Court Hierarchy

This Assignment is about the hierarchy of the court system in the United Kingdom. In civil law the highest court is the European Court of Justice. The second cort in the hierarchy is the Supreme Court. The following ones are Court of Appeal (Civil Division), Divisional Courts, High Courts, County Courts, Magistrates and Tribunals.
First Instance is where the offence is held for the first time. Besides, the first instance is the input place of the case, so the court which is first responsible for the treatment of a case.
The opposite is the Court of Appeal where the case is on appeal. Courts of First Instance are Tribunals, Magistrates, Supreme Court and the European Court of Justice. Courts of Appeal are the High Court, County Courts and Court of Appeal. The standard of proof in civil law is on a ‘balance of probabilities’.

1) Civil law hierarchy

The European Court of Justice is at the head of the court hierarchy in civil and criminal law. This Court established in 1952 and is located in Luxembourg. The members of the European Court of Justice are 11 advocates general and one judge from each European Country.
The job of this Court is to ensure that in the application and interpretation of the treaties are correct. It is important that the law is equal for everyone. The Court has the power to settle legal disputes between EU Member States, EU institutions, businesses and individuals. It deals with different types of cases like interpreting the law, enforcing the law or annulling European legal acts.
The Supreme Court is the highest court in England and established on 1. October 2009. The Supreme Court deals with civil and criminal cases and is the final Court of Appeal, so it hears appeals from the Court of Appeal. The cases heard here are of the greatest public importance and concern the entire population. All in all they hear around the year between five and ten cases. The Supreme Court deals with matters of law relating to the constitution.
The Court of Appeal is divided into two divisions. The Civil and the criminal division. To be heard in this court a Permission is needed. They deal with documentary evidences and legal arguments. The court of Appeal is a court of appeal and checks judgments of low authorities for legal mistakes. The negotiations usually takes place in London.
The Divisional Court perceives different duties to which the administration of justice belongs in England and Wales as well as the check of decisions of the lower courts.
Legal remedies against certain judgements of lower instance courts are negotiated before the Divisional Courts of the High Courts which ate taken with at least two judges.
The High Court is located in London, nevertheless, negotiations can also take place in other parts of England or wales. The High Court can deal with nearly all civil things, although it concentrates in practise in the big and complicated cases. There are three different divisions.

• Queen’s Bench Division
• Chancery Division
• Family Division

The County Court is a low- ranking court and was established by the County Courts Act in 1846. It was created to deal with minor civil disputes. The area of responsibility clasps the civil law. All in all 85 percent of the civil jurisprudence takes place in a County Court. The maximum amount in dispute is 50.000 Pounds. This court hears all tracks. The process begins with the Receive of the notification. Furthermore it is necessary to fill out a form. Sometimes an informal hearing is needed. The last step is the judgement. The County Court deals with civil matters and not with criminal matters. Around the year the County Court hears 2 million cases. It takes on all contact and tort claims.

2) Criminal Cases Review Commission and youth court

The Criminal Cases Review Commission was set up in 1997 and is an independent public body. The CCRC is impartial and independent. That means that it do not represent the defence. Their job is to review possible miscarriages of justice in criminal courts. A special type of Magistrate’s court is the youth court. The youth court is a court for people aged between 10 and 18 (underage). Possible cases are burglary, theft or drug offences. They also deal with anti-social behaviors of the teenagers. The difference to adult courts is that it is less formal (no members of public).

3) track system

The track system exist from 3 different tracks. The small claims, fast tracks and multi tracks.
In small claims the people are encouraged to represent themselves. That means that they do not have a lawyer who represents them. This is because it keeps the costs down.
The winner can’t recover the cost of their lawyer from the losing party. An Advantage could be that the process is quick and the costs are low. Disadvantages are that legal funding is not available. One of the biggest disadvantages is that the process can be unfair if one party is using a lawyer and the opponent is not. Small claims are under 10.000 Pounds and personal injury 1.000 Pounds. The fast track deals with financial value of no more than 25.000 Pounds. The aim of the fast track is that the case is heard within 30 weeks. For the fast track it is important not to waste time. So they can save money. An Advantage of the fast track is that the costs are low and the timetable is set by the judge. The Disadvantage is that the total waiting time for a trial can be up to 59 weeks. The small Claim and the fast track are taking place in the County Court. The last track is the multi track. All of the cases that are not allocated in small claims or fast track are heard in multi track. The cases can be heard by a Circuite Judge. Advantages are that the cases are work on as fast as possible. Compensation of the claimant by taking over travel expenses, costs of anaction or lost yield. An disadvantage is that it ist not easy to receive the judgement and avoid paying.