent years and has distanced itself from the labor unions. After Blair was elected leader of the Labor Party, he put forward the slogan of "New Labor, New Britain" politically, abolished the fourth clause of the party's constitution concerning public ownership, and advocated reducing government intervention, strictly controlling public **** expenditure, maintaining stable macroeconomic growth, and establishing a modern welfare system. Externally, it advocates active participation in international cooperation, a positive attitude toward European integration, membership in the euro, and a special relationship with the United States. With nearly 400,000 members, it is the largest party in Britain.

(2) Conservative Party: The main opposition party. Formerly known as the Tory Party, it was founded in 1679 and renamed in 1833. The party was in power for four consecutive terms from 1979 to 1997, and became the dominant party in Britain in the 20th century. It lost badly to the Labor Party in the May 1997 and June 2001 general elections. The Conservative Party, whose supporters generally come from the corporate and affluent sectors, advocates a free market economy. It seeks to keep inflation down by tightly controlling the money supply and reducing public **** spending. It advocates restricting the rights of labor unions and strengthening "law" and "order". In recent years, it has proposed the implementation of "compassionate conservatism", focusing on social issues such as education, health care and poverty. Emphasizing the maintenance of British sovereignty, he opposes a "federal Europe," opposes joining the euro, and advocates the establishment of an "Atlantic ****some" to strengthen the special relationship between Britain and the United States. Emphasizes that NATO remains the cornerstone of British security and defense. There are now more than 300,000 members of the party.

(3) The Liberal Democrat Party (The Liberal Democrat Party): In March 1988, it was formed by the majority of the former Liberal Party and Social Democrats who supported the merger with the Liberal Party. It advocates the continuation of the cooperative relationship with the Labor Party, promotes the implementation of proportional representation by the Labor Party in local and House of Commons elections, and adopts more "progressive" policies than the Labor Party on issues such as public ****services, social justice, and environmental protection. With about 100,000 members, it is the third largest party in Britain.

In addition, other political parties in the United Kingdom include: the Scottish National Party (Scottish National Party), the Welsh National Party (Plaid Cymru), and a number of parties in Northern Ireland, such as the Northern Ireland Unionist Party (Ulster Unionist Party), the Democratic Unionist Party (Democratic Unionist Party), and the Social Democratic Labor Party (SDFP). Unionist Party, Social Democratic and Labor Party, and Sinn Fein.

Parliament

Parliament is the center stage of British politics and is the highest legislative body in Britain. The government emerges from Parliament and is accountable to it. Parliament is bicameral, consisting of the House of Lords and the House of Commons. Since the beginning of Parliament, it has usually met at the Palace of Westminster (the Houses of Parliament), an old building in London. It meets twice a year, with the first session beginning in late March and ending in early August, and the second session beginning at the end of October and ending just before Christmas in December.

Constitution

The Constitution of the United Kingdom, unlike the constitutions of the vast majority of countries, is not a stand-alone document, but consists of statute law, customary law, and practice. The main ones are the Magna Carta (1215), the Habeas Corpus Act (1679), the Bill of Rights (1689), the Acts of Parliament (1911, 1949), and successive revisions of the Electoral Acts, the Municipal Home Rule Acts, and the County Council Acts. The monarch is the head of state, the supreme judicial officer, the commander-in-chief of the armed forces, and the "supreme head" of the Anglican Communion. Formally, the monarch has the power to appoint and remove the prime minister, ministers of state, senior judges, military officers, governors of the dependencies, diplomats, bishops, and senior clergy members of the Anglican Communion, etc., as well as the power to convene, prorogate, and dissolve parliament, to approve laws, to declare war and make peace, and so on. declare war and make peace, etc., but the real power was in the Cabinet. Scotland has its own independent legal system.

Magna Carta***65 articles, its content is divided into three parts: the first part of the king and lords relationship provisions; the second part of the king's policy and procedures for the provisions of the governance; the third part of the king and lords disputes handling provisions. According to the provisions of the Magna Carta, the king was to safeguard the feudal inheritance rights of nobles and knights, not to levy high taxes on feudal lords in violation of the law, not to arbitrarily arrest, imprison, banish or confiscate the property of freemen, and to recognize the autonomy of cities such as London. In order to ensure that the charter did not fall into disrepute, a committee of 25 barons was formed to supervise the king, and if the charter was broken, the feudal lords had the right to force the king to fulfill it by military means. The later constitutionalism of England was traced back to the Magna Carta, the basic spirit of which was the limited power of the king and the freedom of the individual. Some scholars, such as Stobbs, have argued that the entire history of British constitutionalism is in fact a history of Magna Carta exegesis.

Justice

There are three different legal systems: England and Wales have a common law system, Scotland has a civil law system, and Northern Ireland has a legal system similar to that of England. The judiciary is divided into two systems, civil and criminal courts. In England and Wales, the civil courts are hierarchically divided into the County Court, the High Court, the Civil Division of the Court of Appeal, and the House of Lords. The criminal courts are divided into the Magistrates' Courts, the Crown Court, the Criminal Division of the Court of Appeal and the House of Lords. The highest judicial authority in the United Kingdom is the House of Lords, which is the final appellate authority for both civil and criminal cases. 1986 saw the establishment of the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), which is an organ of the national government and is responsible for all criminal proceedings brought by the police in England and Wales. The Attorney General and Deputy Attorney General are the principal legal advisers to the British Government and represent the Crown in certain domestic and international cases.