Court Hierarchy

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17 Terms

1
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what is the hierarchy of courts in civil cases?

  • county court

  • high court

  • divisional courts

  • Court of Appeal

  • Supreme Court

2
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what is the court hierarchy in criminal cases?

  • Magistrates

  • Crown Court

  • King’s bench divisional court

  • Court of Appeal

  • Supreme Court

3
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what did the Supreme Court replace in October 2009?

replaced the House of Lords as the highest UK court

4
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what happens with the Supreme Court decisions?

it binds all the other courts in the English Legal system

5
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does the Supreme Court usually follow its own previous decision?

yes but will depart from them ‘when it appears right to do so’ using powers contained in Practice Directions 3 and 4

6
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what is the court of appeal bound by?

decisions of the Supreme Court

7
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what happens with decisions from on division of the court of appeal?

it will not bind the other division

8
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what is the civil division of the court of appeal bound to do?

follow its own past decisions

9
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what does the criminal division of the court of appeal normally follow?

its own past decisions but can depart where liberty of a person may be at stake

10
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what does the high court include?

King’s Bench division, Chancery and family divisions

11
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whose decisions must the high court follow?

the supreme court and court of appeal

12
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does the high court usually follow its past decisions?

normally yes but if there are conflicting past decision then the decision ill be followed if the first decision has been fully considered

13
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who will the high courts decisions bind?

the courts below

eg. crown court, county court and magistrates court

14
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what are the crown, country and magistrates courts bound by?

decisions of all higher courts

15
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do they create precedent?

no as they are courts of first instance but technically the crown court creates precedent for the magistrates court

16
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what is the highest source of law and why?

statute law because it is made by the democratically elected parliament

precedent is subordinate to statute law

17
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what does the Human Rights Act 1998 do?

gave all courts the freedom to ignore precedent of higher courts if it contravenes the European convention on Human Rights. All UK courts must ‘take into account’ decisions of the European Court of Human Rights