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.

• FINISH THIS FLAAHCARD PLEASE