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The United Kingdom does not have a single legal system because it was created by the political union of previously independent countries.
Article 19 of the Treaty of Union, put into effect by the Acts of Union in 1707, created the Kingdom of Great Britain, but guaranteed the continued existence of Scotland's separate legal system.
Of the latter, statutes of the Parliaments of Ireland, of the United Kingdom and of Northern Ireland are in force, and latterly statutes of the devolved Assembly.
The courts of Northern Ireland are headed by the Court of Judicature of Northern Ireland, consisting of the Northern Ireland Court of Appeal, the Northern Ireland High Court of Justice and the Northern Ireland Crown Court.
These judgments are binding in future similar cases (stare decisis), and for this reason are often reported.
In the early centuries, the justices and judges were responsible for adapting the Writ system to meet everyday needs, applying a mixture of precedent and common sense to build up a body of internally consistent law, e.g., the Law Merchant began in the Pie-Powder Courts, see Court of Piepowder (a corruption of the Law French "pieds-poudrés" or "dusty feet", meaning ad hoc marketplace courts).
English law applies in England and Wales, Northern Ireland law applies in Northern Ireland, and Scots law applies in Scotland.
The Supreme Court of the United Kingdom is the highest court in the land for all criminal and civil cases in England and Wales and Northern Ireland, and for all civil cases in Scots law.Below that are county courts and magistrates' courts.Scots law is a unique legal system with an ancient basis in Roman law.Grounded in uncodified civil law dating back to the Corpus Juris Civilis, it also features elements of common law with medieval sources.Thus Scotland has a pluralistic, or 'mixed', legal system, comparable to that of South Africa, and, to a lesser degree, the partly codified pluralistic systems of Louisiana and Quebec.