Could my employer take me to court?

You may not have a written contract of employment but you do have a contract - why do you think your employer pays you? - it's because you and your employer have a contract that says so even though it's not written down (section 230(2) Employment Rights Act 1996 - contracts of employment follow the general principles of the common law and do not have to be in writing). You don't say how long you've been employed but legally your employer must give you at the very least a written notice of the terms of your employment within two months of commencement.

If no notice period has been agreed between you, then the notice period stipulated by law will apply. If you have been employed for less than one month there is no notice period. Between one month and two years the notice period is one week After you have been employed for two years the notice period increases to one week for every year worked up to a maximum of 12 weeks.

It's very unlikely that your employer would take you to court or an employment tribunal for failing to give the required notice (it's far too expensive a procedure) but your employer would be entitled to withhold your pay up to the length of the notice you haven't given - for example if the required notice period is one week but you leave without giving that notice and you are normally paid a week in arrear then you would probably lose your last week's pay.

As other answerers have correctly said there may well be other disadvantages to leaving without notice - your employer isn't likely to give your new employer a reference and if you haven't got a new employer lined up you may have disqualified yourself from claiming JSA.

Take you to court for doing what? Quiting your job isnt a crime.

If you're employed, you have a contract of employment - it's just clearly not a written, explicit one (which is, in itself, contrary to employment law). If, as seems the case, there is no contractual term requiring you to give notice, then you don't have to give notice.
However, you should be aware that if you quite your job you will find it difficult to get jobseeker's allowance and it would be sensible to find another job before you leave.

You canot be taken to court if you leave without notice. It is called burning your bridges, and you will be unable to use this employer as a reference.

Two weeks notice is professional. They won't take you to court if you just quit.

You should be prepared to not be paid in a timely manner if you just quit.

Be nice. Lie if needed. Don't burn bridges.

Why would he bother? He has your P45 and any money that you are due.

If you don't have a contract of employement, you are free to free at anytime, but there is an expectation that you would give sufficient notice. If you are paid weekly, you should give a weeks notice. If you are paid monthly, you sholuld give a months notice. and so on.

If you give your notice and insist that you are walking out that day, and have no intention of returning, your employers won't sue you, because it would not be fiancially worth their wihile to do so.

What they can do - and probably would do - is refuse to pay you any monies you were owed, including hours you worked in the last fortnight. They can also refuse to pay you any leave you are owed, and incentives you are owed. The person who would be financially worse off is you, not them.

no, he cannot take you to court simply for quitting without notice so long as you dont have a contract or a work policy that states otherwise.

No, you can leave anytime you want if you don't have a contract.

They won't give you a good recommendation, so you might want to leave them off your resume when you apply for another job somewhere.

Of course not is this your first job or something you can do what you want as long as you are not under a contract

No they could not, but it is common courtesy to give at least 1 weeks notice. Don't forget, they are hiring your skill.

No without a contract you are free to leave when you like. Bear in mind that you might need a reference in the future.

If you don't have a contract you are not legally required to do anything - you can just quit.
You havent signed a contract agreeing to give notice so you do not have to. However, it would be in your best interest to at least offer some notice (even if it's 1 or 2 weeks rather than the usual minimum of 4 weeks) purely because you may rely on them in the future to give you a reference. Leave on good terms to get a better reference from them.

Unless of course you agreed (maybe upon interview via verbal contract) to work a notice then you are fine to just quit.

You MUST have a WRITTEN statment of employment within 2 months of starting any job. This basically is like your contract - states your hours, your notice period, holiday allowance etc. I had issues getting mine - I asked for it after 2 months and was told all contracts were done in Feb (a further 2 months) so I asked again in Feb and got nothing. I asked another time mid March and got nothing, so wrote a letter saying I would take it up with our head office if I did not recieve it within 1 week. Got it the next day - so lesson learnt. Stand up for yourself and demand it by whatever means necessary - know the legal side and threaten to use it against them. This could also help your case if they kicked up a fuss about you just quitting if you have worked there for more than 2 months without a contract.

They don't give notice before firing or layoff do they. No except like you wrote about, contracts.