The other court of trial for a criminal case is the Crown Court. Indictable offences like murder can only be dealt with in this court and also triable offences for example, all theft cases. An accused has the absolute right of trial in the Crown Court but if he/she elects summary trial the magistrates may decline to hear the case. Even if they do they may commit a convicted person to the Crown Court for sentence if they believe their own sentencing proves to be inadequate. Three types of judges sit in the court - High Court Judges, circuit judges and recorders. The latter are part time and hear the less serious cases. The judge has a vital role to play ensuring that a trial is conducted fairly but a jury normally comprising of 12 members selected at random from the electoral register decides the outcome. If the jury convicts an accused the judge will impose the sentence.
Broadly speaking, civil procedure consists of the rules by which courts conduct civil trials. "Civil trials" concern the judicial resolution of claims by one individual or group against another and is to be distinguished from "criminal trials," in which the state prosecutes an individual for violation of criminal law. "Procedure" is to be distinguished from "substantive law" in that substantive law defines the rights and duties of everyday conduct. Substantive law includes , , and so on. A procedural system provides the mechanism for applying substantive law to real disputes. A good procedural system should provide guidelines as to what information is received by the judge or jury, how that information is to be presented, and what by standards of proof ("beyond a reasonable doubt," "by clear and convincing evidence," "by a preponderance of the evidence") the information will be adjudged. A good procedural system ensures that the courts will treat similar cases similarly.
There are two main courts of trial for civil cases - the high court and the county courts. The magistrates' courts have an important civil jurisdiction principally concerned with cases involving the breakdown of marriage - separation and maintenance orders - which are often prelude to a divorce in a County Court. The magistrates also have a licensing function involving public house licences, clubs and betting shops. The high courts are currently split into three divisions - Queens bench decisions, Chancery Division and the Family Division. The QBD is the largest and specialises in cases involving contracts and torts - sometimes revered to as the common law division. Within its jurisdiction there are three special courts - the Commercial Court, the Admiralty Court and the Technology and Constitution court. The Chancery Division evolved from the old Court of Chancery, which specialised in equity matters - trusts, mortgages - but now includes wills, company law and partnership law. There are special courts dealing with Companies, Bankruptcy and, more recently, a Patents Court. The family division has an extensive jurisdiction over family related matters including divorce (contested). Each division of the high court has a divisional court foe example, that of the chancery division hears appeals from decisions of the commissioners of Inland Revenue. The other court dealing with civil crimes is the county court. Which was first set up in 1846, but it now has no link to administrative counties. This court is essentially a local court dealing with smaller claims than the high court. The normal limit for claims in contract and tort is ?5,000, whilst in personal injury cases the amount can be ?0,000. Cases involving larger amounts may still be heard by agreement. Equity cases e.g. trust is limited to ?0,000. Most have a divorce jurisdiction.
A person convicted in the Crown Court may appeal either against sentence or conviction to the Court of Appeal, which may actually increase sentence. There cannot be an appeal against an acquittal by a jury although the attorney general may refer such a case to the Court of Appeal, which will define the law involved, but this does not affect the person acquitted. Appeals against convictions can be made from the magistrate's court or the crown court, but different procedures apply. Appeal to the crown court against conviction currently takes the form of a complete rehearing. The grounds for appealing are unrestricted and fresh evidence is allowed. Although few defendants appeal the success rate of those who do is quite high (about a third of appeals are successful). Auld recommended that appeals from magistrate's courts should not take the form of rehearing. There should only be one route of appeal from the magistrates (to the crown court, with leave) and the grounds for appeal should be the same as the restricted grounds for appeal from the crown court to the court of appeal. Appealing from the crown court to the court of appeal is difficult as the grounds for appeal are narrow and the court of appeal takes a restricted view of its function. The Criminal Appeal Act 1968, as amended by the Criminal Appeal Act 1995, provides the court of appeal shall allow an appeal against conviction if they think that the conviction is 'unsafe'. The court of appeal has shown reluctance to interfere with jury verdicts and prefers to see its function as reviewing the conduct of trial, not rehearing cases. The court of appeal has powers to admit fresh evidence but rarely does so. If the court allows to appeal against conviction it has the power to order a retrial 'where the interests of justice so require'. There is also a Criminal Cases Review commission, set up following a recommendation by the Runciman Commission for an independent body to review alleged miscarriages of justice and refer back to cases back to the Court of Appeal. The CCRC suffers a serious backlog of cases and has been criticised for its assessment of priority cases. The CCRC has to decide that there is a 'real possibility' that the Court of Appeal will overturn the conviction or sentence before referring a case. Thus it may be hampered by the narrow way the Court of Appeal interprets its function.
Appeals from the High Court lie in the court of appeal (civil division) but only if leave is granted (and this is becoming increasingly difficult to obtain). Final appeals lie to the House of Lords. An important part of law must be involved and again leave must be granted, this is very rare. Cases from the count court cannot appeal unless leave is granted. However there is an important arbitration process involving cases up to ?,000. This involves a low-key hearing presided over a district judge where the formalities of the full court are ignored. This is a popular and successful method of disposing a case as costs are not usually awarded against the loser (unlike in the full court). Legal representation is discouraged in this way.
An 'integrated' theory of the civil justice system encompasses not merely formal legal rules and state courts, but also the numerous others kinds of dispute resolution mechanisms which exist to resolve civil disputes.