The Courts

The courts are at the centre of the legal system. At the preliminary level of the system are magistrates’ courts. Most magistrates work part-time at court, are not paid to do so and are not qualified lawyers. They are called Justices of the Peace (JPs). There are about 30,000 magistrates in England and Wales who deal with more than 2 million cases a year.

About 96 per cent of all criminal cases are heard by magistrates. They can deal with minor or summary offences, and have the power to sentence an offender for up to six months in prison. But they will pass cases involving more serious or indictable offences, such as rape or murder, to the higher courts.

Magistrates’ responsibilities cover a wide range of family disputes, such as attempts by women to gain maintenance payments from their separated husbands and attempts by local authorities to take children into care. They also grant licences allowing restaurants and pubs to sell alcohol.

More serious criminal cases then go to the Crown Court, which has 90 branches in different towns and cities. Civil cases (for example, divorce or bankruptcy cases) are dealt with in County courts.

County courts, in which less serious civil cases are heard, are presided over by legally trained circuit judges. Serious civil cases, such as financial disputes involving large sums of money, are dealt with in the High Court which is divided into three Divisions.

If a defendant in a Crown Court pleads “not guilty” to a criminal charge there follows a trial, after which a jury delivers a verdict of guilty or not guilty. If a defendant questions a jury’s verdict or a judge’s sentence, he or she may be given leave (permission) to appeal to the Court of Appeal. (Leave is not needed to appeal in civil cases.)

Appeals are heard by higher courts. For example, appeals from magistrates’ courts are heard in the Crown Court, unless they are appeals on points of law. The highest court of appeal in England and Wales is the House of Lords. (Scotland has its own High Court in Edinburgh, which hears all appeals from Scottish courts.) Certain cases may be referred to the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg. In addition, individuals have made the British Government change its practices in a number of areas as a result of petitions to the European Court of Human Rights.

The legal system also includes juvenile courts (which deal with offenders under seventeen) and coroners’ courts (which investigate violent, sudden or unnatural deaths). There are administrative tribunals which make quick, cheap and fair decisions with much less formality. Tribunals deal with professional standards, disputes between individuals, and disputes between individuals and government departments (for example, over taxation).

Criminal law is concerned with wrongful acts harmful to the community.

Civil law is concerned with individual’s rights, duties and obligations towards one another.