WHAT THE COURTS DO
THE MAGISTRATES' COURT
Virtually all criminal cases start in the Magistrates' courts. The less serious offences are handled entirely in the magistrates court. Over 95% of all cases are dealt with in this way. The more serious offences are passed on to the Crown Court, to be dealt with by a judge and jury.
Magistrates deal with three kinds of cases:
- Summary offences. These are less serious cases, such as motoring offences and minor assaults, where the defendant is not entitled to trial by jury.
- Either-way offences. As the name implies, these can be dealt with either by the magistrates or before a judge and jury at the Crown Court. Such offences include theft and handling stolen goods. A suspect can insist on their right to trial in the Crown Court. Similarly, magistrates can decide that a case is sufficiently serious that it should be dealt with in the Crown Court - which can impose tougher punishments.
- Indictable-only offences, such as murder, manslaughter, rape and robbery. These must be heard at a Crown Court.
THE CROWN COURT
The Crown Court deals with more serious criminal cases such as murder, rape or robbery, some of which are on appeal or referred from Magistrates' courts.
Trials are heard by a Judge and a 12 person jury. Members of the public are selected for jury service or may have to go to court as witnesses.
The Crown Court is based at 77 centres across England and Wales. It deals with cases transferred from the Magistrates' Courts. It also hears appeals against decisions of Magistrate's Courts, and deals with cases sent for sentence from Magistrates' Courts.
THE COUNTY COURT
The County Court, often referred to as the Small Claims Court, deals with civil matters such as:
- claims for debt repayment including enforcing court orders and return of goods bought on credit
- personal Injury
- breach of contract concerning goods or property
- family issues such as divorce or adoption
- housing disputes, including mortgage and council rent arrears and re-possession.
There are 216 County Courts throughout England and Wales dealing with all but the most complicated civil law, witness training proceedings .
Most County Court cases are between people or companies who believe that someone owes them money. Claims for small amounts are generally straightforward and there is usually no need for those involved to use solicitors In certain circumstances case management conferences and other applications may be heard, whenever appropriate, by means of a telephone conference. To do this the parties or their legal representative should make arrangements with the relevant court.
HIGH COURT
The High Court of Justice (commonly known as the High Court) is one of the senior courts of England and Wales. It deals with all high value and high importance civil cases, and also has a supervisory jurisdiction over all subordinate courts and many (but not all) tribunals.
The High Court is based at the Royal Courts of Justice in The Strand, London. It has 'District Registries' all across England and Wales and virtually all proceedings in the High Court may be issued and heard at a district registry.
The High Court has three main divisions: the Queen’s Bench Division, the Chancery Division and the Family Division. Briefly, the Queen’s Bench Division hears a wide range of contract law and personal injury/general negligence cases, but also has special responsibility as a supervisory court. The Chancery Division deals with business law, trusts law, probate aw, and law in relation to issues of equity. It has specialist courts (the Patents Court and the Companies Court) which deal with intellectual property and company law and matters respectively. All tax appeals are assigned to the Chancery Division. The Family Division deals with matters such as divorce, children, probate and medical treatment.
Most proceedings in the High Court are held before a single judge, but certain kinds of proceedings, especially in the Queen's Bench Division, are assigned to a Divisional Court (i.e., a bench of two or more judges). Exceptionally the Court may sit with a jury, but in practice normally only in defamation cases or cases against the police. Litigants are normally represented by Counsel (barrister), but may be represented by lawyers with a right of audience, or in person.
EMPLOYMENT TRIBUNALS
The Employment Tribunals are independent judicial bodies who determine
disputes between employers and employees over employment rights. These
include:
- unfair dismissal
- redundancy payments
- discrimination
An Employment Tribunal is like a court but it is not as formal; for example,
nobody wears a wig or gown. However, like a court it must act independently
and cannot give legal advice. Almost all hearings are open to the public.
