Final Revison 231851 Justice, Equality And Society

Justice, Equality, and Society

Essay

20/17/2018

2000

Name

Institute

Justice, Equality, and Society

Introduction

In the legal setting, justice is considered as the significance of having fairness rights and

equality

. Equality, it is embedded on guaranteeing that groups or individuals are not treated

inversely or less auspiciously (in line with their precise protected characteristic counting areas of

age, gender, sex, race, religion, and belief). It is usually unjust to violate the rights of people or

even being illegally harmed. It is for these reasons, this task has critically and theoretically

explored on whether English and Welsh law is doing enough to promote justice and equality on

characteristics of age, gender, race, religion, sex, disability, and gender reassignment

. As a

result, the legal framework of open justice, the Human Rights Act 1998, Equality Act 2010, and

the provisions of legal aid have been critically evaluated.

The Legal Framework of Open Justice

The legal basis of open justice is a critical element of the Welsh and the English justice

structure. In line with the principle, the court proceedings should be open to the public while the

judges are necessitated to make their judgments in public or a formally published platform. I

addition, this is a principle that could be argued to uphold justice and equality on various aspects

like race, gender, age, religion, gender relocation, and incapacity. The virtues of the open justice

Perelman, Ch, Justice, law, and argument: Essays on moral and legal reasoning, (Springer Science &

Business Media 2012)

Donald, Alice, "Religion or belief, equality and human rights in England and Wales" (Oxford

2012).

legal framework are enshrined in the ruling of Lord Show in the case of Scott v Scott

. As he

made his judgment, Lord Shaw affirmed that public hearing was on the definite assurances of the

peoples' liberty and thus the sole of justice

. It is apparent that transparency has been affirmed for

a long time in the English legal proceedings. For instance, trials in Anglo-Saxon England were

undertaken in the presence of the freemen of the surrounding locals; thus, the need for open

justice.

The principle of the open justice is critical in various ways. First, it undertakes a critical

obligation towards educating the public by distributing precise information. As such, this allows

the electorates to evaluate the contemporary laws and atrium their representatives for changes.

For example, the 2011 announcement that certain courts were to be opened to the media was

justified by the necessity to demystify the judicial proceedings for the advantage of the general

public. In 2013, the case of Mairead Philpott where he had been accused of killing his six kids

had greatly attracted the attention of the media

. In her appeal, the media was permitted into the

court; thus, the general public was able to follow the proceedings towards the dismissal of

Philpott's appeal. This case permeates the therapeutic obligation in which the open justice

principle undertakes in the organisation of the law. As such, it reiterates the social contract in

which an individual or communities have to put up with operating efficiently incessantly. This

shows that England and Welsh's laws do not promote favour regarding gender, age, and sex.

Scott v Scott: HL 5 MAY 1913

Bray, Rebecca Scott, and Greg Martin, "FOI: Closing Down Open Justice in the United

Kingdom." Alternative LJ 37 (Oxford 2012) 126

Craig, Paul, "Formal and substantive conceptions of the rule of law: an analytical framework."

In The Rule of Law and the Separation of Powers (Routledge 2017)95

Similarly, it shows how the general public's confidence in the judicial sector is key towards

making them abide by the stipulated laws and regulations of the land.

In contrast, the Welsh and England’s legal settings could be argued not to be upholding

justice and equality in certain circumstances. For instance, in the case of Mairead Philpott,

perhaps she could not like the way it was all done

. This is consistent with the open court

proceedings in her case. Although the literature remains silent on this matter, such assumption

would appear to have acted against the Philpott's justice. Therefore, even with the principle of

the open justice, various conditions like breaching the rights of a person or a small group of

people must be considered. In proportion to the Welsh and England’s legal framework, the law

applies to all and not a particular section or number of people

. This involves the persons who

are charged with certain illegal doings, but not proven guilty as well as those who are confirmed

guilty.

The provisions of the open justice legal framework are usually in line with the theory of

justice as stipulated by Rawls. He argues that justice is fairness and very diverse from morality.

As an instance, he imagines a group of individuals who plan to decide on the doctrines of justice

and they are self-interested. As such, they become discriminative towards their gender, race,

social status, and age. This highlights the necessity of having open justice towards promoting

justice and equality for all. For that reason, in proportion to this principle of English and Welsh

law could be argued to be almost doing enough to stimulate justice and equality for all.

