The Civil Justice System

Question 1

What must the law be according to the rule of law?

Answer 1

The law must be accessible, and so far as possible
intelligible, clear, and predictable.

Question 2

How should questions of legal right and liability be resolved according to the rule of law?

Answer 2

Questions of legal right and liability should ordinarily be resolved by application of the law and not the exercise of discretion.

Question 3

What does the rule of law say about the laws of the land?

Answer 3

The laws of the land should apply equally to all, however objective differences justify differentiation

Question 4

What does the rule of law say about Ministers and public officers?

Answer 4

Ministers and public officers must exercise the powers they are given in good faith and not exceed their limit

Question 5

What does the rule of law say about human rights?

Answer 5

The law must provide adequate protection of human rights

Question 5

What does the rule of law say about means for civil disputes?

Answer 5

• Means must be provided for resolving civil disputes.
• The process shouldn’t be expensive, slow or impossible to resolve

Question 6

What does the rule of law say about adjudicative procedures?

Answer 6

Adjudicative procedures provided by the state should be fair.

Question 7

What does the rule of law say about the state and international law?

Answer 7

The state must comply with its obligations in international law.

Question 8

What are the criticism of the civil justice system?

Answer 8

• Procedures are too complex
• Court system is too slow
• Difficult to enforce court decisions
• Too expensive
• Difficult for litigants in person to navigate

Question 9

What did the woolf review and reforms suggest?

Answer 9

• Recommended a complete overhaul of the Civil Justice System
• Unified civil procedure rules for High Court and County Court
• Changes in terminology (e.g. ‘plaintiff’, ‘writ’)
• Greater case management powers
• Encourage ADR

Question 10

What are the Civil Procedure Rules

Answer 10

1. The overriding objective
2. Case management

Question 11

What is the overriding objective?

Answer 11

• Aim to help courts handle cases justly and at a proportionate cost
• The approach should be proportionate to the financial stakes, importance, complexity, and financial positions of the parties.
• Courts should also allocate appropriate resources, encourage alternative dispute resolution, and enforce compliance with rules and orders.

Question 12

What is Case Management?

Answer 12

• The court is required to actively manage cases to further the overriding objective of handling them justly and efficiently

Question 13

What are the alternative dispute resolutions?

Answer 13

• Mediation
• Arbitration
• Negotiation

Question 14

What is mediation?

Answer 14

• The parties seek help of a natural third party who is trained in the field

Question 15

What is arbitration?

Answer 15

• The parties go to independent experts to adjudicate their case and agree they will be bound by the decision of the arbitrator

Question 16

What is Negotiation?

Answer 16

• The parties negotiate between themselves after directly or through legal representatives either in writing or in meetings

Question 17

What is the process of a civil case?

Answer 17

• Pre-action stage (formal letter)
• Commencement (if not compromise a claim form)
• Defendant (defending the claim)
• Allocation (court will allocate depending on the nature of the case)
• Trial (may be settled in advance)

Question 18

What is the 4 track system of court management?

Answer 18

1. The Small Claims Track Part 27
2. The Fast Track Part 28
3. The Intermediate Track Part 28
4. The Multi Track Part 29

Question 19

What is the Small Claims Track?

Answer 19

• Deals with cases that are worth less than £10,000

Question 20

What is the Fast Track system?

Answer 20

• Deals with cases worth more than £10,000 but less than £25,000
• Trial wont last more than a day

Question 21

What is the Intermediate Track?

Answer 21

• Deals with cases worth between £25,000 to £100,000
• Trial won’t last longer than 3 days
• Monetary relief only

Question 22

What is the Multi-track system?

Answer 22

• Deals with cases worth more than £25,000
• Complex cases

Question 23

How are the Costs in a civil case decided?

Answer 23

• Unsuccessful party will have to pay the successful party’s costs, but the judge has a wide discretion to depart from this rule