Civil Courts

Question 1

What is the hierarchy of the civil courts?

Answer 1

Supreme Courts
Court of Appeal (Civil Decisions)
High Court QBD, Family, Chancery
County Court

Question 2

What are examples of cases that go to civil court?

Answer 2

Negligent driving
Adoption and care proceedings
Trespassing across a farmers land
Buying a house

Question 3

What are the problems of bringing a civil action?

Answer 3

Is the D a man of straw? (does he have money)
Can the claimant afford costs
ADR is less confrontational
Long delays for court trail
Enforcing judgement of they win is difficult
Inequality of bargaining power

Question 4

What are the problems of bringing a civil action?

Answer 4

Is the D a man of straw? (does he have money)
Can the claimant afford costs
ADR is less confrontational
Long delays for court trail
Enforcing judgement of they win is difficult
Inequality of bargaining power

Question 5

What should you do to find out if the person or business can afford to pay?

Answer 5

• Worth working out what the D is able to claim
• Can ask a debtor to attend court for proof of their income and spending.
• If the money is owed by a business you can ask for an officer from the company to attend court to give details of accounts.
• You can then decide on what you need to do to get your money back.

Question 6

What were the Woolf Reforms?

Answer 6

Lord Woolf issued a report called ‘ACCESS TO JUSTICE’ in 1996. It outlined the criticisms of the civil court system and suggested proposals for how it could be improved.
New Civil Procedure Rules were issued in 1999, the county court and high court had different procedures, which were complicated and expensive so these were unified.

Question 7

What were the old CPR rules?

Answer 7

Parties determine place of trail
Claimant chooses county or high court 
Cases started by various forms
Small claims limit £30,000/in private
Parties use their own experts
No intervention to avoid litigation

Question 8

What are the new CPR rules?

Answer 8

• Judge responsible for case management
• Judge allocates to a track and court- single door entry to civil justice. Three track system introduced.
• Single claim form
• Small claims limit £10,000 held in public
• Use of single joint experts
• ADR encouraged.