Small claims
In 1973, the Lord Chancellor introduced a special
scheme for small claims in the county court. This was
a response to the criticism that people were discouraged
from pursuing actions because county court justice
was likely to cost more than the amount in dispute. At
present, if the amount claimed does not exceed £5,000
(or £1,000 for personal injury), the case will be allocated
to the small claims track. Small claims cases are usually
heard by a district judge who will follow any procedure
he or she considers fair. The parties are encouraged
to do without legal representation: legal aid is not
available and the costs of legal representation are not
normally recoverable. The hearing can be held in pri-
vate in an informal atmosphere and strict rules of
procedure can be dispensed with. The procedure for
making a small claim in the county court is considered
in Chapter 14.
Magistrates’ courts
The overwhelming majority of cases heard by the
magistrates are criminal, but they also have a limited
civil jurisdiction.
Jurisdiction
1 Family proceedings.The jurisdiction of the magis-
trates in family law matters includes:
(a)Matrimonial proceedings, such as separation orders
where the parties to a marriage are not immediately
seeking a divorce and orders for the financial mainten-
ance of the parties and their children. (Under the Child
Support Act 1991 responsibility for securing child main-
tenance payments from parents who live apart from
their children has been transferred to the Child Support
Agency. The Agency, operational from April 1993, is
responsible for assessing, collecting and enforcing child
maintenance. The amount of maintenance to be paid by
absent parents is calculated according to a statutory
formula. The jurisdiction of the courts in respect of
child maintenance has been restricted accordingly.)
(b)Child care proceedings, including the power to make
contact orders (replacing access orders) and residence
orders (replacing custody orders).
(c)Care proceedings, whereby a child can be taken into
the care of a local authority.
2 Recovery of certain civil debts,e.g. income tax, elec-
tricity and water charges.
3 Licensing.Magistrates used to have a role in liquor
licensing. However, under the Licensing Act 2003, this
responsibility has been transferred to local authorities
who now operate a single system for licensing pubs,
cinemas, theatres and other places of entertainment.
The Gambling Act 2005 similarly transfers the responsib-
ility formerly exercised by magistrates in relation to the
licensing of gambling premises to local authorities.High CourtThe High Court has its headquarters in London at
the Royal Courts of Justice in the Strand, but there are
district registries in the larger cities in England and
Wales. Each division of the High Court is presided over
by a senior judge: the Lord Chief Justice is head of the
Queen’s Bench Division; from October 2005 the effective
Head of the Chancery Division is the Chancellor of the
High Court (formerly known as the Vice-Chancellor);
and there is a President of the Family Division. They are
assisted by a maximum of 106 High Court judges, who
are distributed between the divisions, the largest number
being attached to the Queen’s Bench. When the High
Court is operating as a court of first instance, trial is usu-
ally by judge alone. However, a jury of 12 may be called
in cases involving defamation, malicious prosecution,
false imprisonment or fraud. The Divisional Courts
consist of two or three judges.Jurisdiction
All three divisions are equally competent to hear any
case, but in practice specific matters are allocated to each
division.
1 Queen’s Bench Division.The jurisdiction of this
division covers civil and criminal matters, cases at first
instance and on appeal. In addition, it exercises an
extremely important supervisory function.
When sitting as an ordinary court, it hears the follow-
ing cases:
(a)Actions in contract and tort.The High Court will
normally deal with cases allocated to the multi-track
procedure.
(b)Judicial review.Under the Access to Justice Act 1999,
judicial review applications may now be heard by a
single judge sitting alone.Part 1Introduction to law