Home > Law essays > The Hierarchy of the Court System

Essay: The Hierarchy of the Court System

Essay details and download:

  • Subject area(s): Law essays
  • Reading time: 5 minutes
  • Price: Free download
  • Published: 8 June 2017*
  • Last Modified: 29 September 2024
  • File format: Text
  • Words: 1,367 (approx)
  • Number of pages: 6 (approx)

Text preview of this essay:

This page of the essay has 1,367 words.

The court of first instance is the first court that your case will be heard in. In a civil case this is County Court or High Court. In a criminal case it will be the Magistrates Court or the Crown court (depending on the case). These are trial courts which will look at the evidence, hear the witnesses and listen to arguments and theories made by defence and prosecution.
Whereas, in an appeal court the judge will only review the case and the conviction could either be upheld or quashed. Possible instances for appeal could be: Jury irregularity or any inappropriate comments made by the judge.
Hierarchy of the civil courts:
The lowest court is county court. In England and Wales, a County Court Is a judicial court for civil cases. Most outcomes are decided by a district judge or circuit judge sitting on their own. Civil matters in England don’t have juries. In the county court judges are either former solicitors or barristers. Civil claims are either dealt with under the small claims track, the fast track or multi track.
The claims limit for Small Claims are under £10,000 and personal injury claims are £1000. For Small Claims the cases take place in a more informal setting like the County Court Committee Room and are heard by district judge. If an appeal is requested it could be appealed in the county court to a single circuit judge.
For Small claims it is encouraged that the parties represent themselves, the claimant and defendant are given the chance to state their case, display witnesses and also question the other parties’ witnesses. Then the evidence is summarised thoroughly by the district judge who will make a judgement.
The claims limit for Fast Track are between £10,000 and £25,000 with personal injury cases having a limit between £1000 and £25,000. Fast Track cases are heard by a circuit judge or a district judge. If a claim starts in the Fast Track, it will appeal to a single high court judge.
A pre-set timetable is made for the parties by the judge, containing details on when documents can be exchanged and the amount of witnesses, as they can impose limits of either one court appointed witness or one expert witness. The parties mostly opt to be legally represented. The date of the trial is always within 30 weeks of the claim being made formally to the court. 3 to 7 days prior to the trial a catalogue of documents must be lodged within the court.
The claims limit for Multi Track is between £25,000 and £50,000, if they are over £50,000 the claim is heard in the High Court. If the case is in a county court it will be heard by a circuit judge and if in a high court the case will be heard by a high court judge. In Multi Track cases the parties are represented. Multi Track cases that are heard in the County Court and High Court can appeal to the Court of Appeal. A claim in the Court of Appeal appeals to the Supreme Court.
The next court is high court. Depending on the case, the high court is organised into either the family division, chancery division or queen’s bench division.
The family division hears cases that involve complex divorce situations, also It deals with matters of child welfare brought by either parents for child custody matters or child protection agencies. It can also deal with uncontested administration of wills. The chancery division can deal with issues regarding land law, bankruptcy, intellectual property and corporate laws. The queen’s bench division can hear cases that include other business such as disputes over contracts or land or torts.
If a case has been heard in the high court it may appeal to the Court of Appeal (civil division), this is where the judge will look over the case and decide if the original outcome was correct. This is where a lot of case are finished, however from the court of appeal a case can be further appeal to the supreme court. The highest court in the Uk is the Supreme Court where it will hear appeals of both civil and criminal cases and has the final verdict in these.
If the case includes any aspect of European Law, because we are in the EU, the last point of appeal could be the European Court of Justice.
Hierarchy of the criminal courts:
The lowest criminal court is a magistrates’ court in which cases are heard by either 2 or 3 magistrates or a district judge and there is no jury. They decide if you are guilty or not guilty and the necessary sentence. Around 2 million criminal cases go through the magistrates’ court every year. They deal with what is known as ‘summary offences’ which are motoring offences, minor criminal damage and issuing arrest and search warrants. It also has the power to deal with some slightly more serious offences like burglary and drug offences but these can also be heard in a Crown Court. This court has the decision of if a person should be kept in custody, this could be by a police or court cell granted bail, and they would be let out on very harsh terms. The court can give punishments of up to 6 months in prison or 12 months for more than one offence, a community sentence which may include a fine and unpaid community work or a fine of up to £5000.
Youth Court is a type of magistrates’ court that is for people aged from 10-17. It includes either 3 magistrates or a district judge and there is no jury. If you are under the age of 16 or you are 16-17 and given a court order your parent or guardian must come with you to court. The cases that a youth court deals with include: theft and burglary, anti-social behaviour and drug offences but with more serious crimes like murder the case starts in youth court but will be passed to a Crown Court. They can give a range of different sentences such as community sentences, detention and training orders.
Magistrates’ courts pass on more serious crimes such as rape, murder and robbery to a Crown Court, these are called ‘indictable offences’. The case can be passed onto the Crown Court for sentencing if a magistrates’ court decides a sentence should be longer than 6 months. A crown court normally has a jury of 12 who will decide if you are guilty or not guilty and a judge who decides what sentence to give. Crown courts can give a variety of different sentences including prison sentences which could be life sentences and community sentences.
Court of Appeal (Criminal Division) is where cases go if they are appealed from the Crown Court. Possible instances for appeal include:

  • The misdirection of law or facts
  • The failure to refer to a defence
  • Inappropriate comments made by a judge
  • Jury irregularity

If the conviction is considered unsafe by the Court of Appeal they could allow an appeal and possibly order a new trial.
If after a conviction is quashed and the jury has shown that they think some other offence has been committed, the Court of Appeal can substitute a conviction for that of another offence.
The Criminal Case Review Commission was set up by the Criminal Appeals Act 1995 to take a look at suspected wrongly served justice in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The role is to look into cases in which people believe they have been wrongfully convicted of a criminal offence or unfairly sentenced. It has commissioners who make choices about whether to send a persons case back to the courts for an appeal. The commission was set up after some very high profile miscarriages of justice came into the public eye.
Lastly is the highest court in the Uk, the supreme court. It has the final judgement in criminal appeals and it hears appeals of civil cases, not very many cases will reach the supreme court. In this court hear the judges hear appeal cases to determine “the meaning of words or pieces of law” (this is what is known as statutory interpretation). Extremely high up judges are in this court (as judges are on a hierarchy also).

About this essay:

If you use part of this page in your own work, you need to provide a citation, as follows:

Essay Sauce, The Hierarchy of the Court System. Available from:<https://www.essaysauce.com/law-essays/essay-hierarchy-court-system/> [Accessed 16-01-25].

These Law essays have been submitted to us by students in order to help you with your studies.

* This essay may have been previously published on EssaySauce.com and/or Essay.uk.com at an earlier date than indicated.