The British courts

'There cannot be 'social problems' that are not the product of social construction - naming, labelling, defining and mapping them into place - through which we can 'make sense' of them' (Clarke, 2001). It will be argued that to understand 'crime', it must first be understood that it is a historical and social construction. This is equally true when looking at 'youth'. The concepts of 'crime' and 'youth' are neither fixed in time or place and therefore definitions of either are as such are both contested and contestable.

The rule of law is a principle which is intended to advocate the utmost supremacy of the law in the constitution as an entity which overshadows even the monarch. This definition, whilst simplistic, details the main feature of this principle however leading academics despute over the exact nature of the rule of law - how it ought to work and whether, in fact, it is working in UK courts at present. There are two main strands to the conception of the rule of law which will be discussed within this essay in an attempt to define the rule of law and then to assess whether courts in the UK are respecting the principle.