Lectures Begin

This morning, I went to the first LL.M. introductory lectures that were optional, and thank goodness I did. The first hour of topical stuff was an "Introduction to Law and Sources of Law." The most crucial aspect of that one for me was a fast explanation of the Council of Europe, the European Council on Human Rights, the European Union, and the European Court of Justice. I find all that pretty confusing.

Additionally, in that one the lecturer made a reference to the House of Lords, which confused me because I thought the House of Lords was a parliamentary body. But I gathered from the way she was talking that it was like a Supreme Court. During the break I checked in with my Irish housemates and they confirmed that, yup, it's pretty much a Supreme Court (I guess the Irish system is highly similar).

This was then elaborated on in the second hour of topical stuff, "Structure of the Courts." It turns out that the structure of English courts is way more confusing than one might think. I didn't quite follow what got appealed to where. I also found out that the House of Lords (the court one) is actually getting renamed as a Supreme Court sometime in the nearish future. I also have found this chart, but it doesn't really help all that much.

The one other interesting thing is that they separate out judicial review from everything else. The "Administrative Court of the Queen's Branch Division" handles it. It's unclear whether there are any appeals on that front.