ACCA F4 - Corp and Business Law (ENG)

8 1: Law and the legal system  Part A Essential elements of the legal system

3.2 The criminal court structure

The criminal court structure comprises the following.

 Magistrates' Courts hear summary offences and committal proceedings for indictable offences.

 The Crown Court tries serious criminal (indictable) offences and hears appeals from Magistrates'

Courts.

 The Divisional Court of QBD hears appeals by way of case stated from Magistrates' Courts and the

Crown Court.

 The Court of Appeal hears appeals from the Crown Court.

 The Supreme Court hears appeals from the Court of Appeal or a Divisional Court of QBD.

The diagram below sets out the English criminal court structure.

EUROPEAN COURT

OF HUMAN RIGHTS

PRIVY

COUNCIL

EUROPEAN COURT

SUPREME COURT OF JUSTICE

COURT OF APPEAL

(Criminal division)

Divisional Court

of Queen’s Bench

CROWN COURT

MAGISTRATES’ COURT

Committal for

trial

Committal for

sentence

1st instance

Appeal

1st Instance Rehearing

Committal from

magstrates’ court

Appeal by way

of case stated

A limited number of Commonwealth countries allow appeal to the Privy Council in London, which is

mostly staffed by Supreme Court judges.

3.3 Magistrates' Courts

Magistrates' Courts are the lowest ranked criminal courts.

 They try summarily (without a jury) all minor offences.

 They conduct committal proceedings, which are preliminary investigations of the prosecution

case, when the offence is triable only on indictment (by a Crown Court).

Indictable offences are more serious offences that can only be heard in a Crown Court.

Summary offences are minor crimes, only triable summarily in Magistrates' Courts.

Some offences are 'triable either way', meaning the accused has the choice of court that is used.

Magistrates also have some civil jurisdiction which includes the following:

 Family proceedings (financial provision for parties to a marriage and children, the custody or

supervision of children and guardianship, and adoption orders).

 Enforcement of local authority charges and rates

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