Civil courts

Created by: emakey
Created on: 24-08-20 14:29

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Civil courts
- Civil courts
  - County court
    - - About 200 CC in England and Wales, most towns have one
    - Hears nearly all civil cases - cases up to £100,000 (PI up to £50,000)
    - Cases heard by circuit or district judge
  - High court
    - - Based in London but has judges sitting in other district registries
    - 3 divisions
      - Queens bench division (holds administr. court)
        Hears cases with claims of over £100,000 and cases with an important point of law
      - Family division
        There is now a family court, so FR deals with international family law
      - Chancery division
        Hears case about property, mortgages etc
    - Has jurisdiction to hear all cases
- Pre-trial procedures
  - Pre-action protocol - A list of things to be done by the parties before issuing a claim e.g exchanging info
  - WHICH COURT? The amount being claimed will determine which court case will be tried in.
    - Claiming up to £100,000 - case must start in County Court
    - Claim for over £100,000 (over £50,000 for PI) claimant can chose to start in CC OR HC
  - Issuing a claim
    - Must fill out an N1 form and will be charged for issuing.
      - 2017 - fee was £10k for £200k claim (expensive)
  - Defending a claim
    - D receives claim. Either pays claim and cases ends or can dispute claim with N9 form within 14 days of receiving.
      - If D does not respond, C can ask for court to make order that D pays the money claimed
- The three tracks
  - Small claims
    - Disputes under £10k (under 1k for PI) Proposals to increase this limit to 5k
    - Cases usually heard in private and by district judge.
    - Party encouraged to represent themselves. District judge takes active part in proceedings, asking questions etc
  - Fast track cases
    - For straight forward disputes of 10k-25k
    - Circuit judge hears case in open court lasting maximum of 1 day. - more involved than DJ in SC. e.g sets out strict timetable to prevent time wasting and running up unnecessarily costs
    - Aim to have case heard within 30 weeks but in practice more likely to be nearer to 50 weeks (slow)
  - Multi-track cases
    - Disputes over £25k or for complex cases under
    - Judge expected to 'manage' case from start of allocation in aim to keep costs and wait to hear case as small as possible
- Reform of the civil courts
  - Lord Woolf's reforms
    - LW said the system should be: JUST, FAIR, CLEAR, reasonably QUICK and AFFORDABLE. When reviewing, found virtually none of these were achieved
      - His reforms... - Brought in the 3 track system -Gave judges more responsibility for case management - Led to simplification of documents LW also wanted more use of ADR and technology
        The effect of the Woolf reforms:
  - Further reforms
    - However since LW's reforms, there are still problems with CJS e.g ADR still not used enough, costs of cases continuing to rise and IT systems very under-resourced
- Evaluation of using the civil courts (Adv and Disadv)
- Appeal routes in civil cases
  - Appeals from the CC
  - Appeals from the HC
All divisions normally hear cases by 1 judge and no jury
A court case will be started if ADR is unsuccessful or refused.
Judge can allocate case to track of higher value if complex point of law involved
These are the basis of the present civil justice system in which were largely presented by the Civil Procedures Rules 19999
More co-operation between parties, clearer for everyday person, less delay (however not as reduced as hoped)
The latest review was by Lord Briggs in 2016. One of his proposals to improve the CJS was the creation of an online court. He believes there is a "clear and pressing need" for one to reduce lawyer costs.
Leapfrog appeal - case must involve an issue of national importance
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(Brought in as part of Lord Woolf's reforms)
If a case involves matter of European law, may be referred to the European Court of Justice
(See paper notes)

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Civil courts

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