Topic Civil Courts

County courts. County courts are the courts of first instance for minor civil cases.

More than 500 county courts are grouped into 50 circuits with at least one judge for each such circuit. The judges called “circuit judges” and appointed by the Crown on the advice of the Lord Chancellor. They must be barristers with at least seven years of experience. The jurisdiction of county courts is unlimited. The circuit judges try the cases alone. County court judges must retire at the age of 72.

The High Court of Justice. The High Court of Justice is above the county courts. It has three division: the Chancery Division, the Family Division and the Queen’s Bench Division.

The Chancery Division. The Chancery Division consists of the Lord Chancellor and ten judges, and deals with questions of company law, bankruptcy, trusts, the administration of the estates of people, who have died, tax and some other matters affecting finance and property.

The Family Division. The Family Division deals with divorce and questions arising out of wills as well as questions affecting children (adoption, or guardianship).

There are about 30 judges in the Chancery and Family Divisions of the High Court of Justice, who deal only with civil cases, almost all in London.

The Queen’s Bench Division. The Queen’s Bench Division consists of the Lord Chief Justice and about fifty other judges. The High Court judges appointed by the Queen on the recommendation of the Lord Chancellor, and retire at age 75. The Queen’s Bench Division with the widest jurisdiction is both the main civil court for disputes involving more than 5000£. It also deals with suits for libel. The division also takes appeals from lower courts. The Queen’s Bench Division includes a Commercial Court that specialises in large commercial disputes, and Admiralty Court for shipping cases.

The High Court judges try civil cases alone, except for a few cases like defamation, false imprisonment or fraud. This cases there is always a jury.

The Court of Appeal. The intermediate appellate tribunal is the Court of Appeal. The Court of Appeal has two divisions – Civil and Criminal.

The Civil Division. The Civil Division hears appeals from the High Court as well as from county courts and a few more specialised courts. They appeal the extremely important cases. In the Civil Division senior Lord Justice (The Master of the Rolls) normally presides over the other two Lords Justices. The presentation before the court is oral. The decisions are based on documents supplemented by the arguments of barristers. Appeals against decisions of the Court of Appeal can be lodged with the House of Lords.

House of Lords. The highest court in the country is the House of Lords. It is the biggest court of appeal in civil matters for the whole of the UK. The judges of the House of Lords are the Lords of Appeal in Ordinary (Law Lords). There are ten in number. They form a quorum when at least three of them are present. The president of the House of Lords as a court is the Lord Chancellor. Five Law Lords normally deal with any particular case. They sit in a small room in Westminster Palace. The Lords express their opinion on the case and vote at hand.