Law related discussions

Judges

(1B) discuss the disadvantages of using lay magistrates to make decisions in criminal matters.

There are many disadvantages to using lay magistrates especially in criminal matters as this is mainly where lay magistrates work. These could consist of middle aged, middle class, prosecution bias, inconsistency of sentencing and reliance on the clerk.

Firstly, in relation to middle aged, middle class lay magistrates, the majority of lay magistrates are middle aged or retired and middle class, meaning they do not live in lower class areas where majority of crimes occur. Therefore they cannot relate to the crime in question. Also, if the defendant is of a different ethnic background to the majority of magistrates who are white and retired, they cannot grasp any real concept of what is going on in the area. When they are designated to that area they are supposed to have a concept and local knowledge of that area. Also the majority are retired meaning that they don’t have any real knowledge of younger generations and society as it moves forward. This is a problem because society moves forward as this happens, so do laws and magistrates who need to be aware of social surroundings as this is a part of their appointment as a magistrate.

Furthermore, prosecution bias in sentencing in criminal cases. Most of those who are sentenced at Magistrates Courts are not convicted; this could be because of prosecution bias. Because they may get used to seeing the same case worker or legal representatives and get familiarity to them however, they have training to prevent this so this still could occur.

Also inconsistency of sentencing for example in criminal cases, this is one of the major issues in criminal cases by lay magistrates. Because in certain areas you could be sentenced and convicted of a particular crime and others you could not be convicted. There is no consistent precedent or stare decisis (stand by the decided) this is giving and unfair judgement as magistrates are supposed to serve “justice for all.”

Finally, lay magistrate’s constant reliance on the magistrate’s clerk. Lay magistrates have no legal knowledge; however the clerk cannot assist in the sentencing or lead the magistrates in any way during the sentencing process. But in some courts it is felt that there is too much reliance on the magistrate clerk because of the lack of legal knowledge. This is also the case from expert opinions such as Jacqueline Martin.

(2A) Describe civil appeals system from both County Court and High Court.

Appeals can occur in all courts. In civil and criminal cases the main reason for appeals is if the defendant feels that the case has not been heard correctly or they believe their sentence to be wrong then an appeal can occur.

The appeal route for county courts is set out in Section 52 of the civil procedure rules. This means generally that in fast track cases dealt with by the district judge appeals are heard by a circuit judge, for the fast track cases dealt with by the circuit judge the cases dealt with are by high court judge, for final decisions in mullti track cases heard in the county court (whether by a circuit or district judge) the right to appeal is to the court of appeal.

Since October 2000 appeals were made possible with cases with small claims, this was through article 6 (the right to a fair trial) of the European Convention on Human Rights, the appeal routes are the same as the fast track trials. This means the appeal is to the next judge in the hierarchy of judges.

Second appeals; this only happens in exceptional cases as in Section 55 of the Justice Act 1999; “no appeal can be heard by the court of appeal unless made by the court of appeal which it then must consider, the appeal would raise an important point of principle or practise or if there is some compelling reason why the court of appeal should hear it.” This is highly unlikely to occur in county courts but from a high court it may occur if the appeal was heard unjustly.

In High court the appeal goes to the court of appeal (civil division). In rare cases there may be a leap frog effect where as it goes straight to the House of Lords under the Administrations Act 1969. This type of case would only occur when it is of public importance or involved a general point of law, where an interpretation of a statue, concerns binding precedent of the court of appeal or the House of Lords which the trial judge must follow. Also the House of Lords must give its permission for this.

Also, from the court of appeal there is a further appeal to the House of Lords but only if the House of Lords or the court of appeal gives permission for the appeal. Additionally if any case involves European Law it can be referred to the European Court of Justice under Article 234 the Treaty of Rome, this can be made in any English court.

(2B) Discuss the problems of using the court system to solve civil disputes.

There are several problems that could arise when using the court system to solve civil disputes; civil law is to uphold the right of an individual against a claimant. The problems that could occur could be cost, complexity and delay in these types of cases.

Firstly, cost if there are constant appeals and the dispute is not settled or agreed upon then the claimant cannot agree on the final outcome several appeals may occur, this could be very costly paying for solicitor’s fees and in going to court and taking time off work. Also if you are being sued the amount you will also have to pay. The case could also go on for a long period of time meaning the cost would constantly keep rising.

Secondly, complexity of the case this could mean the initial time it takes to look into what actually occurred in the case being time this raises cost and causes delay. Overall the complexity of a case decides the outcome of the case if it’s straight forward or there is more to it, there could be many hindering factors.

Finally, the delay of cases this could go into the cost and be because of the complexity of the case and the detail it entails it also could be going through the hierarchy of courts if appeals occur or the need for a retrial this could make a case ore complex this is normally the situation cases.

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