LA1031 October ZA

Legal system and method

Monday 19 October 2020

You will have TWO HOURS AND 45 MINUTES in which to answer the
questions, including 15 minutes reading time. You must answer all parts of a
question unless otherwise stated.

You will have an additional 30 minutes to download the examination paper and
to upload your saved answers to the VLE; this time should be used solely for
these purposes.

PART A has been removed from this examination paper. You must answer
ONE from the SIX questions in PART B and the COMPULSORY question in
PART C.

NOTE: You may refer to the Ivory Act 2018 from pages 4 to 7 of this
examination paper for ease of reference in answering Question 7.

© University of London 2020

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PART A

PART A has been removed from this examination paper.

PART B

You must answer ONE question in this section.

1. ‘The ability of individuals to resolve their legal issues is vital for a just
society.’

Briefly describe the civil justice system and discuss how the Legal Aid,
Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 (LASPO) has
affected access to civil justice in England and Wales.

2. ‘It is accepted in our society that the rule of law requires there to be
judicial independence.’

Explain what is meant by judicial independence and discuss why it is

thought to be essential to the rule of law.

3. ‘The fairness of jury decision-making is of fundamental importance to the

criminal justice system.’

Briefly explain the role of the jury in the English legal system and discuss
the extent to which juries can be said to be fair.

4. ‘The Court of Appeal should be freed from the shackles of binding

precedent so that errors might be corrected.’

Explain how the Court of Appeal is bound by the doctrine of stare decisis
and discuss the advantages and disadvantages of this.

5. ‘When seeking the “mischief” an Act of Parliament is aimed at, the judge
must focus on fulfilling Parliament’s intentions.’

Explain the so-called “mischief rule” and discuss whether this rule and
other approaches to statutory interpretation can be said to achieve
Parliament’s intentions.

6. ‘The Crown Prosecution Service must be reasonably confident that a

case will result in conviction before it proceeds to prosecute and this
should be the sole consideration.’

Explain the stages followed by the Crown Prosecution Service when

considering a prosecution and discuss the problems that arise in
assisted suicide cases.

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PART C

You must answer this COMPULSORY question.

7. Denzel lives in Sheffield, England. He inherited a grand piano from his

aunt, a famous concert pianist, in 2019. The piano was made in the
1950s and the keys on the piano were originally covered in ivory from
Borneo elephant tusk. The piano keys were restored in 1974 using ivory
from Sumatran elephant tooth and the ivory amounts to 18% of the total
volume of the piano. Denzel applied to register the piano in September
2019 but never received written confirmation of the registration. Last
month Denzel sold the piano to the Sheffield Museum of Musical
Instruments, a member of the International Council of Museums, for
£10,000.

(a) Is the piano “ivory” within the meaning of the Act?

(b) Did Denzel deal in ivory when he inherited the piano?

(c) Could the piano be exempt from the prohibition on dealing in

ivory?

(d) Did the Sheffield Museum of Musical Instruments breach the

prohibition on dealing in ivory when it bought the piano, and if so,
is there any exemption it can rely on?

END OF PAPER

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NOTE: This is a heavily modified version of the Act for educational purposes; it does
not always follow the original numbering. You should assume that the Act, as provided,
is in force.

Ivory Act 2018

2018 CHAPTER 30

An Act to prohibit dealing in ivory, and for connected purposes.

[20th December 2018]

B E IT ENACTED by the Queen’s most Excellent Majesty, by and with the

advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in
this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as
follows:—

Prohibition
1 Prohibition on dealing in ivory
(1) Dealing in ivory is prohibited.
(2) “Dealing” in ivory means—
(a) buying, selling or hiring it;
(b) offering or arranging to buy, sell or hire it;
(c) keeping it for sale or hire;
(d) exporting it from the United Kingdom for sale or hire;
(e) importing it into the United Kingdom for sale or hire.
(3) For the purposes of this section—
(a) buying includes acquiring for valuable consideration;
(b) selling includes disposing of for valuable consideration;
(c) offering includes advertising and inviting to treat.
(4) In subsection (2)—
(a) a reference in paragraph (a) to buying ivory does not include
buying ivory outside the United Kingdom;
(b) a reference in paragraph (a) or (b) to selling ivory includes selling
ivory outside the United Kingdom.
(5) Sections 2 and 3 set out exceptions to the prohibition.