Human Rights Act 1998

Craig, Paul, "Formal and substantive conceptions of the rule of law: an analytical framework."

In The Rule of Law and the Separation of Powers (Routledge 2017) 107

Janis, Mark, Richard Kay, and Anthony Bradley, European human rights law: text and

materials (Oxford University Press 2008)

The Human Rights Act 1998 outlines the fundamental rights and freedoms that every

person in the United Kingdom (UK) is entitled to. This Act could be applied by any person

residing in the UK irrespective of whether he/she is a prisoner, child, adult, British or foreign

national. As such, this is adequate to assert that the English and Welsh law is doing a lot to

promote justice and equality across areas like race, age, and sex, gender, religion, disability, and

gender reassignment. The human rights stipulated in this law are centred on the provisions of the

Convention on Human Rights regarding various liberties guaranteed by the European

Convention

. The right to life and prohibition of torture as well as inhumane treatment are key

rights that are stipulated in this law. For instance, the state is required to investigate suspicious

demises including those that take place in custody. It is the provisions of the Human Rights Act

1998 that protects people from forced labour and slavery.

Similarly, it guarantees the right to freedom and liberty. This is critical for the foreigners

and the people of colour. For example, the blacks are usually protected by this law. As a way of

promoting justice, this law provides for the right to fair trial besides no punishment shorn of the

stipulations of the law.

Human rights being exercised in England and Wales are in contrast with the doctrines of

the consequentialist theories such as the utilitarianism. These theories assert that human rights

are difficult as they demonstrate strange logical aspects. As such, they are frequently regarded as

counterparts in the moral settings to the laws of nature. Specifically, they are alleged to share

worldwide use with the laws of nature; they are believed to not operate not only at certain

explicit place and time but also every time and everywhere. Although there could be evident

issues about exploitation and mistreatment of people based on diverse factors like age, sex,

Janis, Mark, Richard Kay, and Anthony Bradley, European human rights law: text and

materials (Oxford University Press 2008)

disability, race, and gender in England and Wales, the law is clear on that bias of any kind is

contrary to the doctrines of the law. As such, the individual rights should be upheld.

Freedom of religion, no discrimination, belief, and peaceful protest are clear indications

that England and Welsh's laws have been doing a lot to uphold justice and equality irrespective

of age, religion, sex, gender, race, gender reassignment, and disability. In English and Welsh

laws, the Human Rights Act 1998 has three key effects. First, everyone could pursue justice in

British courts particularly when individual or groups' rights are breached. Secondly, public

institutions like police, hospitals, courts, and local authorities have to respect people’s rights.

Finally, novel laws are compatible with convention rights. For example, the parliament should

ensure that fresh laws are compatible with the prevailing rights. Therefore, English and Welsh's

laws have the virtues of integrating collective and communal rights thus choking the

individualist moral theory. By critical and theoretical evaluation of the Human Rights Act 1998,

it is clear that English and Welsh law has been undertaking sufficient steps towards promoting

justice and equality regardless of areas age, race, gender, sex, disability, religion, and gender

reassignment.

The Equality Act 2010

It is evident that the Equality Act came into existence in early October 2010. It has been

purposing to offer a simpler and further efficient legal framework for hindering discrimination.

As such, it operates to reform as well as harmonizing discrimination decrees besides reinforcing

the law to back progress on equality

. In this case, this law has been fighting for equal

opportunities for all regardless of race, age, gender, gender reassignment, sex, disability, and

religion. This is law is more focused on simplifying, consolidating, and harmonising the

Act, Equality, "Equality Act 2010" The Equality Act (London2010)

contemporary legislation on giving Britain a novel discrimination law, which protects persons

from prejudicial treatment besides encouraging a just and further equal society. It has various

Acts like equal pay, sex discrimination, Race Relations, and disability. All this ensures justice

and equality prevails for all. For example, the Equality Act has safeguarded disabled persons

from bias. It provides that a disabled person is one who has either a mental or physical

impairment or both, which has long-standing adverse impacts on the ability to execute daily

activities

. This could entail things like reading, employment a public transport or using a

telephone.

