The structure and jurisdiction of the courts in the english legal system
General Principles
1) her majestrys court
service (hmcs)
2) Principle of heirachy (see
diagram). superior/ inferior courts
Nature of Jurisdiction
civil?
Criminal?
Some courts can only
deal with either civil or
criminal
type of case
trial
Hearing
Original Jurisdiction
Court of first
instance or
appellate court
ECJ (European court of justice)
Sits in Luxtonberge
Composition
1) currently
27 (28) judges
+ 8 advocates
general
2) has a full chamber of 13
judges giving a better
representation
3) General court : panels of 3/5
BRITISH JUDGE IS KONRAN SCHIEMMAN!!!
Jurisdiction
1) EC was first created on Jan 1st 1973
EU law joined UK law
2) BUT European
treateys created in
1937
Created for trade and
protection purposes -
Protection of coal and
steel after WW2
3) ECJ was created for civil law but recently
it will now deal with criminal issues (2 main
issues)
Extradition (terrorism)
Emissions/ enviromental crimes
4) Inquisitional proceedings
Are very different to the way our law/ courts run. They
have an enquirer who will listen to the evidence and then
choose what weight he/ she wants to give it
Systems are now joining/ becoming more alike
It is NOT an appeal court
Function
1) it ensures that
community law is applied -
direct action
members of
states fulfill
obligation
Determines
disputes
Institutions
act lawfully
2) 70 judgements in 1970 - 2,463
judgements in 2010 > work load
has increased massively
3) between
2007 and
2011 CT
lodged 23
cases
against UK
and 69
against italy
4) can override SC
our highest court
decisions where
inconsitant with
national law