civil courts and ADR Flashcards
who are civil disputes generally between?
individuals, companies and/ or local or national government departments
who are disputes between?
claimants and defendants
compensations can be…
damages, injunction or both
fill in the gaps: a civil case is a dispute between ———. the ——– makes a claim against the ———. the claimant must find the defendant liable on a ‘balance of ————-‘. this is the ——– of proof in a civil case. the —— of proof is on the claimant to find the defendant ——. if found liable, the defendant must put the claimant back in the position they were before — —-. the —— of the case will usually be awarded ———–.
1) individuals
2) claimant
3) defendant
4) probabilities
5) standard
6) burden
7) liable
8) the case
9) winner
10) compensation
which two courts are the trial courts for civil disputes
county and high court
what is the definition of jurisdiction
the official power to make legal decisions and judgements
what happens in the chancery division of the high court
this court hears cases involving company law, tax, insolvency, intellectual property and trusts.
what happens in the family division of the high court
the court is headed by the president of the family division and hear cases involving the welfare of children under the children act 1989. It also hears matrimonial cases such as defended divorce cases and some probate cases.
who by and when was the family court created? what powers does it hold?
A family court was created by the crime and courts act 2013. it has both the powers of the high court and county court.
what happens in the QBD?
it is the largest of the 3 divisions and it headed by the Lord Chief Justice and hears cases involving contract and tort. a jury of 12 may be used in cases of malicious prosecution, false imprisonment and defamation cases. judicial review cases are also heard in this court. the QBD has jurisdiction to hear contract and tort matters over £100,000 and complex multi-track cases transferred from the county court.
name the 5 courts of the QBD
administrative court, admiralty court, commercial court, circuit commercial courts, technology and construction court.
what can the administrative court hear?
applications of judicial review, applications for Habeas Corpus, matter relating to the planning court, appeals by way of case stated from criminal cases decided at the magistrates’ court or crown court.
what does the admiralty court deal with?
shipping and maritime disputes
what does the commercial court deal with?
claims relating to the transaction of trade and commerce for example, insurance, banking and financial matters
what does the circuit commercial court deal with?
deals with all types of business disputes which fall outside the remit if the commercial court or the chancery division.
what does the technology and construction court deal with?
this is a specialist court dealing with domestic and international disputes in the field of technology, engineering and construction.
what does the chancery division deal with?
disputes relating to business, property or land, intellectual property matters, competition claims under both EU and UK competition law, disputes over trusts, contentious probate, claims relating to partnerships, professional negligence.
name the 3 courts of the chancery division
the intellectual property enterprise court, the patents court, the insolvency and companies list
what cases does the family division have jurisdiction to hear
cases where:
a child is made a ward of the court, relating to children under the children’s act 1989, international child abduction under the hague convention, forced marriage, female genital mutilation. plus appeals from family proceedings courts and cases transferred from the county court and applications for financial relief where a divorce has taken place outside England.
what is the definition of an appeal
the process in which cases are reviewed where parties request a formal change to an official decision. appeals function both as a process for error correction as well as a process of clarifying and interpreting law
what is a formal civil court case also known as
litigation
what types of claims does litigation involve
breach or contract, negligence claims, family or land law amongst other areas
how does the claimant issue proceedings in a civil court
by completing a claims form which is filed in the court and sent to the defendant. usually the claimant is seeking either money in compensation (damages) or an injunction or both. the claim form starts a whole process where documents are exchanged throughout this the claim is supervised by a judge who makes orders as part of his role in active case management. the final trial is heard before a judge, usually sitting alone. negligence claims are no longer dealt with by juries.
describe the hierarchy of the civil court system
from the top down the supreme court of UK the court of appeal the high court the QBD the family division the chancery division county court tribunuals
if an appeal is heard by a district judge then who is the appeal to
a circuit judge in the same county
if the case was heard by a circuit judge then the who is the appeal to
a high court judge
in S 55 of the access to justice 1999 it states that no appeal may be made to the court of appeal unless the court of appeal considers that … what are the two things that the CoA must consider?
1) the appeal would raise an important point of principle or practice, or
2) there is some other compelling reason for the court of appeal to hear it.
from a decision in the high court the appeal usually goes to the court of appeal what type of appeal will occur in rare cases and explain it
leap frog appeal- must involve an issue which is of national importance or raise issues of sufficient importance to warrant the leap frog.
explain a further appeal
from a decision of the CoA there is a further appeal to the supreme court but only if the supreme court or CoA gives permission to appeal.
state 7 suggestions from the woolf reform regarding civil courts
- just results
- treat litigants fairly
- reasonable costs
- reasonable speed
- understand to those who use it
- wanted to use more IT and ADR to speed up the process
- more co-operation between parties’ lawyers and case management by the judge
how did the woolf report describe the civil courts
“the doors of the courts are open to all, like the doors of the ritz hotel”
what further reforms did Lord Biggs propose in 2016
1) out of hours mediation service in county court
2) online court fir claims up to £25,000
3) case officials to carry out administration work that is currently done by judges
what are the 3 stages of the pre-trial procedure
1) pre-action protocol
2) issuing a claim
3) defending a claim
explain what happens in the pre-action protocol stage
information to both parties in the case and list of things to be done before trial (if not followed party could incur costs)
explain what happens in the issuing a claim stage
once establishing court proceeding court proceedings need to be started (most are negotiated and settled before requiring court), the formal procedure is set in motion (N1 form and pay fee)
describe the civil appeals order
(from the top)
supreme court
|
court of appeal
| | | |
circuit high multi high
judge court track court
| judge
district |
judge circuit
judgeexplain the 3 track system
this system was regulated by the civil procedure act 1997 to ensure that cases were dealt with more swiftly there are 3 track systems: the small claims track, the fast track and the multi-tracj
