For the purposes of private international law, the United Kingdom is divided into three distinct legal jurisdictions: England and Wales; Northern Ireland and Scotland.
The Brehon Laws were a relatively sophisticated early Irish legal system, the practice of which was only finally wiped out during the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland.
Technically speaking these are secondary, or delegated legislation, and they are therefore given UK Statutory Instrument numbers.
This situation led the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission to take judicial proceedings which led to a decision in 2015 that Northern Ireland's abortion regime violated Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights as it failed to allow for termination in cases of fatal foetal abnormality or when pregnancy was due to a sexual offence.
[19] Abortion was decriminalised in Northern Ireland when the relevant sections of the Offences against the Person Act 1861 were repealed in October 2019.
[20] As to the mens rea for murder, see section 8 of the Criminal Justice Act (Northern Ireland) 1966.
The following partial defences reduce murder to manslaughter: See also section 6 of the Criminal Justice Act (Northern Ireland) 1966.
The penalty for murder is provided by section 1(1) of the Northern Ireland (Emergency Provisions) Act 1973.
Several of these areas of law, such as treason, defence and foreign relations, are reserved or excepted matters, meaning only Westminster has the power to legislate for them.
The Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008 abolished the offence of blasphemy in England and Wales; this measure did not extend to Northern Ireland.
Participatory offences include aiding, abetting, counselling, or procuring the act of some crime or conspiracy.
Following the outbreak of violence in the 1960s and 1970s, the Northern Ireland (Emergency Provisions) Act 1973 introduced juryless Diplock courts to try terrorism related offences.
This protections which this Act provides for free expression (e.g. the public interest defence in section 4) do not therefore apply in Northern Ireland.
In 1998 the Northern Ireland Act 1998 introduced a statutory duty on designated public authorities to promote equality of opportunity on a number of grounds.