Civil courts

Question 1

What are county courts?

Answer 1

• there are about 200 courts
• main areas of jurisdiction are contract ad tort claims, recovery of land, equitable matters up to a value of £350,000
• heard by circuit or district judge
• possible to have a jury of eight
• anyone who doesn’t comply with judgement can be arrested and prosecuted.

Question 2

What are high courts?

Answer 2

• based in london but have several judges sitting in several towns.
• hear any civil case and has three divisions specialising in hearing certain types of cases: kings bench division, chancery division and family division.

Question 3

what is the queens bench division (high courts)

Answer 3

• the biggest of the three divisions.
• deals with contact and tort claims of over £100,000
• normally tried by a single judge but right to jury in fraud, libel, slander, malicious prosecution and false imprisonment cases.
• several courts within kbd:
• administrative - supervises the lawfulness of the conduct of national and local government of inferior courts and tribunals. deals with appeals from mags and crown courts.
• admiralty - shipping and maritime disputes
• commercial - transactions of trade and commerce
• circuit commercial - all types of business disputes falling outside commercial or chancery division
• technology and construction - domestic and international disputes in technology, engineering and construction.

Question 4

what is the chancery division? (high courts)

Answer 4

• involves disputes concerned with matters such as: insolvency, enforcing mortgages, trust property, intellectual property, contested probate, competition claims, partnerships and professional negligence.
• specific courts helping separate and deal with specific types of claims made: intellectual property enterprise court, patents court, insolvency and companies list.
• heard by single judge and juries are never used.

Question 5

What is the family division? (high courts)

Answer 5

• hear family cases where dispute about which country’s laws should apply and all international cases concerning family matters under Hague convention
• cases are heard by a single judge.
• crime and courts act 2013 creates new separate family court
• has jurisdiction to hear cases where: a child is made ward of the court, relate to children under children act 1989, appeals from family proceedings, international child abduction, forced marriage and genital mutilation and financial relief where divorce has taken place outside the UK.

Question 6

What are the pre-action protocols?

Answer 6

• parties are encouraged to give information to each other in attempt to prevent the need for court cases to be started.
• the purpose is to: encourage parties to settle using ADR, ensure parties get all information as soon as, allow suitable offers to resolve the issue, ensure that it can be dealt with as quickly as possible if goes to court.

Question 7

How to know which court to use?

Answer 7

• the court to be used will depend on the amount being claimed.
• if the amount is £100,000 or less it must be started in the county court except for personal injury cases where it is £50,000 or less
• if the claim is more than those amounts a claimant can choose whether to go county or high court.

Question 8

How issuing a claim works

Answer 8

• they can choose to issue it to any of the 200 county courts.
• if they are using the high courts they can go to any 20 of the district registries.
• they need a claim form called ‘N1’.
• people can make a money claim online
• claim has to be filed at the court office and fee charged

Question 9

How defending a claim works

Answer 9

• the defendant may admit the claim and pay the full amount, where this happens the case ends.
• the defendant may dispute the claim, they must send acknowledgement of service or a defence to the court within 14 days.
• if they do neither the claimant can ask the court to make an order that the defendant pays the money and costs claimed
• once a claim is defended the court will allocate the case to the most suitable ‘track’

Question 9

How defending a claim works

Answer 9

• the defendant may admit the claim and pay the full amount, where this happens the case ends.
• the defendant may dispute the claim, they must send acknowledgement of service or a defence to the court within 14 days.
• if they do neither the claimant can ask the court to make an order that the defendant pays the money and costs claimed
• once a claim is defended the court will allocate the case to the most suitable ‘track’

Question 10

What are the three types of tracks?

Answer 10

• the small claims track: disputes under £10,000 except for personal injury where limit is £1,000
• the fast track: straightforward disputes of £10,000-£25,000
• the multi-track: cases over £25,000 or complex cases under this amount
• the judge can allocate a case to track that normally deals with claims of higher value, if the parties agree the judge can allocate a case to a lower value track.

Question 11

What is the small claims track?

Answer 11

• usually heard in private but can be hear in an ordinary court.
• district judges are given training on how to handle them so they can take an active part in the proceedings asking questions and ensuring both parties explain fully.
• parties are encouraged to represent themselves and cannot claim the cost of using a lawyer from the other side.

Question 12

What is a fast track case?

Answer 12

• court will set down a strict timetable for the pre-trial matters
• the aim is to have the case hard within 30 weeks but in practice it is more likely to be 50
• usually heard by circuit judge and take place in open court with a formal procedure
• hearing limited to a maximum of one day and the number of expert witnesses restricted

Question 13

What is a multi-track case?

Answer 13

• each case heard by judge who is expected to ‘manage’ the case from the moment it is allocates.
• identify issues at early age, encouraging them to use ADR if appropriate, dealing with procedural steps without needing court and fixing timetables for different stages are included in the roles of the judge.
• case management is used to keep costs as low as possible and make the process reasonably quick.

Question 14

What is reform in civil courts?

Answer 14

• lord Woolf recommended reforms in 1999 presenting a system of civil justice.
• he states it should be: just in results, fair in treatment of litigants, offer appropriate procedure at a reasonable cost, deal with cases at reasonable speed and understandable to those who use it.
• his reforms brought in three track system giving judges more responsibility for managing cases.
• he also wanted more use of information technology and greater use of ADR

Question 15

What were the effects of the Woolf reforms?

Answer 15

• main improvements mean there is more co-operation between parties lawyers.
• also improvements in delays between issuing a claim and the court hearing.
• there are still issues surrounding the use of ADR, costs of cases have continued to rise and the courts are still under-resourced.

Question 16

What further reforms have been made?

Answer 16

• the financial limits for small claims and fast track cases have been increased to avoid expensive trials for lower value claims (£1,000 personal injury increase to £5,000)
• latest review by lord briggs proposed several proposals, the two main ones are: out of hours private mediation services and online court (gives litigants effective access to justice without having to incur the disproportionate cost of lawyers).

Question 17

What is the appeal route in civil cases?

Answer 17

• there are different routes for county court and high court.
• the value of the claim and the level of judge who heard the case effect which route should be used.

Question 18

What is the process of appeals from county court?

Answer 18

• if the case is heard by district judge it will be appealed to a circuit judge in the same county court
• if the case is heard by a circuit judge then the appeal is to high court judge.
• there is possibility for a second appeal however they are only allowed in exceptional cases stated in s55 of the access to justice act (raise important point of principle or practice or there is some other compelling reason for court of appeal to hear it)

Question 19

What is the appeal route for the high court?

Answer 19

• from a decision in the high court the appeal usually goes to the court of appeal
• there may be a ‘leapfrog’ directly to the supreme court for cases of national importance or sufficient importance warranting it. the supreme court has to approve it.
• from a decision at the court of appeal there is a further appeal to supreme court but only if they give permission to appeal.

Question 20

What are the advantages of using the courts?

Answer 20

• the process is fair in that everyone is treated alike
• the trial is conducted by a legal expert
• enforcement of the courts decision is easier as it is legally binding and is public stopping businesses hiding their disputes
• there is an appeals process with specific routes
• it may be possible to get legal aid although it has been considerably reduced and is not usually available.

Question 21

What are the disadvantages of using the courts?

Answer 21

• the cost is often more than the amount claimed
• there are many preliminary stages adding length to the case and usually a year or so wait for larger claims
• when a case is started in court there are forms to be filled and set procedures to follow making it complicated without taking legal advice and help.
• there is no guarantee of winning a case and in turn may end up paying for the costs of the other side.