COURT STRUCTURE & HIERARCHY

UK SUPREME COURT
 The Constitutional Reform Act 2005 made provision for the creation of a Supreme Court for the United Kingdom.
 Highest Court in UK
 It is important to be aware that the Supreme Court is a United Kingdom body, legally separate from the England
and Wales courts, as it is also the Supreme Court of both Scotland and Northern Ireland. As such, it falls outside
of the remit of the Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales in his role as head of the judiciary of England and
Wales.
COURT OF APPEAL
 Highest court within the senior courts of England & Wales
 Deals only with appeals from other courts/tribunals
 Divided into 2 permanent Divisions: Civil and Criminal divisions and is based at the Royal Courts of Justice in
London.
 Judges are the Lord Chief Justice, the Master of the Rolls, the President of the King’s Bench Division, the
President of the Family Division, the Chancellor of the High Court (Heads of Division) and the Lord and Lady
Justices.
 Created in 1875
 In addition to these permanent judges of the Court, High Court judges and some senior Circuit Judges (who
sit in the Crown Court and County Courts) are authorised to sit in the Criminal Division, while a more limited
number of High Court judges are authorised to sit in the Civil Division. Retired Lord and Lady Justices can
also hear cases in the Court. Normally 3 Lord or Lady Justices sit on an appeal, although a single Lord or Lady
Justice usually hears applications for permission to appeal.
 EWCA Civil/Criminal
Criminal Division
Civil Division  hears appeals against criminal convictions and
 Hears family cases + civil appeals sentences
 President – Master of the Rolls  President = Lord Chief Justice
 The Civil Division hears appeals from the High Court,  The Criminal Division hears appeals from the
County Courts and Tribunals. Its President is the Master Crown Court. Its President is the Lord Chief Justice.
Again, cases are generally heard by 3 judges,
of the Rolls. Cases are generally heard by 3 judges,
consisting of a member of the Court of Appeal,
consisting of any combination of the Heads of Division
together with 2 High Court Judges or one High
and Lord/Lady Justices of Appeal Court Judge and 1 specially nominated Senior
Circuit Judge.
HIGH COURT OF ENGLAND AND WALES
 The High Court of Justice in London, together with the Court of Appeal and the Crown Court, are the Senior Courts
of England and Wales. Its name is abbreviated as EWHC for legal citation purposes.
 It deals at first instance with all high value and high importance civil law (non-criminal) cases, and also has a
supervisory jurisdiction over all subordinate courts and tribunals, with a few statutory exceptions.
 The High Court consists of 3 divisions: the King’s Bench Division, the Family Division, and the Chancery Division.
 Hears appeals and first instance cases
 President of the KB division is the head of the KBD.
 Business and Property Courts: The Business and Property Courts are specialist courts within the High Court which
decide business, commercial, property and other chancery disputes and technology and construction disputes, both
domestic and international with the aims of ensuring that:
 King’s Bench Division
 Cases are heard by High Court Judges  The Chancery Division undertakes
and Masters, and Deputy High Court
Judges and Masters.
 President = Dame Victoria Sharp DBE
 The King’s Bench Division deals with
‘common law’ civil claims – actions
relating to contract, except those
specifically allocated to the Chancery
Division, and claims relating to civil  Equity & trusts, contentious
wrongs, known as ‘torts’.
 Part of its civil work is handling
contract1 and tort (civil wrongs) cases Patents Court.
which are unsuitable for the County
Courts for reasons of cost or
complexity.
 Judicial Review Applications (a type of
case which seeks to establish if
decisions made by the government
and other public bodies have been
made in the correct way).
 Judges of the King’s Bench Division
also hear the most important criminal
cases in the Crown Court, and will
travel around the country to do so.
They also sit in the Court of Appeal
(Criminal Division) on appeals from
convictions or sentences passed in the
Crown Court.
 They may also sit in the Employment
Appeals Tribunal, the Upper Tribunal
(Immigration and Asylum Chamber)
and the Special Immigration Appeals
Tribunal.
 The KBD includes within it a number
of specialist courts: Administrative,
Admiralty, Circuit Commercial Courts,
Commercial Court, Planning, Financial
List, Technology and Construction, and
Civil Lists2.
Chancery Division Family Division
 The Family courts in England and
civil work of many kinds, including Wales are the Family Court and
disputes relating to business, the Family Division of the High
property or land, intellectual Court. Most Family cases are
property issues, insolvency, heard in the Family Court. A
bankruptcy, tax and the validity of limited number of cases are
wills. heard in the Family Division of
the High Court, for example
cases involving international
probate, tax partnerships, child abduction and cases
bankruptcy, Companies Court, involving the inherent
jurisdiction of the High Court.
The Family Division of the High
Court also hears appeals from
certain decisions made by Circuit
Judges and Recorders in the
Family Court. The Family Court
and Family Division of the High
Court are headed by the
President of the Family Division.
 The family justice system exists
to help families resolve disputes
arising in respect of family
matters quickly and with the
minimum of disruption to those
involved.
 Divisional Court

1
Contract cases include claims for failure to pay for goods and service, and claims for breach of contract. Tort claims
include:
o Claims for negligence
o Claims for defamation and misuse of private information
o Claims for wrongs against the person, for example assault and false imprisonment
o Claims for wrongs against property, such as trespass

2
The Administrative Court oversees the decision-making of the lower courts and tribunals, and hears applications for
judicial review of decisions of public bodies. It includes the Planning Court.
 CROWN COURT
THE COUNTY COURT
THE COURT OF PROTECTION
FAMILY COURT
MAGISTRATES’ COURTS
TRIBUNALS SERVICES
The Upper Tribunal
The First Tier Tribunal
Employment Appeal Tribunal
Employment Tribunals (England & Wales) Employment Tribunals (Scotland)
CORONERS’ COURTS

The Admiralty Court is the oldest of the KBD’s specialist courts and deals principally with the legal consequences of
collisions at sea, salvage, and damage to cargoes.
The Commercial Court has a wide jurisdiction over banking and international credit and trade matters; the judges of this
court can arbitrate in commercial disputes. Circuit Commercial Courts operate in 8 regional centres throughout England
and Wales.

The Technology and Construction Court covers areas including traditional building cases, adjudication enforcement,
arbitration and professional negligence claims, and engineering and Information Technology disputes. In addition to
London, the work of the Technology and Construction Court is carried out in a number of Regional Centres around the
country.

There is also a specialist Media and Communications List (MAC list) which deals with the main media torts (defamation,
misuse of private information and claims under the Data Protection Act) and similar or related claims including malicious
falsehood and harassment arising from publication or threatened publication by the print or broadcast media, online, on
social media, or in speech