civil courts

The two courts of first instance for civil court

County court. High court.

Who hears cases in the county court

A district judge or circuit judge

What cases are heard in the county court

Most types of civil cases (e.g. it can hear all types of contract law, tort and landscape)

When might a jury be used instead of a judge in county court

In cases of defamation, false imprisonment and malicious prosecution.

What types of cases are heard in the high court

All types of cases, it just depends on the amount that is being claimed.

The 3 divisions of the high court

The queens bench division.

The Chancery Division

The family division

Types of cases heard in the queens bench devision

Contract and tort cases where claims are over £100,000 or involve important point of law.

What does the special administrative court of the QBD do?

Carries out judicial reviews

Who can hear cases int he QBD

Usually a single judge. But there is a right to a jury of 12 for fraud cases, defamation, false imprisonment or malicious prosecution.

What types of cases can be heard in the Chancery Division.

Cases involving mortgages, trusts & wills, and intellectual property.

What does the special companies do (Chancery Division)

Mainly deals with dissolving companies

Who always hears cases is the chancery division

One judge

Which special court did the crime and courts act 2003 create

The special family court, which is separate from the family division of the high court.

What sort of cases are heard by the special family court

Handles most cases of family law e.g. divorce, child custody, domestic abuse.

What cases are heard in the family division high court

Will only hear these sort of family cases if there is an important point of law to consider. Cases where international law or the Hague conviction may apply

Pre-trial procedure

The courts want to avoid people going to trial so there are several steps to take into account before court proceedings begin in civil cases.

Pre-action protocol

A list of things each party must do before starting court proceedings. If either party fails to do this list, they may incur extra costs if the dispute does go to court. The steps of the protocol will be different depending of the type of law involved.

When must C start the case in the county court

When the claim is for less then £100,000

When can C choose to go to the county or high court

Is it is claiming anything over £100,000

Where must C go to issue a claim

In the county court - They can issue a claim in any of the 200+ county courts.

In the high court - One of the 20 district registries or the main high court in London.

How does C issue a claim

C needs to fill in a N1 (a claim form) or make a money claim online.

The claim must be filed at a court office and a fee will be charged for issuing the claim.

What must C pay to issue a claim

The fee varies depending on how must C is claiming but can go from £35 (for claims up to £300) to £10,00 (for claims over £200,000.

Defending a claim; How can D respond to a claim form

D can accept liability and pay C the full amount asked for, in which the claim is finished.

Or D can dispute a claim.

Defending a claim; Disputing a claim

D can accept partial blame, deny all blame, or counter claim.

To do this, they must fill in a N9 or submit a defence to the court.

D must respond within 14 days or D has automatically accepted full liability

The 3 track system

One of three 'tracks' that determine the way in which claims are dealt with by the courts. A district judge decides the track in a county court whereas 'the master' (a procedural judge) decides in the high court.

To make this decision the judge must look at the amount being claimed and the complexity of the case.

Small claims track

Property claims up to £10,000 and personal injury claims up to £1,000. They are dealt with in the county court.

They can be heard in private or in court. Parties are encouraged to represent themselves as they can not claim back a cost of a lawyer even if they win.

Fast Track

Property claims between £10,000 - £25,000. Personal injury claims between £1,000 - £25,000. Usually heard in county court. Meant to have a very strict time table to stop either party wasting time. In theory the case should be heard within 30 weeks, but in reality it is closer to 50 weeks. The trial is handled by a circuit judge in open court and the trial usually lasts 1 day.

Multi track

Property claims between £25,000 - £100,000 for country court or £100,000+ for high court.

Personal injury claims between £25,000 - £50,000 for county court or £50,000+ for high court.

Brief process to taking someone to civil court.

Incident occurs.

Pre-action protocol.

C chooses a court and issues claim.

1) D accepts blame and the case ends.

2) D disputes claim and the case is allocated a track.

Court proceedings begin.

Appeals from the county court

If initially heard by a district judge in the county court it will be heard in the same county court by a circuit judge.

If initially heard by a circuit judge in the county court the appeal will go to the high court.

If the case is appealed once again after making one of the above appeals they can make the second appeal to the court of appeal.

s55 Access to justice act 1999 states no appeal can be made to the court of appeal unless the CoA considers that the appeal would raise an important point of principle or practice, OR there is some other compelling reason for them to hear it.

Appeals from the High Court

When case is started in the high court it is usually appealed to the court of appeal, as long as they have leave to appeal from the court of appeal.

If a second appeal is made this will go to the supreme court, but only if one of these courts give leave to appeal.

If given permission by the supreme court, you can make a 'leapfrog' appeal from the high court, going straight to the supreme court and skip out the CoA. the Criminal Justice and Courts Act 2015 says this can only be done when the issue is of pubic/national importance or raises issues of significant importance to warrant a leapfrog.

The Woolf Reforms

Lord Woolf reviewed the civil court system and published a report in 1996, called access to justice, where he said the civil justice should be;

• Fair in the way it treats litigants.

• Understandable to those who use it.

• Offer appropriate procedures at a responsible price.

• Be reasonably reasonably speedy.

• Be just in the results.

He concluded that the civil courts failed all of these at the time and described the system as; unequal, expensive, slow, uncertain and complicated.

What changes were made as a result of Lord Woolf's report

Lead to the creation of the 3 track system and gave judges more responsibility for case management.

It also simplified the procedure and documents in the pre-trial procedure and lead to there being the same procedure for county and high court procedures.

Positives of the Woolf reforms

• Opposing lawyers now co-operate more, which speeds up the legal process.

• The process has been made slightly speedier overall (but not by much)

Negatives of the Woolf reforms

• The ADR is still not used enough.

• Costs of the cases keep increasing and costs often in fast tack cases are far greater then the amount claimed for.

• Courts are still under resourced, especially when it comes to technology