OCR A LEVEL LAW - CIVIL COURTS

County Court

Main areas of jurisdiction -

All contract and tort cases

All recovery of land cases

disputes over equitable matters

Circuit or district judge

High Court

Jurisdiction to hear any case

Has three divisions

Queen's bench division

Biggest of the three divisions and deals with contract and tort cases over £100,000, though the claim can be smaller if there is an important point of law

Normally tried by a single judge, right to a jury for: fraud, libel, slander, malicious prosecution and false imprisonment

Also has an administrive court

Chancery Division

Involves disputes concerning:

- insolvency

- enforcement of mortgages

- trust property

- copyright and patents

- intellectual property matters

- contested probate actions

heard by a single judge and juries are never used

Family Division

Hears family cases over which countries laws should apply and all international family cases

heard by a single judge

The crime and courts act 2013 created new separate family court

Pre-trial procedures

Parties are encouraged to give each other information in an attempt to avoid using court.

A pre-action protocol is a list of things to be done

If the parties do not follow the procedure they may be liable for certain costs if they make a court claim

Four Tracks

Small claims Track - disputes under £10,000 (personal injury under £5000)

Fast track - straightforward disputes of £10,000-£25,000

Intermediate Track - £25,000-£100,000

Multi track - Over £100,000 or over £25,000 complex cases under this amount

Small claims

Usually heard in private but can be heard in an ordinary court, the procedure allows the district judge to be flexible and take part in the active proceedings, both parties are encouraged to represent themselves

Fast Track

Very strict timetable for pre-trial matters to prevent a waste of time and money, aim to hear the case within 30 weeks, heard by a circuit judge in an open court, hearing limited to one day and only one expert is allowed

Intermediate Track

3 day long trial, 2 experts per party, no injunctions (stops or specific start performative), heard by circuit judge in county court.

Multi track

Heard by a judge who will be expected to manage the case -

Identifying issues, encouraging ADR, dealing with procedural steps without court, fixing a timetable, complex cases

Reform

The present system of civil justice is based on Lord Woolf's reforms from 1999

- be just in the results it delivers

- fair in its treatment of litigants

- reasonable costs

- reasonable speeds

- understandable to those who use it

Effect of Lord Woolf

There are still many problems -

ADR not used enough

Costs of cases have continued to increase

Courts are still under-resourced

Further reforms

Lord Briggs 2016:

- Should be an out-of-hours private mediation service in the county court

- an online court should be set up

Appeals

If the case was heard by a district judge in the county court the appeal goes to a circuit judge in the same court then to the court of appeal

If the case was heard by a circuit judge in the county court then it is heard by a high court judge then it goes to the court of appeal

If the case was heard in the High court it is appealed in the court of appeal and then a possible further appeal to the supreme court

Advantages

Process is fair as the judge is impartial

Trial is conducted by a legal expert and an experienced judge

Enforcement of the courts decision

There is an appeal process

May be possible to get legal aid

Disadvantages

The costs of taking a case to court if usually more than the amount being claimed

There are many preliminary stages which delay the case

It is a complicated process

Uncertainty as there is no guarantee of winning the case