THE STRUCTURE OF COURTS IN UK

Her Majesty's Courts of Justice of England and Wales are the civil and criminal courts
responsible for the administration of justice in England and Wales; they apply English law, the law
of England and Wales, and are established under Acts of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.
The United Kingdom does not have a single unified legal systemEngland and Wales have
one system, Scotland another, and Northern Ireland a third. There are exceptions to this rule; for
example in immigration law, the Asylum and Immigration Tribunal's jurisdiction covers the whole
of the United Kingdom, while in employment law there is a single system of Employment
Tribunals for England, Wales, and Scotland (but not Northern Ireland). Additionally, the Military
Court Service has jurisdiction over all members of the armed forces of the United Kingdom in
relation to offences against military law.
The Court of Appeal, the High Court, the Crown Court, the magistrates' courts, and the
county courts are administered by Her Majesty's Courts and Tribunals Service, an executive
agency of the Ministry of Justice.
The Supreme Court is the highest appeal court in almost all cases in England and Wales.
Before the Constitutional Reform Act 2005 this role was held by the House of Lords. The Supreme
Court's focus is on cases that raise points of law of general public importance. As with the
former Appellate Committee of the House of Lords, appeals from many fields of law are likely to
be selected for hearing, including commercial disputes, family matters, judicial review claims
against public authorities and issues under the Human Rights Act 1998. The Supreme Court also
hears some criminal appeals, but not from Scotland, as there is no general right of appeal from
the High Court of Judiciary, Scotland's highest criminal court, other than with respect to
devolution issues. The Supreme Court is also the highest court of appeal for devolution matters, a
role previously held by the Privy Council.
The Privy Council is the highest court of appeal for a small number of Commonwealth
countries, colonies and the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man. There are a number of smaller
statutory jurisdictions, such as appeals from ecclesiastical and professional bodies. The judges who
sit on the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council are also the members of the Supreme Court and
the Court of Appeal.
The Senior Courts of England and Wales were originally created by the Judicature Acts
as the "Supreme Court of Judicature". It was renamed the "Supreme Court of England and Wales"
in 1981,and again to the "Senior Courts of England and Wales" by the Constitutional Reform Act
2005 (to distinguish it from the new Supreme Court of the United Kingdom). It consists of the
following courts:

-Court of Appeal (formally Her Majesty's Court of Appeal in England)

-High Court of Justice (High Court, formally Her Majesty's High Court of Justice in England)
-Crown Court
The Court of Appeal deals only with appeals from other courts or tribunals. The Court of
Appeal consists of two divisions: the Civil Division hears appeals from the High Court and County
Court and certain superior tribunals, while the Criminal Division may only hear appeals from the
Crown Court connected with a trial on indictment (i.e. for a serious offence). Its decisions are
binding on all courts, including itself, apart from the Supreme Court
The High Court of Justice functions both as a civil court of first instance and a criminal
and civil appellate court for cases from the subordinate courts. It consists of three divisions: the
Queen's Bench, the Chancery and the Family divisions. The divisions of the High Court are not
separate courts, but have somewhat separate procedures and practices adapted to their purposes.
Although particular kinds of cases will be assigned to each division depending on their subject
matter, each division may exercise the jurisdiction of the High Court. However, beginning
proceedings in the wrong division may result in a costs penalty.
a) The Court of Queen's Bench is the Superior Trial Court for the Province, hearing trials in civil
and criminal matters and appeals from decisions of the Provincial Court. The Chief Justice and
other Justices of the Court of Queen's Bench are also judges of Surrogate Matters, which has
jurisdiction over probate and administration of estate matters. Court of Queen's Bench sittings are
held in various areas of the Province. For further information, visit locations & sittings.
b) Court of Chancery, in England, is the court of equity under the lord high chancellor that
began to develop in the 15th century to provide remedies not obtainable in the courts of common
law. Today, the court comprises the Chancery Division of the High Court of Justice. The Chancery
Division (housed in the Rolls Building) deals with business law, trusts law, probate law,
insolvency, and land law in relation to issues of equity. It has specialist courts (the Patents
Court and the Companies Court) which deal with patents and registered designs and company
law matters respectively.
c)
The
Family
Division
deals
with
personal
human
matters
such
as divorce, children, probate and medical treatment. Its decisions are often of great importance
only to the parties, but may concern life and death and are perhaps inevitably regarded as
controversial. For example, it permitted a hospital to separate conjoined twins without the parents'
consent; and allowed one woman to have her life support machines turned off, while not permitting
a husband to give his severely disabled wife a lethal injection with her consent The Family
Division exercises jurisdiction to hear all cases relating to children's welfare, and has an exclusive
jurisdiction in wardship cases.

