Northern Ireland continues to have a separate legal system to the rest of the United Kingdom.

There are exceptions to that rule, such as in immigration and military law, for which there is a unified judicial system for the whole United Kingdom.

To overcome problems resulting from the intimidation of jurors and witnesses, the right to a jury trial in Northern Ireland was suspended for certain terrorist offences in 1972, and the so-called "Diplock courts" were introduced to try people charged with paramilitary activities.

The Supreme Court of the United Kingdom was created by the Constitutional Reform Act 2005.

In First4Skills Ltd v Department for Employment and Learning (2011), Mr Justice McCloskey referred to the decisions in Cullen v Chief Constable of the Royal Ulster Constabulary (unreported, 1998) and Re Lemon's Application (unreported,1995) as establishing this principle, ruling it "incumbent on a court of first instance" to determine all the issues before it.

There were seven county court divisions in Northern Ireland until 2016, when a unified model was adopted.

Additionally, there is the Enforcement of Judgments Office, and coroners' courts, which investigate the circumstances of sudden, violent or unnatural deaths.