Courts — structure & jurisdiction

LS.01 — Courts: Structure & Jurisdiction

The court hierarchy (civil)

• County Court — first-instance civil claims (contract, tort, debt). Single national County Court. Allocation tracks (bands are open at the lower edge, closed at the upper): small claims (up to £10,000; but PI claims have a lower limit — general damages (PSLA) sub-limit £1,500 for non-RTA, £5,000 for RTA), fast track (over £10,000 up to £25,000), intermediate track (over £25,000 up to £100,000, introduced Oct 2023), multi-track (over £100,000 or complex). Tracks set under CPR Part 26 (renumbered, in force 6 April 2024).
• High Court — three divisions: King's Bench (contract/tort, judicial review via the Administrative Court), Chancery (trusts, probate, land, insolvency), Family.
• Court of Appeal (Civil Division) — hears appeals; needs permission.
• Supreme Court — final UK appellate court (since 2009, replacing the House of Lords). "Leapfrog" appeals possible direct from High Court.

The court hierarchy (criminal)

• Magistrates' Court — all cases start here. Tries summary offences; either-way offences (allocation/plea before venue); commits indictable-only to Crown Court. Max custodial sentence is 6 months for a single offence (summary or either-way); 12 months aggregate only for consecutive sentences across two or more either-way offences.
• Crown Court — trials on indictment (jury), and appeals from magistrates.
• Criminal appeals route to the Court of Appeal (Criminal Division) then Supreme Court.

Jurisdiction tests — key distinctions

• Civil vs criminal: claimant/defendant + balance of probabilities vs prosecution/defendant + beyond reasonable doubt.
• Appeal from magistrates: to Crown Court (rehearing on fact/sentence) or by case stated to the High Court (point of law) — don't confuse the two.
• Judicial review is heard in the Administrative Court (KBD), not a "constitutional court."

Assimilated (formerly retained EU) law — current position

• REUL Act 2023 renamed retained EU law to assimilated law and ended supremacy from 1 Jan 2024.
• Trap: REUL Act 2023 s.6 (new departure test + lower-court reference procedure) never came into force (commencement revoked by SI 2024/976). The EUWA 2018 s.6 framework still governs: only the Court of Appeal and Supreme Court may depart from assimilated case law (own-precedent basis); lower courts and tribunals remain bound.

Common traps

• One County Court nationally (not separate county courts).
• House of Lords ceased as a court in 2009 — say Supreme Court.
• Intermediate track exists — fast track is not up to £100,000.
• Small claims is up to £10,000 generally, but PI is lower (£1,500 non-RTA / £5,000 RTA PSLA) — don't apply the flat £10,000 to a personal-injury claim.
• Track bands don't overlap: the endpoint figure (£25,000, £100,000) sits in the upper band only.