Impact of Change In Law to The Court System

Impact of Change In Law to The Court System

1. When new laws are created or existing laws are revised, court systems must adapt to address any impacts caused by the law changes. Identify and describe a law change that would cause an impact to existing court proceedings and another that would impact existing court operations. Compare and contrast how courts must adapt for a law change that impacts court proceedings as opposed to one that impacts court operations.

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The change or revision in the law comes with a great burden of responsibility to the courts. That is because often time there is need to change how things have always been done to accommodate the new changes (Brody& Spohn, 2013). In most cases this changes also have a financial implication especially where there is need to hire more judicial staff or opening up new courts.

The public law outline (PLO) is the framework that courts in the UK use to manage cases in the courts of law. But with delays in care and court proceedings some changes were introduced in the public law outline that had great impact on both the court processes and operations (MOJ, 2013).The children and Family Act of 2014 as assented into law in 2014 and with it came various changes in the ways things are done in court as family law is concerned.

New timeframes were introduced in the court proceedings that stipulated that case management hearing (CMH) must not be held any later than 12 days and introduced a 26 week limit to care and completion of cases. This is important especially for children whose parents have divorced because the local authorities are compelled to find a placement for children as quickly as it possible. Though the court has a discretion to extend this period. This changes have brought about a streamlining of the court processes so that the speedy outcomes can be reached in matters affecting children.

The Children and Family Act also brought about changes in case management hearing(CMH) because unlike the previous PLO under this new one there is a clear articulation of issues and the parties involved can easily grasp and this translates in a reduction of cases needing further hearing. But one the hand the limited time frame introduced for the completion of cases also means that cases of appeal might increase because some parties might feel that they didn’t have enough time to be heard and justice wasn’t done (Ministry of justice, 2013)

Some changes in the operations of the courts have also been introduced by changes in public law outline. Unlike in the past the courts are supposed to be the last resort. Litigants are encouraged to consider other options of dispute resolution such as the use of mediation before making application to the family court.

The administrative work of the courts has also been reduced by the abolishment of interim care orders and interim supervision orders. Courts are only required to to set order that are in line with the rime table of the case so that they are not obligate to constantly review and change them. New prescribed forms have also been introduced meaning that the old one have either been amended or simply done away with. There are some changes also introduced in documentation by the local authorities unlike in the past the amount of documents to be submitted have been reduced and this has led to more evidence-based and focused documentation. Though this could have led to an increase in the workload of local authority officials.

The impact on the court proceedings has been greater than the way this new laws have impacted the court operations. The reduction of time for the first hearing to be not later 12 days and the completion of cases where possible to just 26 weeks is a very radical move. One that has potential of affecting all those involved in judicial matter affecting children and families. Though some changes in the courts procedure such as mediation as an alternative dispute resolution mechanism and the new court are also brought a great impact (MOJ, 2011)

Reference

Hemmens,C.,Brody,D.C.,&Spohn,C.C.(2013).Criminal courts: A contemporary perspective

(2nded.).Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Ministry of Justice (2013) Annex to practice directions 36C.From:

https://www.justice.gov.uk/downloads/protecting-the-vulnerable/careproceedingreform/practice-direction-36c-annex.pdf

Ministry of Justice (2011) Family Justice Review: Final Report. Retrieved September 2015, from:

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/ attachment_data/file/217343/family-justice-review-final-report.pdf