Supreme court and Court of appeal

the Judiciary in England and Wales : Supreme Court and Court of appeal

Introduction :

Court different from tribunal:This isn’t a distinction in England. In England, we will study the court system. Besides the judicial system of courts, there is a parallel tribunal system.In tribunal, there is a less formal procedure however judges witting in the tribunal are expecting to conduct themselves according the same principles of justice us by the court.They should apply same principles of justice. The procedure is quite different. Many tribunals were created for having very specialized judges: for instance, the employment tribunal.

The justification of the distinguishes system of the court is thatwhen new rights have been created after the Second World War, new rights were created : for example the right to a school place, the right to unemployment benefits. The rules establish some limits to these rights. These needs to dispute for instance between employee and employers the possibility to emigrate. In a very specific area of law, tribunals have been created in order to go with that enormous work to be specialized. Judges would be very specialized and be able to give decisions very quickly. The advantage of these specific tribunals is that cases are resolved quickly and the procedural rules are more flexible than the one used in courts.

A court to the contrary, is where the law is applied and constructed and the development of the court system has been so long that today it’s quite complicated to understand and also confusing sometimes. Unlike what happen in France which destroyed the court system there wasn’t such a big ban in England, we can trace the history of courts.

• Judicial system: complicated and confusing. We should avoid making some parallels between French courts and English courts. For instance, it isn’t wear that one court in England is in the meantime a first case court and also an appeal court. It’s an exception in France. One court in England resolved the cases in civil law and in criminal law. In France, we have 2 times according to the type of litigation. The judges may sit in different courts and so it will be necessary to remember what kind of judge sit in what kind of court.

The court of appeal:

The appeals are heard by the court of appeal or the Supreme Court.

Criminal division and civil division: both are based in London but they have occasional meetings as wear in England and Wales.

A) Who are the Court of Appeal judges?

They are the heads of the division; the judges sitting in the court of appeal are called the lord justices, the lady justices of appeal.

They are usually experienced judges with a long experience and the appointment is made by the queen on the recommendation of a selection panel convict by the judicial appointment conviction.

B) Both divisions:

Does a right to appeal exist? Is this a fundamental right to make an appeal of a decision?

Everyone is convicted, should have the right to appeal that decision. The law has been changed in France in 2000 =>courd’appeld’assises.

This isn’t how it is in England. Bringing an appeal in England is subject to obtain permission. This permission may be granted either by the court which gave the decision or more usually by the court of appeal itself. This is also the case in the USA but only for the Supreme Court, the Supreme Court may give authorizations.

– The criminal division hears appeals from the Crown court and usually the bench consists of a Lord or a Lady Justice and 2 high courts judges. The criminal division is presided by the Lord Chief justice which is the constitutional reform act of 2005 the head of the English judiciary.

– The civil divisionis headed by the master of the rules and civil divisions may hear appeals from all divisions of the high court and in some instances from the County court and certain tribunals.

The Supreme Court:

– The Supreme Court is the new name for that was before the HL. This has been changed by the constitutional reform act of 2005.

– Oct 2009: the Supreme Court replaced the Appellate Committee of the HL (the Law Lords). The reform was considered to be necessary because the previous system wasn’t compatible with the constitutional doctrine of separation of powers. The HL was at the same time one of the houses of the British parliament and the highest court in the English judicial hierarchy. It took some time to make that reform.

– They are 12 justices, they are called the justices. Usually they are 5 maybe 7 but they aren’t 12.

– The Supreme court hears appeals but only appeal of points of law of the greatest public importance.

=>For the whole of the UK in civil cases, and

=>in criminal cases for England, Wales and NI.

=>Cases on devolution matters

Some legislative powers have been devoluted.