Week 4 - Civil Justice System

Question 1

The Civil Justice System

Answer 1

Anything that is not criminal law

Civil law does broadly speaking include family law, but it has its own court

In civil you wouldn’t have a jury, instead, it will be one judge hearing from both parties

Question 2

The Civil Court Structure

Answer 2

• Most start in the County Court
• You can start in the high court, there’s also different division in the high court
• The Court of Appeal and Supreme Court are only if you appeal a case

Question 3

Civil Justice and The Rule of Law

Answer 3

1. The law must be accessible, and so far as possible intelligible, clear, and predictable
2. Questions of legal rights and liability should ordinarily be resolved by application of the law and not the exercise of discretion
3. The laws of the land should; apply equally to all, save to the extent that objective differences justify differentiation
4. Ministers and public officers at all levels must exercise the powers conferred on them in good faith, fairly for the purpose for which the powers were conferred, without exceeding the limits of such powers are not unreasonable
5. The law must afford adequate protection of human rights
6. *Means must be provided for resolving, without prohibitive cost or infinite delay, bona fide civil disputes which the parties themselves are unable to resolve
7. *Adjunctive procedures provided by the states should be fair
8. The state must comply with its obligation in international law

Question 4

Criticism of the civil justice system

Answer 4

• Procedures are too complex

The court system is too slow

Too expensive

Difficult for litigants in person to navigate

Question 5

The Woolf Review & Reforms

Answer 5

Recommended a complete overhaul of the civil justice system

Encourage ADR

Greater case management powers

Question 6

CRP Part 1: The Overriding Objective

Answer 6

• The overriding objective is to ensure the court deals with cases justly and at a proportionate cost

1. These rules are procedural codes with the overriding objective of enabling the court to deal with cases justly and at a proportionate cost
2. Dealing with a case justly and at proportionate cost includes, so far as is practicable

Question 7

Alternative Dispute Resolutions (ADR)

Answer 7

Resolving a dispute without going to court

Mediation - when you have a neutral person to help you reach an agreement

Arbitration - Where you go to an independent third party to make a decision about your dispute, it’s not the court is a private arrangement and you’re bound to follow that decision

Negotiation - It could be you and the other party reaching an agreement, two lawyers reaching an agreement

Question 8

Court cost

Answer 8

Once judgment has been delivered, the judge must deal with the costs of the case

• The general rule is that the unsuccessful party will have to pay the successful party’s costs, but the judge has wide discretion to depart from this rule

The judge may hear representation about costs at the end of the case

Question 9

Progress of a Civil Case

Answer 9

1. Pre-action stage
   - Formal letter
2. Commencement
   - If no promise (claim form)
3. Defendant
   - Defending the claim
4. Allocation
   - The court will allocate depending on the nature of the case
5. Trial
   - May be settled in advance
6. Judgement
7. Damages and costs
8. Enforcement

Question 10

Access to Civil Justice - Where are we now

Answer 10

Underfunding of the Justice System - has gone down

Cuts of legal aid - more people are now representing themselves and more injustice cause people don’t know how to claim their right

The expense of pursuing a civil case

Regional inequalities

Question 11

Could an online court be the answer

Answer 11

Points out there is a massive problem globally

He says if everyone submitted their documents online a judge took a look at it, it would be a lot faster

Court is a service, not a place, you should not have to go to a place