Civil Courts Procedure

 

Civil Courts in the UK

Civil cases at first instance are heard in the County Courts (for minor claims) or the High Court, which is divided into three divisions: Queen's Bench, Family and Chancery. Cases may be appealed to the Court of Appeal (Civil Division). Cases may be appealed from the County Court to the High Court.

The House of Lords is the supreme court of appeal. Its judicial functions are quite separate from its legislative work, and cases are heard by up to 13 senior judges known as the Lords of Appeal in Ordinary, or Law Lords. It shares its function as the supreme appellate court with.

Judgments from the Civil and Criminal Divisions of the Court of Appeal, and from the Administrative Court, selected by the judge concerned, are available for free on the Bailii (British and Irish Legal Information Institute) database. If a High Court judgment is not available on BAILII , contact the court direct for a copy.

House of Lords judgments delivered since 14 November 1996 are available on the House of Lords website.

A new set of rules governing the processing of civil cases in England & Wales came into force on the 26th April 1999.

These changes come as a result of the Woolf report 'Access to Justice' (1996). The main aim of the new procedures is to reduce the cost and time of taking legal action.

Under the new system, the courts will take on the management of each case. In the past, this was left to the parties. This actually has relatively little effect on the 'small claims' track, as the courts tended to manage these under the old system.

Small claims track, fast track and multi-track

Under the rules, cases are run on one of three tracks. The three tracks are:

* 'small claims track' (not exceeding 5000 pounds)
* 'fast track' (over 5000 pounds, not exceeding 25,000 pounds)
* 'multi-track' (over 25,000 pounds)

'Small claims' and 'fast track' claims are managed by the county courts. 'Multi-track' cases are more often made in the High Court.

As is typical with the legal system, even a simple rule like this has exceptions.

Resources:
legal-executive-journal.com/about_legal_executives/the_uk_legal_system.aspx | hmcourts-service.gov.uk/cms/legalprofessional.htm | justclaim.co.uk/index.php?file=/procedures/overview/index.page |

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