well. He can, however, in more limited ways, bind the USA to behave in a
certain way by signing an executive agreement with another head of state.
Tribunals
In French law a tribunal is a lower court, roughly equivalent to an English
Crown Court, whereas in the United Kingdom it is usually a quasi-judicial
institution. A British tribunal decides conflicts between individuals or between
individuals and institutions, governmental or otherwise. It will have some of
the powers of a court, and its proceedings can be almost as formal, though they
are usually less so. One of the most common uses of tribunals is in complex
areas of administrative lawdealing with issues like employment, rent
assessment, social security benefits andimmigrationmatters. The reasons
for using tribunals in these cases are twofold. Firstly there is a massive number
of cases in these areas, many of them quite simple but nevertheless requiring
rapid settlement. To put them into the main courts system would either
involve its huge expansion, with attendant problems of providing qualified
judges, or inordinate delays. Secondly, although the law in such cases is usually
clear, the facts are often not. Indeed there may be a dearth of hard facts, and
discretion based on a deep experience of the problem area is required. Such
decisions are much better made by experienced lay people (presided over by
someone legally qualified) who can swiftly adjudicate on the matter at issue
without being too hampered by legal procedure. Hence the use of tribunals,
which began to be written into legislation in the 1950s, has expanded
enormously.
Of course tribunals can wrongly apply law, or may exercise their discretion
unjustifiably, so there are appeals tribunals, more heavily weighted towards
formal legal decisions. In special cases appeals can be taken into the full court
system, but this happens only rarely, when legislation is so unclear or contra-
dictory that a full legal interpretation, or reinterpretation, is required. There
has often been considerable objection to the courts hearing appeals from
tribunals, and efforts have been made to prevent the courts from intervening.
These have never been successful because the judges regard themselves as the
ultimate controllers of all judicial and quasi-judicial establishments, and always
find a way of allowing the courts to intervene in special cases.
The term tribunal is also used to describe disciplinary bodies within private
institutions, such astrade unionsor professional associations, and which
operate almost like courts, though with theirauthorityonly deriving from the
voluntary membership of individuals. Even these bodies can find themselves
appealed from to the courts if they are seen as having broken the rules of
natural justice. The existence of tribunals in various areas highlights the
enormous amount of conflict resolution needed in any modern society, and
Tribunals