Civil Courts

What are the three civil courts?

• The County Court

• The High Court

• The Family Court

County Courts:

• Deals with contract, tort and recovery of land to any value.

• Any equitable dispute regarding issues such as trusts up to £350,000

• Small track, fast-track and some multi track cases.

• Cases are heard by a District Judge or a Circuit Judge

• Juries are extremely rare - only used for certain torts (Defamation, malicious prosecution and false imprisonment)

Why does the Family Court no longer exist?

Since April 2014 and the Crime and Courts Act 2013 - Family law functions as both the County Courts and the Magistrates Courts.

The three divisions of the High court:

• The Queen’s Bench Division

• The Chancery Division

• The Family Division

The Queen’s Bench Division:

• Deals with Contract and Tort cases

• Cases are usually over £100,000 or of a lower amount where a point of law is involved.

• Heard by a single judge.

• Juries very rarely used (defamation, malicious prosecution or false imprisonment)

• A special administration court deals with judicial review.

The Chancery Division:

• Deals with money matters, bankruptcy and insolvency mortgages probate.

• If there is copyright dispute and patent’s and trusts, this goes to a special Companies Courts.

• All cases are dealt by a single judge

The Family Divison:

• Deals with family issues where there is an issue with international law.

• Can also deal with cases which would be heard in the Family court.

How come most cases are settled before court?

Because of negotiation before taking a claim to court. This may be as individuals or through Alternative Dispute Resolution.

Stages of taking a case to court:

• Submit NI claim form to the court which names the defendants, sets out the specifics of the claim including how much money is being claimed.

• Court sends the N1 to defendant and they can either admit and pay or defend.

• If defend is chosen, the court sends them an allocation questionnaire.

• When the claimant returns the questionnaire, a fee dependent on the amount claimed is paid.

• Some claims can be made online through the Ministry Of Justice’s “Money claim on-line” website. The claim must be below £100,000.

How does the district judge decide which track system to be used?

The information of the allocation questionnaire

What are the three case tracks?

• The small claims track

• The Fast track

• The multi-track

The small-claims track:

• Covers cases up to £10,000 except for £1000 for personal injury cases.

• Limit can be extended to £5000 for road traffic injuries and £2000 for other injuries.

• Small cases usually heard by a District Judge with special training, as the judge is typically more active small cases than any other.

• Parties are encouraged to represent themselves

• Cannot claim any costs for using a lawyer.

• Hearing will usually be private with district judge questioning both sides.

Fast Track Cases:

• Covers straightforward disputes of £10,000 - £25,000

• Strict timetables for pre-trial matters and hearing usually takes place within 30-50 weeks.

• Trials are heard by a circuit judge in open court hearings, usually limited to one day.

• Limited number of expert witnesses on each side, usually no more than one.

Multi-track cases:

• These cover cases over £25,000 or those involving complex points of law.

• Heard by a circuit judge in county courts but can be sent to high courts.

Processes of case management:

• This is done by the judge as soon as it is allocated to the multi-track

• They will set a strict timetable for matters like disclosure of documents

• Issues need to be identified early.

• Judges will try and get the most out of procedural steps without the need for attendance in court.

• This means parties will be encouraged to use ADR.

• The aim is to keep costs down and keep it quick.

What is the appeal route from the County court?

• The next judge up in the hierarchy from the judge that heard the case will hear the appeal.

• District Judge goes up to a Circuit Judge

• A Circuit Judge goes up to a High Court Judge

• Then the Court of Appeal (Civil Division) can be used in exceptional cases

How do Appeals from the high court work?

• They usually go to the Court of Appeal (Civil Division)

• Very rarely a case may “leapfrog” from the High Court to Supreme Court

• This must be on an issue of national importance and there must be permission from the Supreme court.

Problems of using Civil Courts:

• Slow - With small-track claims taking 29 weeks to be heard, fast-track cases taking 48 weeks to come to trial and multi-track taking years. This is going to get worse with budget cuts and closure of many County Courts

• Costs - Little funding meaning that Access to Justice is limited. Costs tend to be high and front loaded. They are sometimes more than the amount claimed. The Civil Procedure Rules are meant to emphasise that courts deal with cases at a just and proportionate cost.

• Complex - The procedures to take a case to court are very complicated with many compulsory steps before trial. There is only help from the Judge in the small-claims track. Otherwise people will have to pay for costly legal advice.

• Lack of resources - In 1999 Lord Woolf suggested major reforms through the use of technology in Civil Justice. These haven’t been taken onboard and the court remains outdated with information technology.

Advantages of using the Civil courts:

• Fairness - The judge should be impartial, everyone should be treated the same with trained lawyers who have expertise. However the process is costly and sometimes the claim is outweighed by the cost. Not fair on a cost basis.

• Better Enforcement - A decision is enforceable by the courts

• Possibility of Appeal - It is possible to appeal against a decision. This does however lead to uncertainty and make the process more costly and longer.

Proposed reforms by Lord Briggs 2016:

• An out of hours mediation system should be set up in the County Court

• An online court should be made available for cases up to £25,000. This would give Access without the need of expensive lawyers. Cases would be dealt with by a comprehensive questionnaire.