UNIT

3 – COURT SYSTEM P. KAPITANIAK

THE ENGLISH COURT SYSTEM

Justice in England is administered in civil law courts and in criminal law courts.
There is a strong difference between the two, even to the point of using different terms
for the action of bringing a person before a judge in a courtroom. A person who has
suffered loss or injury, or any type of damage caused by another person’s act or failure
to act, brings his case to a civil court. The purpose of a civil law case is to compensate
such a person. It is said that the injured person, the claimant, sues the adverse party
who becomes the defendant. Very often the compensation sought is a sum of money
called damages. Other remedies in civil law may be injunctions or, in cases involving
contracts, orders of specific performance.
In criminal law cases, on the other hand, a person accused of violating the law is
prosecuted by representatives of the State, in England called representatives of the
Crown. The purpose of a criminal trial is to determine the guilt or innocence of the
accused, also called the defendant, and to determine an appropriate punishment if he is
found guilty. No matter how minor or serious the criminal act may be, it is a crime and
the guilty person is the offender.
It is sometimes possible for the same act to result in a civil case and a criminal
case. Take the example of the car collision caused by the fact that a driver was drunk
and in which he and the passengers of another car were injured. The driver will be
prosecuted by the Crown for drunk driving, an offence against the Road Traffic Act, and
he will be sued for damages by the passengers of the second car.
Unlike France, there will be two separate trials: the criminal case will be tried in
a criminal law court on a certain date, and the civil case will be heard in a civil law court
later because the function of these two trials is strictly separate.

THE COURTS OF ORIGINAL JURISDICTION

When a case is brought for the first time before a court, it is said to originate
there. A court of original jurisdiction deals with a case at trial, in first instance. In a
civil trial, the decision is given by the judge, but not in a criminal trial. Here the verdict
is given by a jury and only the sentence is determined by the judge. When a person
involved in a civil case wants to contest the decision of the trial judge, he may appeal to
a court of appellate jurisdiction.

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COURTS OF ORIGINAL CIVIL JURISDICTION

A claimant can bring a civil action to one of two courts: the County Court for
minor cases and the High Court for more important cases.
These civil courts deal with a great variety of cases. Civil claims are brought to
court when an individual or a business thinks that their rights have not been respected.
The claimant may sue someone for a breach of contract, for a tort, like nuisance,
negligence, personal injury, or concerning a problem of succession, or unfair working
conditions etc. There are all sorts of causes for action and the amount of money claimed
may vary from a few pounds to millions.
Bringing an action to court can be expensive. For this reason, people generally
try to negotiate first and they are even encouraged to do this by the Court Service, in
order to diminish the number of cases in the courts. If the two parties succeed in finding
an acceptable solution, or settlement, it is said that they settle out of court. If the claim
cannot be settled, the claimant brings his case to court.
Following the Woolf reforms implemented in April 1999 and known as Civil
Procedure Rules (CPR), there have been several efforts to make proceedings quicker,
simpler and less expensive, depending on the nature of the dispute. Claims are classified
according to three categories. There are “small claims” involving very small sums of
money, “fast track cases” for claims of less than £15 000 with a number of steps to
follow to encourage negotiations and avoid trial, and finally “multi‐track cases” for
claims of more than £15 000 also carrying steps to follow which lead to alternative
solutions. These categories of claims use very different procedures which aim at
shortening the delays for small, simple claims. Small claims are heard by District Judges.
It is a District Judge in the County Court, or the Master of the Rolls in the High Court,
who decides which track should be used.
‐ The small claims track is normally used for disputes under £5,000, except
for personal injury cases where the limit is usually £1,000. They are dealt
with by the County Court.
‐ The fast track is used for straightforward disputes of £5,000 to £15,000
(increased to £25,000 from April 2009). They are tried by the County Court.
‐ The multi‐track procedure used for cases over £15,000 (increased to
£25,000 from April 2009) can lead you before the County Court or the High
Court. But if the money involved in the dispute exceeds £50,000 the case will
always be administered by the High Court.

