Civil Courts Flashcards
Name three reasons why someone would use the Civil Courts
- Problems with faulty or poor quality goods
- Contesting a Will
- Divorce
Name the two Civil Courts
- County Court
- High Court
What is the Jurisdiction of the County Court?
- Contract, Tort, Land Law
- Partnerships, trusts and inheritances up to £30,000
- Divorce and bankruptcy
- Small claims, Fast Track and some Multi-Track matters
What is the general Jurisdiction of the High Court?
- All high value or important civil law cases (breach of contract or property damage)
- Has a supervisory jurisdiction over all subordinate courts and tribunals
What is the Jurisdiction of the Queen’s Bench Division of the High Court?
- Handling contracts (breach of contracts)
- Tort law cases that are too complex or costly for county courts (non-payments of debt or personal injury)
What is the Jurisdiction of the Chancery Division of the High Court?
- Disputes relating to business, property or land (suing)
- Disputes over trusts (ignoring a breach of trust)
- Intellectual property issues (copyright or plagiarism)
What is the Jurisdiction of the Family Division of the High Court?
- Adoption
- Domestic Violence
- Forced marriages or contested divorces
- Inherent Jurisdiction where a child who is the subject of legal proceedings must be protected and this protection is not possible under the Children Act 1989
Name the Three ‘Tracks’
- Small Claims
- Fast Track
- Multi-Track
Name 4 characteristics of the Small Claims Court
- Claimants are encouraged to represent themselves in order to keep overall costs low
- There are no strict rules or cross examinations (informal)
- The case is usually heard by a District Judge in the Crown Court
- Involves claims of under £10,000 and personal injury cases under £1000
Name 4 characteristics of Fast Track cases
- Strict timetable to ensure there is no time wasting
- Cases are usually heard within 30 weeks of being received
- The case is usually heard by a District Judge in the Crown Court
- Involves claims of no more than £25,000
Name 4 characteristics of Multi Track cases
- Most formal of all tracks and procedure insists that the judge must have a hands-on approach to case management
- The use of alternative dispute resolution is encourage by the Judge where possible
- The case is heard by senior Judges (Circuit or High Court) because of the amount of money involved
- Involves claims of more than £25,000
Describe and explain one advantage of using civil courts to solve a civil dispute
- There is always an appeal route regardless of what division the case was heard in. This offers claimants the opportunity to resolve an issue they may have with the initial outcome, however, this may be extremely time consuming and expensive.
Describe and explain a disadvantage of using civil courts to solve a civil dispute
- Expensive civil court cases are very costly for not only the claimant, but also the courts themselves. There is very little funding available for use and defendants must fit a certain strict criteria. There are many different routes that different cases require and the costs include filing, copying and expert witnesses.
Describe and explain a disadvantage of using the civil courts to solve a civil dispute
The court is very adversarial, argumentative and competitive. This provides a really hostile and tense environment to be in and the confrontation may deter defendants from attending. If a party doesn’t show up, both sides lose the case and the money spent which is a waste of time and resources.
Describe and explain a disadvantage of using the civil courts to solve a civil dispute
Judges aren’t technical experts and their limited knowledge won’t assist the case at hand. Many cases are obscure and complex in nature and the Judge won’t be helpful which may result in an unfair outcome as the Judge hasn’t fully understood or analysed the case.