Crown Court
The Crown Court of England and Wales is, together with the High Court of Justice and
the Court of Appeal, one of the constituent parts of the Senior Courts of England and Wales. It is
the higher court of first instance in criminal cases; however, for some purposes the Crown Court is
hierarchically subordinate to the High Court and its Divisional Courts.
The Crown Court sits in around 92 locations in England and Wales. The administration of
the Crown Court is conducted through HM Courts Service. Previously conducted across six
circuits (Midland, Northern, North Eastern, South Eastern, Wales & Chester and Western), HM
Courts and Tribunals Service is now divided into seven regions: Midlands, North East, North West,
South East, South West, London and Wales. The Wales region was identified separately, having
regard to the devolved legislative powers of the Welsh Assembly Government. When the Crown
Court sits in the City of London it is known as the Central Criminal Court. The "Central
Criminal Court" at the Old Bailey, originally established by its own Act of Parliament, is a Crown
Court centre, and is the venue at which many of the most serious criminal cases are heard.
The Crown Court carries out four principal types of activity: appeals from decisions of
magistrates; sentencing of defendants committed from magistrates courts, jury trials, and the
sentencing of those who are convicted in the Crown Court, either after trial or on pleading guilty.
On average, defendants in custody face a waiting time of 13 weeks and 3 days. Those on bail
experience greater delay, waiting on average 15 weeks and 4 days until their case is heard.
Rather than speaking of a location at which the Crown Court sits, it is common practice to
refer to any venue as a Crown Court, e.g., Teesside Crown Court.
COUNTY COURT
In England and Wales since 2014 there is a single civil court named the County Court,
with unlimited financial jurisdiction. Before 2014 there were numerous county courts, each with
jurisdiction across England and Wales, but each with a defined county court district (which bore no
relation to a county: the name "county court" is used for purely historical reasons). Today the court
sits in many county court centres, currently corresponding to the old individual county courts.
County court matters can be lodged at a court in person, by post or via the internet in some
cases through the County Court Bulk Centre. Cases are normally heard at the court having
jurisdiction over the area where the defendant lives. Most matters are decided by a district
judge or circuit judge sitting alone. Civil matters in England (with minor exceptions, e.g. in some
actions against the police) do not have juries. Judges in the county courts are either former
barristers or solicitors, whereas in the High Court they are more likely to have formerly been
a barrister.

Civil claims with an amount in controversy under 10,000 (the Jackson Reforms have
increased this from 5,000) are dealt with in the county court under the small claims
track (sometimes known to the lay public as "small claims court," although it is not a separate
court). Claims between 5,000 and 25,000 (15,000 for cases started before April 2009) that are
capable of being tried within one day are allocated to the "fast track" and claims over 25,000
(15,000 for cases started before April 2009) to the "multi track." These 'tracks' are labels for the
use of the court system - the actual cases will be heard in the county court or the High Court
depending on their value. For personal injury, defamation, and some landlord-tenant dispute cases
the thresholds for each track have different values.
Appeals are to a higher judge (circuit judge hears district judge appeals), the High Court of
Justice or to the Court of Appeal.