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The County Court

As said before, where the amount of damages claimed by the injured party is
£25,000 or less, the case will usually be started in a County Court. Cases in which
£50,000 or more is claimed must originate in the High Court, but in all other cases,
although the majority go to the County Court, you can choose to start a case either in the
County Court or in the High Court. Thus, it is said that the High Court has unlimited
original civil jurisdiction but the County Court has limited original civil jurisdiction.
There used to be 217 County Courts located in major towns which can deal with
nearly all civil cases, but since 2014 those were united under a single civil court(with as
many centres as there used to be county courts) whose name remained the County
Court for convenience’s sake:
‐ all contract and tort claims
‐ all cases for the recovery of land
‐ disputes over partnership, trusts and inheritance up to a value of £30,000
Some centres of the County Court administer divorce cases, bankruptcy cases,
admiralty cases (normal limit: £5,000 or £15,000).
The County Court is presided over by Circuit Judges who are full‐time inferior
judges, District Judges and Recorders. The latter work part time. As a rule, all of them
are former barristers or solicitors.
The County Court has a much greater workload than that of the High Court. In
the year 2000, nearly two million cases were brought to the County Courts, although not
all these claims actually ended in a courtroom. There were actually 55,836 cases dealt
with by the small claims procedure, and 14,250 cases tried in the County Courts. The
CPR seems to have been efficient as only 1,553,983 cases were started in 2011.

The High Court

The High Court is based in London but some of the High Court judges also
preside over trials in 26 towns throughout England and Wales. These judges are
considered superior judges and they receive a knighthood when they are appointed.
They are usually former barristers with at least ten years’ experience or former County
Court judges. They preside alone, without a jury. Proceedings in the High Court are
more complex and take longer than in a County Court.
The High Court is divided into three divisions. The first one is the Queen’s
Bench Division, headed by the Lord Chief Justice. There are approximately 70 High
Court judges in the division. The second divisional court is the Chancery Division,

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headed by the Vice‐Chancellor with 18 High Court judges assisting him. Finally, the
Family Division is headed by a president of the court with 17 High Court judges. There
is no general rule governing the type of cases heard by each division. However, each
division traditionally deals with certain categories of cases.
The Queen’s Bench Division (or Q.B.D.) descends from the original courts of
Common Law. It deals with contract and tort cases where the amount of damages
claimed is over £50,000. However, a claimant suing for £15,000 may want to bring his
case to this court following the multi‐track procedure. Sometimes the decision to bring
an action for damages less than £50 000 is motivated by the idea of intimidating the
defendant into making a settlement.
Two other specific courts are part of the Q.B.D.:
‐ The Commercial Court in which specialist judges deal with insurance, banking
and other commercial matters. A simplified procedure is used in this court.
‐ The Admiralty Court which deals with disputes concerning shipping and
navigation, such as collision at sea or salvage rights when a ship has sunk.
‐ The Queen’s Bench Division may exercise judicial review over inferior courts
and decision‐making bodies, such as Government ministers or local councils. Judicial
review is the authority of a court to judge the constitutionality or correct application of
the law concerning acts undertaken by an administrative body or decisions made by
lower courts.
The second divisional court, the Chancery Division, used to be the Chancellor’s
court in which another branch of law called Equity (to be studied during the second
year of this programme) was created. This court is specialized in questions of
mortgages, contested probate, copyright and patents, insolvency, bankruptcy and trusts.
The Family Division of the High Court is more recent than the other two. It has
jurisdiction to hear all cases relating to the welfare of children under the Children’s Act
1989. It also administers matrimonial disputes such as declarations of nullity of
marriage or defended divorce cases. It also grants probate, which allows the
distribution of property among the heirs of a deceased person, in cases of uncontested
wills.

COURTS OF ORIGINAL CRIMINAL JURISDICTION

Like civil courts, there are two criminal law courts which try cases in first
instance: the Magistrates’ Courts for minor offences and the Crown Courts for more
serious offences. Here again, it is the nature of the offence which determines the court
hearing the case.

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Non‐indictable offences, also called minor or summary offences, make up the

majority of criminal cases. They include nearly all driving offences, disorderly conduct,
common assault, drunkenness and criminal damage which has caused less than £5,000
worth of damage. These less serious offences can be dealt with quickly through a simple
procedure and a summary trial, in the Magistrates’ Courts.
Triable either way offences, considered middle range crimes, include a variety
of offences such as theft and assault causing actual bodily harm. As their name implies,
these cases can be tried in either the Magistrates’ Courts or the Crown Courts. Indeed in
certain cases, the accused is allowed to choose the procedure for his trial.
Indictable offences are the most serious crimes such as murder, manslaughter,
rape, burglary, robbery, etc. Here the gravity of the punishment makes it necessary to
guarantee the accused a full trial with a jury in a superior court. All indictable offences
must be tried in Crown Court.
Although both criminal courts have original jurisdiction, it must be noticed that
there is a preliminary procedure in the Magistrates’ Court for either‐way and indictable
offences. The purpose of this is to determine, before transferring the case to the Crown
Court, whether there is enough evidence against the accused to justify a full trial.
In both criminal courts, the majority of people accused plead guilty to the charge
against them. In that case, there is no trial and the role of the court consists in deciding
what sentence should be imposed. However, when the accused pleads not guilty, the
role of the court is to try the case and decide whether he is guilty or not. It is the
responsibility of a jury, not the judge to convict or acquit the accused. In the trial, it is
the prosecution who must convince the jury of the defendant’s guilt « beyond
reasonable doubt ». It is said that the onus of proof is on the prosecution. The defence
must prove either the accused’s innocence or that the prosecution’s case has not
eliminated reasonable doubt. In the Magistrates’ Court the accused is generally
defended by a solicitor. This is also possible, under certain circumstances, in Crown
Court, but often this is done by a barrister.

