Professional English in Use: Law

Reading Party

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Chapter 4, Part A

the civil court system in England and Wales

Broadly speaking…

• Lower Courts

Decide matters of fact.

• Upper Courts

Normally deal with points of law.

Family matters such as undefended divorce…

the Magistrates’ Courts

• A single stipendiary magistrate or three lay magistrates.

• They hear minor criminal cases, as well as certain licensing applications.

• No jury.• Family cases may go on appeal to the County

Courts.

the County Courts

• Statutory courts with a purely civil jurisdiction.• Hears complex first instance civil cases:

• Contract disputes• Compensation claims• Consumer complains about faulty goods or services• Bankruptcy cases

• Circuit judges and recorders.• Without juries.• Claimants(plaintiffs) seek a legal remedy for

some harm or injury they have suffered.

More complex civil cases, such as estates and actions for the recovery of land…

the High Courts of Justice

• Divided into three divisions:• Family• Chancery• Queen’s Bench

• Has first instance and appellate jurisdiction.• Cases may go on appeal to the Courts of

Appeal.

the Courts of Appeal

• Can reverse or uphold a decision of the lower courts.

• Its decisions bind all the lower civil courts.

But, when points of law of general public importance are involved, civil cases may leapfrog from the High Court to the House of Lords, bypassing the Court of Appeal.

the House of Lords

• Its decisions are binding on all other courts but not necessarily on itself.

• Twelve life peers appointed from judges and barristers.

• For an appeal hearing, the quorum, or minimum number of law lords is three.