LA1: Civil Justice System Flashcards
Court Structure:
County Court
County Court:
A First Instance Court that has the jurisdiction to hear: Claims under Contract and Tort; Cases for the Recovery of Land; Disputes over Partnerships, Trusts and Inheritance up to value of £30,000; Matrimonial Matters including Uncontested Divorce and a range of Orders in relation to Children.
Appeals From County:
Normal Appeal route is to the CoA Civil Division. Some appeals may go to different Divisions of the High Court if they involve special areas of Law.
Appellate Jurisdiction of County:
Being the lowest in the hierarchy, they can only hear Appeals from the Small Claims Court, which is run by the County Court itself. If a Point of Law arises, the Appeal is heard by a County Court Judge.
Court Structure:
High Court
High Court:
Any Civil Cases not dealt with by County will go to the High Court. Cases are organised according to case type and then heard in one of the 3 separate Courts, called Divisions. The High Court (HC) was created by the Judicature Acts 1873-75, which merged Common Law and Equity Courts. In 2010-2011, 37,000 Civil Claims were issued in the HC.
High Court Divisions:
QBD- Largest of the Divisions. Hears cases on many subjects but mainly Contract and Tort. Has around 70 judges and is headed by President of QBD.
Chancery Division- Deals with complex matters such as: Land law, Mortgages, Trusts, Probate, Bankruptcy, Company and Partnership law and Revenue Law. It mainly deals with areas of Law influenced by Equity.
Family Division- Hears 1st instance and Appeals in same Court. Created in 1970 and deals with All Matrimonial Cases and Matters relating to: Legitimacy, Adoption and Minors.
Appeals From High Court:
All Appeals go to CoA Civil Division, unless both Parties intend to “Fight the Case” all the way to Supreme Court (SC). If this is the case, Parties can get permission to ‘Leapfrog’ over CoA.
Appellate Jurisdiction of High Court:
HC appeal courts are known as Divisional Courts rather than Divisions.
QBDivisional- Separate from QBD and hears Appeals from Mags, County, Tribunal and some Judicial Review.
Chancery Divisional- Hears Appeals from Commissioners of Inland Tax Revenue on Income Tax Cases. Also hears Appeals from County on matters of Bankruptcy.
Family Divisional- See Above.
Court Structure:
Court of Appeal and Supreme Court
Court of Appeal:
Headed by Master of Rolls and served by most Senior Judges. Heard 1200 Appeals in 1998, in 2010-11 it rose to 4000. Hears Appeals from: HC, HC Divisional, County Court, Employment Appeals Tribunal, Lands Tribunal and Transport Tribunal. Minimum of 3 Judges will sit but it can be raised to 5.
Supreme Court:
Need permission to appeal to SC. It is the most Senior Court and cases must have ‘leave to appeal’ (permission). Leave will be granted if the case involves a Point o Law of General Public Importance.
The Woolf Report 1996
Conservative Gov. looking to cut costs. Civil Justice System was expensive to run and procedure was old fashioned. Lord Woolf was asked to investigate ways to improve the CJS.
He made over 300 recommendations. Which came out in his full report “Access To Justice” in 1996.
His reforms were carried over to the Labour Gov. who passed the Civil Procedure Act 1997. This Act revised the Court Jurisdictions, Trial Process and Paperwork; giving one set of rules (CPR) to both County and High Courts.
It also created the Track System (Name given to Case Allocation Process) and Pre-Action Protocols. These are Procedure that Judges have to follow in the run up to Trial including: timetables, hearings and pushing to settle out of court.
The Main Act wasn’t passed until 1999. This was the Access to Justice Act 1999. The Act:
- Almost completely abolished Civil Legal Aid.
- Created the right for Solicitor-Advocates to appear in all Courts.
- Changed the way Barristers and Solicitors were trained.
Woolf Report 1996:
Problems
Woolf Identified Various Problems with CJS:
- Cost of going to Court exceeded Value of Claim.
- Too Slow in bringing cases to Court. Waiting List is: 1-3yrs for County and 3-10yrs for HC.
