Court hierarchy
The Hierarchy of the Courts
The Courts have to follow the court's decisions made above them in the hierarchy.
The Courts have to follow the court's decisions made above them in the hierarchy.
- The Magistrates' Court is the court of first instance. They reside at the bottom dealing with civil and most criminal cases. The magistrates' Court deals with Summary offences and can deal with triable either way offences. They can give warrant for search of premises and for arrests. They are made up of panels of lay magistrates who are upstanding members of the community, who work on a volunteer basis to support the legal system.
- Tribunals are used equally on the civil side to deal with employment disputes and some contract cases.
- The Crown Court is above the Magistrates' Court and creates binding precedent for the lower courts. The Crown Court has a judge and jury to decide the criminal cases. A jury is made up of 12 peers who have to find a defendant guilty or not guilty on a point of fact. It is the judge's role to direct the jury to the law and allow them to make the factual decisions.
- The County Court is the equivalent to the Crown Court but deals with civil cases. There is a judge in here too but there is no jury within the Country Court.
- The High Court is a court that is split into three different sections; the Queen's Bench Division, The Chancery and the Family court. They deal with a range of cases.
- The Court of Appeal deal with case appeals from convicted criminals and civil disputes. They are the first court that deals with appeals in the justice system. The CoA binds all the lower cases with binding precedent. The Court of Appeal indeed deals with appeals to cases and these have to be on a point of law. They can also have appeals if a convicted offender has new evidence come to light that throws doubt on the original verdict.
- The Supreme Court is the highest court in the land and has binding precedent on all the lower courts below it. It is not bound by its own decisions and can depart from the other cases it decided. The Supreme Court only has to answer to the European Courts. The law is made by Parliament and as elected leaders of the country, government decides what is made into law. It is up to the courts to apply the law into the scenarios that come up in courts. The Supreme Court used to be called the House of Lords. Now the Supreme Court is found in a completely separate building from the House of Lords.