A celebrity couple – if they didn’t know before – has just learned that English law does not extend to all areas of the United Kingdom. It doesn’t even extend to all areas of Great Britain! That leads us nicely to the problem with the phrase “Great British Justice”. There is no such thing!
Our island is split into 2 very separate legal systems. In fact the Kingdom is split into 3 distinct legal jurisdictions, with curious anomalies for the Channel Islands. Even the term “English Law” is a term of art as it refers to the laws of England and Wales. All of this leads to legal disharmony, if not legal uncertainty. A family law Judgement from the Isle of Man will have to be registered in the High Court, before it can be enforced in England! An interim injunction made in Cardiff will also be enforceable in London, usually enforceable in Belfast, but probably won’t be enforceable in Edinburgh!
That is how the ‘celebrity couple’ – we will still continue to call them that – found themselves in the unenviable, if not ridiculous position of having a ‘super injunction’ which was enforceable in all parts of the United Kingdom – apart from Scotland. Don’t you just love ‘British law’?
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