- Too Unequal and Uncertain. Lack of equality between rich, powerful Litigant and under resource one. Lack of money and time lead to inequality in Settlements. It is difficult to know how long trial will take and what the outcome will be, which also increases inequality in Settlements because of above factors and fear of unknown.
- Incomprehensible. Litigants might not be able to understand words like ‘Writ’ and ‘Plaintiff’. This makes the System seem Inaccessible.
- Too Fragmented and Adversarial. There are 8 different ways to start a case, with different rules for County and HC. Cases are also being run by Barristers rather than Judges, so rules of Court were being ignored by Parties and not Enforced by Judges.
Woolf Report 1996:
New Landscape
Woolf recommended a new landscape that would come with the implementation of his reforms. It would have the following features:
- Litigation will be avoided whenever possible: Encouragement of ADR.
- Litigation will be less adversarial: Expectation of cooperation and openness between parties, supported by pre-litigation protocols on disclosure and experts.
- Litigation will be less complex: Single set of rules for both courts.
- Timescale will be shorter: Timetable set and monitored to reduce time taken.
- More Affordable Litigation: Fixed costs for Fast Track and Multi Track will publish estimate costs.
- More Equality: Under Represented Parties will have legal advice services.
- Judges more Inquisitorial
- CJS will meet Litigants needs
Civil Process:
Starting A Claim
CPR’s say every case must follow this procedure before it can go to court.
- Claimant writes ‘Letter Before Action’ explaining problem and the solution you want.
- Claimant issues N1 Claim Form against defendant. You drop this into court and pay a fee depending on size of the claim.
Money Claim Online (MCOL)-
Established in 2002. Claims up to £100,000 can be issued, and the fees paid, online. Defence can use service to file Defence. Judgement can also be received online.
- Defendant Decides to either, Admit to claim, ignore claim or defend themselves against it. Ignore and Claimant wins, Admit and D pays C.
- If you choose to defend, you send in an N9 Acknowledgement of Service within 14 days. This must include good reason for denial.
- Both sides fill out Allocation Questionnaire that details, evidence, witnesses, points of law etc.
- The case is Allocated a Track.
- Parties can choose to Settle outside of court first by using a Part 36 Payment, this is the name for an offer to settle.
Track System
Value of Claim: Court Case will be tried in.
Under £10,000: Small Claims Court.
£10,000-£25,000: Fast Track- County Court.
Over £25,000: Multi Track- County or High Court.
Personal Injury Cases
Under £1000: Small Claims Court.
£1000-£25,000: Fast Track- County Court.
£25,000-£50,000: Multi Track- County Court.
Over £50,000: Must start in High Court.
Pre Trial Process:
After Allocation
- Case Management Begins. Judge become case manager (More Inquisitorial). Sets trial dates and oversees Pre-Action Protocols (PAP).
- Disclosure Takes Place (PAP). Parties are encouraged to give lots of info to each other, hopes to make them want to settle. Must fill out lots of documents, it would be easier to settle.
- Expert Witnesses not allowed unless court grants permission. Fast Track-limited to one expert for both parties (Keeps process fast). Experts must sign statement saying they owe a duty to the courts.
- ADR Continuously encouraged. Overriding objective in Civil Procedure Rules (CPR). Always encourage to save costs time and money.
- Sanctions can be enforced. If parties break rules or PAP. 2 Main Types of Sanction: Award of Costs, Order for case or part of case to be struck out.
- Part 36 Payments. Offer to Settle. Either party can pay sum into court as an offer to settle. It can be either accepted or refused by the other party. If accepted, case will stop and costs will be paid by whoever agreed to pay them.
- Part 37 Payment. If part 36 refused, Defendant can make part 37. Pays money into court, if D then wins they get money back and Claimant may be ordered to pay costs.
Trial Process.
Governed by CPR.
1. Small Claims Track:
Cheap and simple way of making a claim for a small amount of money.Parties encouraged to represent themselves, although lawyers can still be used. Can cause inequality between litigants. Hearing is simple and informal, not many rules about presentation of evidence. Cases heard by District Judge, hearings often take less than 30mins. Appeal to Circuit Judge in County Court.
- Fast Track:
Always dealt with by County Court judge.
