Assignment 1 Unit 23 The English Legal System
P1
Civil law is for cases that are not criminal, civil cases are usually a tort of negligence meaning that
what the defendant did was they didn’t do something they were supposed to that led to something
bad happening as a result of the defendant’s negligence. Civil law has a main purpose of making
sure that the problem between two the two parties is resolved and compromised, this often includes
compensation in a form of payments, formal agreements and sometimes workshops to become
better. If this law is broken, you would be found to be liable. If the outcome of the case is that
someone got injured then the injured party is usually compensation or where compensation is
insufficient, a court order such as injection. The person that decides if the case is good enough for
court would be made by the individual with the complaint. During the case, the two parties would be
referred to as the claimant and the defendant. When deciding if someone is guilty or not, the
standard of proof is that it has to be made on a ‘balance of probability’, this means that the Judge
doesn’t have to be 100% sure that the outcome is the right one. Most cases are referred to by the
surname of the claimant and the surname of the defendant. If both parties cannot agree on an
outcome, then the case would move up to either County Court or the High Court. Some cases that
would be classified as Civil Cases would include being responsible for negligence or nuisance,
employment law cases such as unfair dismissal and discrimination and breach of contract leading to
losses for a business, its A case that is a great example of a civil case its scenario 1 with Jake and the
bike shop from the assignment brief. This case is both a civil case and a tort of negligence, this is
because nothing criminal happened as no one's life has been in danger and the case was not very
physical like assault in any way. The case is also a tort of negligence as the bike shop that Jack was
buying the bike for did not do something that they were supposed to do as the business should give
more help in a form of a bike replacement or his money back as that would show basic customer
service. Looking at the civil case procedure, the first step would be to attempt ADR, this is only
involved when speaking about civil cases as criminal cases are more tense and tend to be more
complex than civil cases. ADR stands for Alternative Dispute Resolution, the ADR process is based on
the two parties having a conversation in a room with a paralegal, the paralegal can advise you in
what you might want to do but it is what the two parties that have the last word in saying what they
will do however, they both have to agree on the same outcome. (practicallaw, 2020) If this doesn't
work for the two parties then they will have to start a claim, this includes completing a form,
depending on what the case is you get to pay different amounts of fees, divorce or end of a civil
partnership is £550, a claim for money owned ranges from £25, appeal a benefits decision is free,
applying for bankruptcy is £680, and applying for probate is £215 (gov.uk, 2020) . After you fill in all
the paperwork and pay the fees you then progress through court, this is where the defendant
decides if they want to defend or admit. After that you will be moving on the claim where the judge
decided on tracking and a pre-trial administration, this would normally include witness statements
and expert statements. The pre-trial review is a hearing that would normally take place 10 weeks
before the trial, this is to make sure that the parties have completed all the other procedures and
court orders required to go to a tribunal, they can also give directions and fix a trial timetable if it has
not been already fixed. After this step you will go into a trial where both sides are heard and then
carefully evaluated to decide based on balance of probabilities is made, this again would only
include civil cases as criminal cases can't be judged on balance of probabilities as the judge has to be
sure that they are right instead of the probability.
The three-track system defines how serious your case is, small claims tend to be normally under £5k
as well as any personal injury or tenants repair element under £1k. These tend to be informal
hearings normally round the table in the Judge’s Chambers in County Court. This is for cases that are
not very serious or are easily solvable the next track is the fast track where claims valued at between
£5k-£25k are going to be solved. The cases need to be suitable for a one-day trial. During the trial
you will be heard in a courtroom with the parties reasoned by barristers and solicitors. At the end of
, the trial the losing party pays the other party a reasonable legal cost. Multi track cases are normally
over £25k or complex claims. The trial would normally take place in either High or Country Court
Parties get represented by lawyers and the losing party must pay the other party’s legal costs.
Focusing on the Civil Court hierarchy, you can see that the first court in line is the County Court, this
is where most of the claims start. This is a court for straight forward cases up to £50,000, this would
include things like simple divorce, custody and adoption cases. The second up court is the High Court
which hears contract of negligence claims and family issues. This court deals with higher value civil
cases over £50,000, they handle more complex claims and hears appeals from Country Court. If you
want someone to hear your case from a tribunal then you would go to the Civil Court of Appeal as it
hears cases from tribunals, County Court and High Court. Cases would normally be heard by a panel
of 3 Judges however, in some more serious and complex scenarios there can be 5 Judges depending
on the complexity of the case. The next court is the highest court in England, the Supreme Court,
they are there to hear on any points of law no matter what it is. They normally also tend to have an
odd number of Judges to make decision making easier and so the case gets solved. Finally, the
highest court of all is the European Court of Justice, the court based in Luxembourg can be referred
by any court if the case obviously involves a point of European Law, it also helps national courts
reach their judgement with guidance on the EU law.
Scenario 6 is a civil case as you Can clearly see that the main focused is a divorce, this would
normally be sorted in County court and a small claim. In this situation you can see that the situation
is not as black and white as it seems like only Jane wants the divorce but Saif does not. This does not
really change a lot to the process, they may offer them ADR before starting a claim just to let them
talk it out to make sure that it is something that Jane wants or make Saif feel better about the
situation. If one person does and the other does not want to get a divorce it could lead to the not so
motivated party to be late or just be difficult about the whole process as divorces tend to be
emotional for individuals. If the case did not get resolved then it would escalate to the next court up
which in this case is the High Court, this is because they would be able to offer better judgement as
they specialise in negligence claims and family issues, with High Court you also get the option for the
case to still be private, but they have some public cases too. The fact that the case can be private
takes away a lot of pressure and anxiety from both of the parties.
P2
In criminal law the Judge has to be sure about the verdict of cases, this is because criminal cases
tend to be more serious as they are to do with serious injury, theft, sexual assault or even death This
is why criminal cases then to be more complex than civil cases as the case needs to be evaluated
more closely because all the little details and timing is very important when talking about a murder
as what happened in 5 seconds can make a difference to the entire case. The main purpose of
criminal law is to punish the offenders instead of trying to resolve the problem like you would in civil
cases. The punishment for the offenders either by imposing a fine, community services, a curfew, or
at worst a prison sentence. The decision to take the case to court is made by Crown Prosecution
Service which they then refer to whichever court depending on the complexity of the case. In court
the two parties would be viewed as the prosecution and the defences well as the standard of proof
is that you must have ‘beyond reasonable doubt’ that the accused is guilty or not guilty meaning that
they have to be absolutely sure. The cases are also referred to as Rv and the surname of the accused
with the R standing for Regina which is a Latin word for Queen. In most cases the accused will tend
to plead as not guilty which in that instance the trial will take place either in Magistrates’ Court or
Crown Court. Some of the examples of cases that could go to Criminal court would be, offences
