Criminal Offences
Criminal offences are dealt with by the police, they will arrest the suspect for what criminal actions may be and then will take them to the station for questioning. They will either release the suspect without a charge, will charge the suspect of an offence or bail the suspect and they will return at a later date, the suspect can be cautioned. However after an arrest the arrestee may want to be granted bail, this will be given by the police if they choose to give this. The offences are categorized into three main headings; Summary offences, Indictable offences and either-way offences. Summary offences will be heard at Magistrates Courts and will involve actions such as motoring offences e.g. speeding, driving without a licence or valid licence, no insurance and drink driving. The maximum penalty for summary offences include a 6 month imprisonment, or a fine of £5,000. Indictable offences are the most serious cases that will be tried in the Crown Courts, e.g. murder. Either-way offences are offences that could be tried ‘either-way’ depending on the seriousness of the case; this could be tried in the Crown Court or Magistrates Court. An example of an either-way offence is theft. Cases that take place in a Magistrates Court are heard by Lay Magistrates or a District Judge, in the Crown Court the juries will make the final decision. A judge will also be present to see if the procedures are all done properly.
A Court of First Instance is dealt with within the District Courts. The Supreme Court is the court of last instance. Courts of First Instance start in the Magistrates for criminal cases, this is where the defendant may want to be granted bail and this is where the trial will be. If the claimant or defendant does not like or agree with the final decision they can decide to make an appeal. You should appeal within 21 days of the date you were sentenced. If you don’t then you’ll have to ask the Crown Court for permission before you can appeal. The Magistrates where you had your trial will tell you how to do this. To make an appeal you need to go through the Court of Appeal. For an appeal to take place, according to section 55 of the Access to Justice Act 1999 says however that no appeal can be made unless the court considers that the appeal would raise an important point and that there is some other reason for it to be heard.