Nevertheless, the theory of equality as articulated by Marxist could show the negative

side of the Equality Act 2010. Marx termed equality as a political perception as well as value

Additionally, he perceived it to be suited to endorse the bourgeois class welfares. Rather than

equality and centred on historical materialism, Marx encouraged the eradication of class society

as it currently thrives as capitalism in England and Wales. As such, this law could confront

obstacles in realising its primary objectives because of the current system of capitalism. For

instance, while capitalism promotes economic growth leading to improved living standards in

Wales and England, it is linked with an unequal distribution of income or wealth, which a major

challenge towards realising equality for all irrespective of gender, sex, disability, age, religion,

and race. Marx stood for equality for all in line with socioeconomic position. Thus, it is through

eradication of private property beside the exploitation of the labour intrinsic to class societies

Act, Equality, "Equality act." The Stationary Office (London 2010)

Craig, Paul, "Formal and substantive conceptions of the rule of law: an analytical framework."

In The Rule of Law and the Separation of Powers (Routledge 2017) 108

that everyone one could be sure of equality in all sectors including in the legal system and

workplace in Wales and England. As a result, it could be deduced that both Wales and England

need to do a lot towards promoting justice and equality for all without discrimination.

The Provision of Legal Aid/Advice

As provided by the UK’s jurisdictions, there is an inclusive framework where an

individual who requires legal counsel or representation in court could be provided help from the

obtainable public funds. Such schemes are referred to as legal aid and are vital to the realisation

of every person’s legal rights

. Primarily, it is aimed at persons on modest and low incomes and

would be given in its entirety. When legal aid is provided, the case is undertaken in the normal

system, apart from that no money passes between the person as well as their advocate

. For that

reason, all payments are transacted via the legal aid fund in both Wales and England; this is

usually administrated by the Legal Aid Agency (LAA) mutually for civil and criminal cases.

Although there could be instances where legal advice could be denied to some people grounded

on race, disability, gender, sex, and age in England and Wales, there have been determined and

drive towards providing legal aid in the legal settings.

Conclusion

From the above legal and theoretical evaluation, both England and Wales’ struggle to

promote justice and equality in diverse areas like race, disability, gender, age, religion, sex, and

gender reassignment. One remains of the view that they are making major positive miles in the

entire process. However, the approach on which the process of promoting justice and equality for

Hostettler, John, A history of criminal justice in England and Wales, (Waterside Press 2009)

Jackson, Richard, The machinery of justice in England, (Cambridge University Press 2015)

all needs to be assured that it does not act as a counter-action towards failing it like in the case of

the theory of equality by Marxist. Nonetheless, some of the executions like that of the legal aid,

open justice, human rights, and even the equality rights have greatly helped in promoting justice

and equality in England and Wales.

Bibliography

Act, Equality. "Equality Act 2010." The Equality Act (2010).

Act, Equality. "Equality act." The Stationary Office, London (2010).

Bottoms, Anthony, and Justice Tankebe. "Beyond procedural justice: A dialogic approach to

legitimacy in criminal justice." The journal of criminal law and criminology (2012): 119-

170.

Bray, Rebecca Scott, and Greg Martin. "FOI: Closing Down Open Justice in the United

Kingdom." Alternative LJ 37 (2012): 126.

Craig, Paul. "Formal and substantive conceptions of the rule of law: an analytical framework."

In The Rule of Law and the Separation of Powers, Routledge, 2017. Pp. 95-115

Donald, Alice. "Religion or belief, equality, and human rights in England and Wales. London."

(2012).

Hostettler, John. A history of criminal justice in England and Wales. Waterside Press, 2009.

Janis, Mark W., Richard S. Kay, and Anthony Wilfred Bradley. European human rights law: text

and materials. Oxford University Press, USA, 2008.

Perelman, Ch. Justice, law, and argument: Essays on moral and legal reasoning. Springer Science &

Business Media, 2012.

Scott v Scott: HL 5 MAY 1913 [1912] P 241, [1913] AC 417, 29 TLR 520, [1911-13] All ER 1,

[1913] UKHL 2

Appendices

https://e-justice.europa.eu/content_fundamental_rights-176-ew-en.do?member=1

https://www.dignityindying.org.uk/assisted-dying/the-law/

http://www.keepcalmtalklaw.co.uk/open-justice-the-soul-of-our-legal-system/

https://e-justice.europa.eu/content_fundamental_rights-176-ew-en.do?member=1

https://www.libertyhumanrights.org.uk/human-rights/what-are-human-rights/human-rights-act

https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/hr/guidance/equalityact2010

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Final Revison 231851 Justice, Equality and Society

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