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 Exemptions

2 Pre-1947 items with low ivory content

(1) An item that has ivory in it is exempt from the prohibition if—
(a) the item is pre-1947,
(b) all the ivory in the item is integral to it,
(c) the volume of ivory in the item is less than 10% of the total
volume of the material of which the item is made, and
(d) the item is registered under section 5.
(2) For the purposes of subsection (1)(b) ivory is “integral” to an item if it
could not be removed from the item without difficulty or without
damaging the item.

3 Pre-1975 musical instruments

(1) An item that has ivory in it is exempt from the prohibition if—
(a) the item is a pre-1975 musical instrument,
(b) the volume of ivory in the instrument is less than 20% of the total
volume of the material of which the instrument is made, and
(c) the instrument is registered under section 5.
(2) In this section “musical instrument”—
(a) does not include anything that, although capable of being played
as a musical instrument, was not made primarily for that
purpose;
(b) includes a bow, plectrum or other thing made for playing a
musical instrument.

4 Acquisitions by qualifying museums

(1) Dealing in an ivory item to which this section applies is exempt from the
prohibition if or to the extent that the dealing is a sale to, or a purchase
by, a qualifying museum.
(2) This section applies to an ivory item that—
(a) was owned by a qualifying museum immediately before the
relevant time, or
(b) is registered under section 5.
(3) A museum is a “qualifying museum” if at the relevant time, it is a
member of the International Council of Museums.

5 Registration
(1) The Secretary of State must register an item under this section if the
owner of the item—
(a) applies for it to be registered, giving the owner’s name and
address,
(b) provides a description of the item and of any distinguishing
features that it has,
(c) provides a photograph of the item showing any such features,

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 (d) in the case of an exemption under section 2 or 3—
(i) makes a declaration that the item satisfies the relevant
exemption conditions, and
(ii) provides an explanation of how the item satisfies those
conditions.
(2) “The relevant exemption conditions” are—
(a) in the case of section 2, the conditions in subsection (1)(a) to (c)
of that section;
(b) in the case of section 3, the conditions in subsection (1)(a) and (b)
of that section.
(3) Where an item is registered in response to an application under this
section, the Secretary of State must provide the applicant with written
confirmation of the registration.

6 Offence of breaching the prohibition or causing or facilitating a breach

(1) It is an offence—
(a) to breach the prohibition,
(b) to cause the prohibition to be breached, or
(c) to facilitate a breach of the prohibition.
(2) A person commits an offence under this section in relation to an item
only if the person knows or suspects, or ought to know or suspect, that
the item is ivory, is made of ivory or (as the case may be) has ivory in it.
(3) It is a defence for a person charged with an offence under this section to
prove that the person took all reasonable precautions and exercised all
due diligence to avoid committing the offence.
(4) A person who commits an offence under this section is liable—
(a) on summary conviction in England and Wales, to imprisonment
for a term not exceeding 12 months or a fine (or both).

7 Meaning of “ivory”
(1) In this Act (apart from this section) “ivory” means ivory from the tusk or
tooth of an elephant.
(2) In this section “elephant” means an animal of a species that is—
(a) within the family Elephantidae, and
(b) extant on the day on which this Act is passed.
(3) In this Act “ivory” includes—
(a) an item made of ivory;
(b) an item that has ivory in it;
(c) an item consisting only of unworked ivory.

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8 Meaning of “pre-1947” or “pre-1975”
(1) An item that is made of ivory, or has ivory in it, is “pre-1947” or “pre-
1975” if the item was made before the relevant date (see subsection (2))
and either—
(a) no ivory was added to the item on or after the relevant date, or
(b) any ivory added to the item on or after the relevant date—
(i) was taken from its animal source before 1 January 1975,
and
(ii) was added to the item for the purpose of restoring it.
(2) The “relevant date” is—
(a) 3 March 1947 for a pre-1947 item;
(b) 1 January 1975 for a pre-1975 item.

LIST OF EXTANT ELEPHANTIDAE ON 20 DECEMBER 2018

Loxondonta africana (African bush elephant)

Loxondonta cyclotis (African forest elephant)
Elephas maximus (Asian elephant)
Elephas maximus maximus (Sri Lankan elephant)
Elephas maximus indicus (Indian elephant)
Elephas maximus sumatranus (Sumatran elephant)
Elephas maximus borneensis (Borneo elephant)

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