Civil Cases
Civil cases take place when an individual believes their rights have been mistreated. Civil claims include contract law; where a business claims they are owed money from someone for supplies that have not been paid for, tort of negligence; where and individual may want to claim compensation for injuries on e.g. road traffic accidents, and a tort of trespass; where the owner of a house may wish to prevent people walking on their land. The two Courts of First Instance are the County Court and the High Court. For claims less than £15,000 must be started in the County Courts. Any claims under £25,000 are also normally dealt with in County Court. Claims from 25,000-50,000 can be started and dealt with in either county or High Court, however personal injuries claims for compensation that are less than £50,000 must be started with in the County Court.
To start the process of the claim you must first obtain and complete a claims form and pay the fee, the claim will then be sent to the defendant. The form simply states who is claiming along with the reason for claiming and how much they are trying to claim. The minimum cost for claims up to £300 is £30. However this rises to £1,700 for a claim of up to £300,000. If the defendant admits the faults and agrees to pay full amount to claimant the case ends there, but if the defendant disputes the claim the case will go to court. The defendant has 14 days from receiving the claims form to respond and file for a defence form stating why they dispute the claim. For claims under £5,000 it will go to the county court and go through the small claims track. This track is cheap and the courts encourage you to do it yourself and avoid expenses of lawyers. The same applies to claims from £5000-£25,000 however this will take the fast track route and for this the judge will set a timetable to have a pre-trial and is usually heard within 30 weeks this is again to cut the costs of lawyers but it will be an open court, meaning members of the public may be present. For claims from £25,000-£50,000 the case will be seen by a county court but could progress to go to the high court unless it’s a personal injuries claim for up to £50000 then it must be started in a county court. This will take the multi-track route and will be tried (most likely) in a county court. It may be sent to the high court for claims of £50000+ and again will have set timetables set by the judge. However there is a possibility of all parties being asked to try an alternative method of resolution.
Alternatively, at the end of the case, when the claimant has won, the judge will award the claimant a remedy. The main remedy is to cover the damages been caused.
Injunction: This is an order to the defendant to do something, or more usually not to do something
The highest court in the EU is the European Court of Justice (EUJ), and only hears cases in Europe on European law. This is the Court of Appeal.
Supreme Court is the final court of English Legal System for both criminal and civil cases and hears appeals from the Court of Appeal, Divisional Courts and High Courts, under the ‘leapfrog’ provisions. This is less common. The Leapfrog procedure is provided by the Administration of Justice Act 1969 where the Court of Appeal is able to take an appeal from the High Court straight to the Supreme Court, and is only used when High Courts are bound by previous decision made by the Supreme Court and the party appealing this decision. Because the case is seen as a point of law for public importance, the parties have to agree on this case which is what the ‘leapfrog’ procedure is.
Court of Appeal is split into the two divisions, Civil and Criminal. Civil hears from the County Court, High Court and Employment Appeal Tribunal. Depending on how serious the Criminal appeals are from the Crown Court, the defendant can appeal at the Court of Appeal against conviction/sentencing. The trial will be heard by 3 Lord Justices of Appeal and possible outcomes are possibly substitution of a conviction for another offence and sentence the defendant accordingly without increasing the sentence. There are Appeal Court Judges that will hear the Civil and Criminal appeals.
The High Court is split into three sections of law; family division, Queen’s Bench division and Chancery division. The Family division hears cases for adoption, divorce, family matters and care proceedings. The Family division hears appeals made by Magistrates and the County Court. The cases are heard by a judge and there will be no jury. The Queen’s Bench division hears cases like tort of law, contract law and are heard in Courts of Justice. The Chancery division is where 17 judges will sit and hear the appeals being made, these include subjects like bankruptcy. Cases heard in this division may be about probation and company law. Family and Chancery divisions are bound by their decision, however the Queen’s Bench division is more flexible. ‘Bound’ meaning the force to do something by law, duty or case. Cases will be heard by a single High Court Judge and appeal within the High Court will be heard by two or three High Court Judges. When Summary trials occur the appeals are heard by a Circuit Judge or a Recorder with two Lay Magistrates. When a trial is brought from Magistrates Court to Crown Court the defendant will appeal against their conviction. In Magistrates Court and County Court they are bound by the higher courts above and a District Judge and Deputy Judge will trial cases in Magistrates and County Courts.
County Courts were published by the County Court Act from 1852 with a main purpose to provide inexpensive and to be accessible for small civil claims. Civil disputes can be between individuals, partnerships and companies. County Courts hear cases to do with contract law, tort and divorce. Most of these cases are heard by a District Judge or Circuit Judge alone without a jury.
Youth Courts
Youth Courts are for offenders aged 10-17 tried by a Magistrates sitting Youth Courts, except for the most serious cases. It has 3 Magistrates or a District judge and has no jury. However the youth should have a parent or guardian present. Magistrates receive specific training and is less formal with reporting restrictions to keep young offenders away from adult offenders to maximise chance of reform for the individual. The cases a youth court will deal with are the aged above committing theft/burglary, anti-social behaviour and drug offences. They can give community service and detention. These will be carried out in secure centres. You may appeal of you disagree with the court’s decision however this may be taken to the Crown Court and will only be done if the case is serious enough. This can however result in longer sentencing.

Dear Mr Williams,
I am writing to inform you that there is the CCRC body that will be reviewing your case. Here is some information about the CCRC prior to your meeting with your solicitor.
Criminal Cases Review Commissions (CCRC)
CCRC was created by the Criminal Appeal Act in 1995 and sets out the CCRC’s powers and duties. The Court of Appeal can ask the CCRC to look into cases that have come directly to it or find out information about specific aspects referred by the CCRC. They do not however represent the defense, prosecution, police or any other aspect involved in the Criminal Justice System. The CCRC also has a role to build public confidence within the system and takes most of its time to review suspected miscarriages of justice. Deciding if there is any new evidence or arguments for a retrial of a case which might help lead to the appeal court to quash a conviction. It is based in Birmingham and employs more than 100 staff.

You will be able to appeal to the Appeal Courts on the basis of new evidence highlighting there was no intention of the murder of your wife, but in fact that she would be taking her own life. The court your appeal would be heard in would be the Court of Appeal within the criminal division due to the seriousness of the case.

Bibliography www.ccrc.gov.uk Perter Darwent and Ian Yule Law textbook AQA AS