The law and your role

Twenty practice questions on the law and the everyday obligations of living in the United Kingdom — the most practical part of the Life in the UK Test, and the part that keeps being useful long after the test is over.

It opens with the courts. Criminal law deals with offences against society, civil law with disputes between parties, and the two run through separate courts. England, Wales and Northern Ireland have magistrates' courts for minor cases and the Crown Court, with a jury of twelve, for serious ones. Scotland has its own legal system entirely: the sheriff court and the High Court of Justiciary, with no Crown Court or County Court at all. Then the people in those courts — who decides guilt, who may be called for jury service, why the judiciary is independent of government, and what legal aid is for.

The second half is money and duty. Income tax and PAYE, National Insurance and the number that records it, council tax and who actually pays it. What you need in order to drive. Which things are crimes regardless of custom or family expectation, and what discrimination law protects. And then the other side of the same coin: school governors, volunteering, recycling, writing to your own MP, and what happens if the police stop you — including the fact that there is no duty in the UK to carry identity documents.

Every question carries a full explanation that also says why the wrong answers are wrong. The material is written from public information published on gov.uk; nothing is reproduced from the official handbook.

• Tell criminal law from civil law and name the court that hears each kind of case
• Describe the separate Scottish court system and how it differs from England and Wales
• Explain the roles of the jury, the judge and the independent judiciary
• Say what income tax, National Insurance and council tax are and who pays them
• Name the everyday duties and freedoms of life in the UK, from driving documents to equality law

A criminal case is brought because something is an offence against society as a whole — theft, assault, dangerous driving. A civil case is a dispute between parties, such as over a debt or a contract, where one side sues the other.