civil courts

Question 1

civil criminal law

Answer 1

civil-balance of probability, claimant v defendant, sue, liable, compensate, private individual, negligence. criminal-beyond reasonable doubt, prosecute, punish, guilty

Question 2

civil courts hierarchy

Answer 2

supreme court<-court of appeal<-high court<-county court

Question 3

pre-action protocol

Answer 3

1.C sends D a letter to explain why D is at fault, details of injury. 2.D has 14 days to investigate and explain if he accepts or denial liability. 3.parties should agree an expert witness if required. failure to comply may result in liability for certain costs. 4.claimant fills out N1 form. sets out details of their case. allocation questionnaire is completed. track is allocated depending on amount being claimed

Question 4

county court…

Answer 4

deals with civil matters, around 200 county courts in the UK, main areas of jurisdiction:all contract and tort claims,all cases for recovery of land,inheritance up to £30,000, hears small, fast and multi cases, small claims usually heard by district judge, fast and multi claims heard by circuit judge

Question 5

high court: kings bench division

Answer 5

only hear multi track cases, has power to hear any civil cases, based in London(judges sit in 26 cities in the UK), 3 divisions, kings bench division-majority of the work including tort and contract cases not suitable for county court, chancery division-deal with tax,property and bankruptcy cases, family division-hear cases involving adoptions,divorce,wills and child custody proceedings, crime and courts act 2013, cases under the children act 1989

Question 6

small track claims

Answer 6

claims up to £10,000, up to £1,000 for personal injuries and landlord and tenant cases, heard in county court by district judge, parties encouraged to take own case with no judge, if person used lawyer must pay themselves, legal aid to pay for lawyer not available, judge must help as much as possible

Question 7

fast track claims

Answer 7

cases between £10,000 to £25,000, morw than £1,000 for personal injury and landlord and tenant cases, heard in county court by district judge, stick to strict timetable, usually heard within 30 weeks of allocation, strict timetable limit of 1 day and limited witnesses

Question 8

multi track claims

Answer 8

cases over £25,000 (or less if case is complex), in county court by circuit judge, can be sent to high court if case involves complex law or claim is more than £50,000 by high court judge, set strict timetable including what must be discussed,how many witnesses will be used and trial time

Question 9

small track/fast track appeals

Answer 9

court of appeal<-circuit judge<-small claims track-district judge
court of appeal<-high court<-fast track-circuit judge

Question 10

multi track appeals

Answer 10

supreme court<-court of appeal<-county court(multi track) or high court
supreme court<-high court - leapfrog appeal

Question 11

S55 of the access to justice act 1999

Answer 11

no appeal can be made to the court of appeal “unless the court of appeal considers that the appeal would raise an important point of principle of practice or there is some other compelling reason for the court yo hear

Question 12

advantages

Answer 12

full range of remedies, binding, appeals available, privacy-media/public don’t have access to the courtroom

Question 13

disadvantages

Answer 13

costly-higher than amount claimed, uncertainty-no guarantee of winning, lack of empathy-judges upper class background, business reputation at risk