Magistrates’ Courts

As of 2015, there are approximately 330 Magistrates’ Courts in England and

Wales, after the Government recently closed down nearly a hundred courts. There is a
Magistrates’ Court in almost every town and several in big cities. They deal with local
cases and have jurisdiction over various matters. These courts are presided over by
23,500 unqualified lay magistrates, having no formal legal training, and a few qualified
district judges mainly working in big cities. The huge number of magistrates is
explained by the fact that they do not sit alone and that they only devote a small part of

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their time to this activity. There is always a legally qualified clerk to assist them in court
since they are not professionals of the law, but simply men or women of good will.
 The magistrates do a lot of things, despite the fact that they have had no
formal legal education.
 They try all summary cases (non‐indictable offences)
 They hear triable either way offences which have been routed to their
court.
 As examining magistrates, they conduct preliminary hearings for triable
either way offences to determine whether there is enough evidence to
commit the case for trial in the Crown Court.
 In the same way, they deal with the first hearing of all indictable offences
which must be sent to the Crown Court.
 They deal with administrative matters, such as issuing warrants for
arrest and deciding whether or not to grant bail to a person who has
been arrested, thus releasing him from custody until his trial.
 They try cases in the Youth Court where the defendants are between ten
and seventeen years old.
The importance of magistrates in the English legal system is even more striking
when one considers the fact that approximately 97% of all criminal cases are
administered in Magistrates’ Courts. In fact, all criminal matters go first to a
Magistrates’ Court, no matter where the case will be tried ultimately. In addition,
magistrates also do some work in civil domains. For example they grant alcohol licences
to pubs and restaurants, licences for gambling under the betting and gaming laws, and
they issue orders for protection in family matters and take other actions under the
Children Act 1989.

The Crown Court

Before 1971, very serious criminal cases were tried by High Court judges
travelling across the country, either in special courts called Assize Courts or in court
sessions, in ordinary courts, held four times a year called Quarter Sessions. This system
became too out‐dated and ineffective in dealing with the increasing number of criminal
cases. It was reorganised by the Courts Act of 1971 which created the Crown Courts to
hear all cases not tried at the Magistrates’ Courts.
In the English legal system, all offences fall into two categories: indictable and
non‐indictable. Indictable offences are those which will be tried on indictment in a
Crown Court. An indictment is a document read by the prosecution at the beginning of a

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trial. It is a formal declaration of the charges against the defendant. A trial by indictment
is a full trial, with a judge and a jury, counsel for the defence, counsel for the
prosecution, solicitors assisting them or pleading for the defence directly in certain
circumstances. At a full trial on indictment, witnesses for the defence and witnesses for
the prosecution are examined by counsel. All these people and their roles in court serve
to give all procedural guarantees to the accused who risks a heavy punishment if he is
found guilty.
The Crown Court sits in 92 different towns throughout England and Wales. They
are classified into three groups:
 First tier courts
There are first tier Crown Courts in big cities, like Birmingham and Bristol. In
these centres, there is a High Court and a Crown Court with separate judges for civil and
criminal work. High Court judges, as well as Circuit Judges and Recorders work
permanently in these Crown Courts. They can deal with all offences triable on
indictment.
 Second tier
Second tier Crown Courts can be found in areas where there is no High Court.
However, High Court judges sit there on a regular basis together with circuit judges and
recorders. They deal with all indictable offences.
 Third tier
In a third tier Crown Court there are only circuit judges and recorders.
Consequently, the most serious cases, such as murder, manslaughter and rape will not
usually be tried there since there is no High Court judge sitting on those courts.
It must be noticed that there are no specific judges attached to the Crown Courts.
Actually all the judges working there come from either superior or inferior civil courts.
It is interesting to note in that criminal justice in England is rendered either by
untrained citizens like the magistrates or by civil law judges.