– High Court Judges (where offence is serious)

　　– Circuit Judges

　　– Recorders

　　(b) Jurisdiction:

　　– Trials on indictment (i.e. not guilty pleas)

　　– Sentencing of offenders who have pleaded guilty to indictable offences

　　– Appeals from Magistrates Courts

　　– Sentencing of offenders "committed for sentencing" by the Magistrates

　　NB: Role of jury is to establish facts and decide on the guilt or otherwise of the offender. Role of judge is to explain the relevant law to the jury and to decide on sentence.

　　2.6 The County Court (exclusively civil jurisdiction):

　　(a) Personnel:

　　– Circuit Judges assisted by

　　– District Judges (known as Masters in the High Court)

　　(b) Jurisdiction:

　　– Tort and Contract cases

　　– Undefended divorces (even where there are disputes concerning custody and finance)

　　– Probate matters

　　– The Small Claims Procedure will deal with claims up to £5,000. This procedure is designed to be quicker and less formal and less expensive than a County Court hearing. It is basically an arbitration conducted by a district judge.

　　2.7 The Magistrates Court (mainly criminal but also civil jurisdiction):

　　(a) Personnel:

　　– Magistrates (Justices of the Peace) – lay persons selected from a panel by the Lord Chancellor

　　– Circuit Judges – paid ‘professional magistrates’

　　– Magistrates Court Clerks

　　(b) Jurisdiction:

　　– Deals with summary offences and also has some civil jurisdiction

　　– Committal proceedings (in re: indictable offences)

　　– Some family jurisdiction

　　– Debt collection for public utilities, council tax

　　– Control licences for selling liquor in their area

　　2.8 Tribunals (e.g. Employment, Rent, Land, Transport Tribunals):

　　(a) Advantages:

　　– reduce workload on the courts

　　– greater informality

　　– cheap and quick

　　– expertise of tribunal members

　　(b) Disadvantages:

　　– reasons for decisions do not always have to be given

　　– no right of appeal in many cases

　　– judges have wider powers/wider remedies.

　　2.9 Employment appeal Tribunal:

　　Hears from the Employment Tribunal. It is not part of the High Court.

　　2.10 Restrictive Practices Court:

　　Hears cases relating to commercial law and is concerned with whether an agreement is unlawful owing to the extent to which it restricts the trading capabilities of one of the parties. One Queen Bench Judge sits with specialist lay persons to hear these cases.

　　3 Arbitration

　　(a) This is a private hearing between parties who have agreed to forward any disputes to this forum.

　　(b) Advantages:

　　– privacy

　　– specialist arbitrator

　　– less formal procedures

　　– decision is final and binding

　　(c) Disadvantages:

　　– lack of publicity

　　– no legal rules on evidence, which can lead to lengthy and expensive proceedings

　　– limited remedies and enforcement

　　– lack of expertise in settling disputes

　　– limited right to appeal

　　4 Court allocation

　　Once a court receives a claim it will allocate the case to one of three 'tracks' for a hearing.

　　(a) Small claim track

　　This is used for claims of no more than £5,000 (although for claims relating to personal injuries and housing disrepair the limit is £1,000).

　　Parties can consent to use the small claims track if the value of the claim exceeds the limits but this has to be subject to the court's approval.

　　(b) Fast track

　　This provides a streamlined procedure for the holding of moderately-valued cover of more than £5,000 less than £15,000.

　　(c) Multi track

　　The multi-track is intended to provide a flexible regime for the handling of the higher value, more complex claims, that is those with a value of more than £15,000.

　　Broadly speaking the County Courts hear small claims and fast track cases whilst multi track cases are heard in the High Court.