It’s Monday and after a weekend away I have a question to ask you. How many of you committed a crime this weekend? Probably quite a few of you by the letter of the law, though at best it’s probably a misdemeanour. Something like jaywalking or speeding down a motorway (when in fact you’re going at the same speed as everyone around you).
But what about more serious matters? It’s a sad fact of life that if not yourself you’ll likely know someone to whom a major crime has been committed. What happens then? More than that, what happens when the scale of the criminal accusation expands to grander scales. Ones that are not only major in significance but incidents or disagreements that affect entire countries?
Late last month BBC London produced a brand new 360 degree video which takes viewers inside the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom. As the name may suggest it is the final court of appeal, and does so based on the laws of the UK and of England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland as applicable. It also plays a role on the international stage, hosting trials relating to smaller countries that make up the 53-member states of the Commonwealth of Nations.
To give you an idea of the sort of cases currently being discussed and the scope of the court, at the time of writing the court is dealing with everything from:
- The exact calculations of a pension scheme.
- Whether or not an alcohol seller is allowed to keep trading.
- Appeals relating to sexual discrimination, one being the refusal to make a cake in support of gay marriage another being
- whether or not legislation about discrimination is in itself discriminatory.
- Whether or not an inquiry into a murder should have taken place “whether it was a sham process and/or whether the outcome was pre-determined”.
- “The meaning of precarious” in the Nationality Immigration and Asylum Act 2002. As well as…
- “Whether refusal of asylum on the expectation an individual will suppress the expression of their religious faith, where the State criminalises the reasonable expression of that identity, is consistent with the ‘fundamental right to live openly and freely, as themselves’.”
And Case ID UKSC 2018/0080: “THE UK WITHDRAWAL FROM THE EUROPEAN UNION (LEGAL CONTINUITY) (SCOTLAND) BILL” a.k.a (some) of Scotland’s issues regarding Brexit.
It’s quite the mix. Take a trip into the court in Westminster and see the various courts, the historical items on display and go behind the scenes to the library where judges do their research into all things law.
We hope you’ll come along quietly and help us with our enquiries until next time we have another Life In 360°, here on VRFocus.