civil court

• civil cases concern disputes between individuals usually when an individual or a business thinks that someone else has infringed their legal rights in someway
• there are two civil courts which cases can begin. These are the county court and High Court.
• jurisdiction means the power each court has to deal with certain types of cases
• jurisdiction of the county court

  • the county court hears the vast majority of civil cases
  • these include businesses trying to recover money they are owed , individuals seeking compensation for injuries , landowners seeking orders that will prevent trespass
• jurisdiction of high court

  • The High Court has 3 divisions : chancery divisions, kings bench division, family divisions
  • The Kings bench division deals of the work including tour and contract not suitable for County Court
  • as it is the division of the king’s bench it also hears criminal appeals and judicial review cases with tax and probate and bankruptcy cases
  • chancery division hears tax, property, wills and probate, and bankruptcy cases
  • family division hears about where there is a dispute under hague convention also hears cases about adoption, divorce, wills and child custody
• pre-action protocols

  • pre-action protocols rules about what the parties must do even before the court proceedings are issued
  • there are currently 16 separate action protocols and the one that applies will depend on the type of claim
  • for example, the personal injury pre-action protocol requires the following to be done: (1)letter of claim (2) the defendant has few months to investigate and admit liability or explain to c why liability is denied (3) parties agree an expert witness if required
  • if party doesn’t comply, they can be penalised
• issuing a claim

  if a dispute cannot be settled, the claimant can issue proceedings by completing FORM N1 (or claiming online if it is a case of being owned money up to £100,000) and paying a fee which ranges between £25 for a very low value online claim to £10,000 for a claim for more than £200,000
• issuing a claim

  the court will then allocate it to one of four tracks a track is the name for the different set of rules that are applied to different types of values of claim
• small claims track

  value of : claim under £10,000; personal injury cases under £1,000

  court : county court

  judge : district judges

  approach : cannot cover costs ; largely used by people representing themselves known as litigants in person this allows district judge to adopt an inquisitorial approach
• fast track

  value of claim : £10,000 - £25,000 ; personal injury cases between £1,000 and £25,000

  court : county court

  judge : circuit judge

  approach : 30-week timetable to trial , only one joint expert allowed , trial limited to one day , fixed recoverable costs
• intermediate track

  value of claim : claims between £25,000 and £100,000

  court : up to £50,000 - county court, over £50,000 - high court

  judge : up to £50,000 - circuit judge, over £50,000 - puisne judge

  approach : simplified procedure, fixed reversible costs, trial limited to two days, two experts per party
• multi-track

  value of claim : claims over £100,000 ; more complex claims

  court : high court

  judge : puisne judge

  approach : judge sets timetable to trial , no limits on experts
• civil appeals

  appeals in small claims and fast track civil cases are made to the next judge up in the hierarchy :

  • if the case was heard by a district judge , the appeal is made to a circuit judge in the same county court
  • if the case was heard by a circuit judge , the appeal is to a high court judge
• civil appeals

  second appeals are possible and are always made to the court of appeal (civil division) and only in exceptional circumstances

  s55 Access to Justice Act 1999 - not unless

  1. the appeal would raise an important point of principle or practice
  2. there is some other compelling reason for the Court of appeal to hear it
• civil appeals

  • appeals from the multi track are made to the court of appeal civil division
  • there is a further appeal available to the supreme court if the case concerns a point of law of general public importance and if either the Court Of Appeal or Supreme Court gives permission
• civil appeals

  • on rare occasions there can be a leapfrog of appeals directly from the High Court to the Supreme Court under the administration justice act 1999 if:

  1. Supreme Court gives permission
  2. Point of law of general public importance

  • if a European law issues involved the case may be referred to the European court of justice under article 267 referral from any court on an EU law issue
• advantages of civil courts

  • it is a fair system
  • decisions of the court are binding in law
  • parties have the right appeal against the decision of the court
• disadvantages of the civil court

  • it is expensive
  • court proceedings can be very slow
  • taking a case to court carries significant uncertainty with it