Crown Court. Cases are distributed between these two
courts according to the seriousness of the offence. There
are three types of criminal offence.
1 Summary offences.These are minor offences, for
example most motoring offences, which are tried sum-
marily in the magistrates’ court.
2 Indictable offences.These are more serious offences,
such as murder and robbery, which are tried on indict-
ment in the Crown Court.
3 Either-way offences.These are offences which may
be tried either in the Crown Court or in the magistrates’
courts. Examples of either-way offences include theft
and engaging in an unfair commercial practice. A
person who is charged with an either-way offence may
insist on being tried at the Crown Court. If the accused
does not elect to go to the Crown Court, the magistrates
decide the most appropriate venue for the trial, bearing
in mind the seriousness of the offence and the limited
sentencing powers available to them.
The system of appeals from the decisions of these two
courts is illustrated in Fig 3.1 (less serious offences) and
Fig 3.2 (more serious offences).Criminal courts
Criminal Courts Review
In December 1999, Sir Robin Auld, a senior Court of
Appeal judge, was appointed to undertake a review of
the criminal courts. His report, which was published in
2001, contained the following recommendations:
■The criminal law should be codified with codes for
offences, evidence, procedure and sentencing.
■A national Criminal Justice Board should be estab-
lished to provide overall direction of the criminal jus-
tice system. Local Criminal Justice Boards would have
responsibility for implementing the national board’s
plans and managing the system at local level.
■The Crown Court and magistrates’ courts should be
replaced by a unified criminal court organised into
three divisions: the Crown Division would deal with
indictable and serious either-way offences, the Dis-
trict Division, consisting of a judge and two magis-
trates with sentencing powers of up to two years
would deal with mid-range either-way offences, andPart 1Introduction to law
50
Methods of dispute settlement:
the courtsThe courts are the focal point of our legal system. They
provide a formal setting for the final settlement of many
of the disputes that occur in our society. The conflict
may be between individuals or, where a breach of the
criminal law has been alleged, between the state and one
of its citizens. It is the function of the court to establish
the facts of the case, identify the legal rules to be applied
and to formulate a solution. The decision of the court
not only has an immediate impact on the parties con-
cerned, but it also affects similar cases which may arise
in the future as a result of the operation of the doctrine
of judicial precedent. Our present-day system of courts
and tribunals can be classified in a number of different
ways:
1 Civil and criminal courts.Some courts deal exclus-
ively with either civil or criminal matters, but the major-
ity hear both civil and criminal cases, e.g. magistrates’
courts.
2 First instance and appeal courts.A court which
hears a case for the first time is known as a court of first
instance or a court of original jurisdiction. These courts
can make mistakes, so there is provision for cases to be
reheard by an appeal court. Some courts hear cases both
at first instance and on appeal, e.g. the High Court.
3 Courts and tribunals.In addition to the ordinary
courts, Parliament has created a large number of special
courts and tribunals to administer various aspects of
social and welfare legislation. The Lands Tribunal, for
example, has a wide jurisdiction in matters relating to
land including the valuation of land, compensation for
compulsory purchase and applications to discharge
restrictive covenants.
In this part of the chapter we will consider an outline of
the existing criminal and civil court systems and briefly
explain the role of tribunals. We will also consider altern-
atives to going to court, such as arbitration, concilia-
tion, mediation and ombudsmen as means of resolving
disputes.
Classification of criminal offences
If a person is charged with a criminal offence, he or
she will be tried by either the magistrates’ court or the