·
Role of Courts?
o
Interpret and apply the law, adjudicate and
settle legal dispute
o
Independent of the Executive
·
Definition of Courts?
o
Formal structure for adjudication in settling
legal disputes
Individual Ct jurisdiction?
Mag. Ct
·
Wide & varied jurisdiction
·
98% criminal prosecutions
·
Extensive involvement of lay people as judges
County Ct. (less value)
·
Debt collection
·
Contract, tort and property matters
·
Limit - £25k
·
Limited jurisdiction financially and geographically
areas of jurisdiction
Crown Ct.
·
More serious criminal offence (indictable and
triable either way offence)
·
Judge & jury
High Ct.
·
Chancery Division-equity, trust, wills and
bankruptcy
·
QBD- personal injury, contract, tort
·
More than £25k
·
Family Division – divorce, children
CoA R v James & Karimi (2006)
·
Civil Division
·
Criminal Division
Supreme Ct. (since Oct 2009)
·
Highest appellate Ct in UK
Privy Council
·
Commonwealth Ct
o
Deals mainly with doctrine of precedent from
other commonwealth countries
o
Not binding in UK
European Ct.
·
ECJ
o
Applications from other member states, request
for opinions on international law
·
ECtHR
o
Human rights issue against UK
General
weakness of Ct
®
Costly
o
Lawyer’s fees
o
Ct fees
o
Time
o
resources
®
Delayed
®
Complex of
formal procedures
®
Congestion
o
Civil cases
o
County
o
Inadequate resources
o
Inadequate employment
®
Judges
o
Not expert knowledge in all fields
o
Call for expert witness- paid by the parties
themselves
General
strengths of Ct
®
Impartiality / neutrality
®
Quality – analysed in depth
o
Thorough – witness being examined/ truth comes
out/ cross examination
®
Effective enforcement of orders/ Finality
®
Public matter
Different modes of dispute resolution
1.
Negotiation ( Informal) – settlement is in
effect some mutually acceptable resolution based on the assessed strength of
the parties
2.
Adjudication (Formal) where a binding decision
is given by a 3rd party (court) with a degree of authority and has
power to enforce it.
Alternative
Dispute Resolution (ADR)
®
Helps, supplements, compliments the court structure
®
Courts over burden with workload/ caseload
®
Under resourced
®
Alternative body
a)
Arbitration
·
Work in accordance with terms set by parties
·
Impartial and expert
·
Usually used for commercial disputes, business
disputes
·
Controlled by Arbitration Act
b)
Tribunals
·
Body of Non-Judges- determine dispute in a
judicial manner
·
‘Specialist’, ‘Inferior Ct’
·
Composition: 3 members
·
Controls: many ways; by the Plm- Tribunal &
Enquiries Act 1992
·
High Ct: QBD via Judicial Review- can appeal on
points of law
·
Council on tribunal- review & investigate
complaints etc
c)
Mediation
·
Mediator facilitate, suggest solutions, do not
impose orders
·
Least formal method/ most informal method
·
Voluntariness
d)
Conciliation
·
Method btwn arbitration and mediation
·
Parties encouraged to discuss their differences
·
Not formal as tribunal/ Not as informal as
mediation
e)
Ombudsman
·
Investigate complaints of maladministration with
regards to govt department
·
Citizens channel complaints through MP
·
Early neutral evaluation done by a lawyer and
make a choice of going through a formal / informal
Strengths of ADR
®
Privacy
®
Informality/ Practical/ Flexibility
®
Speed
®
Lower cost
®
Expertise
®
Accessibility
Weaknesses of ADR
®
No publicity
®
Inconsistent procedures/ No standard rules
applicable
®
Second-hand justice-quality of justice
®
Biasness- not public figures
®
Lack of enforcement- not court order- parties
can disregard
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