Court Hierarchy

Criminal courts

Criminal cases are always begun in the magistrates’ courts.  Cases will be dealt with in the magistrates’ courts if the offence is not itself particularly serious (eg many road traffic offences) or not a very serious example of a particular offence (eg a minor assault not resulting in serious injury).  Magistrates have limited sentencing powers.  Most offences committed by minors will be tried in the youth court, a specialist court within the magistrates’ court.

There are some professional magistrates who are qualified lawyers.  They usually hear cases sitting on their own and are called District Judges (formerly Stipendiary magistrates).  The vast majority of magistrates are volunteers from the local community and will sit in groups of two or three.  They are assisted by an official called a clerk / Legal Advisor who may be legally qualified and who can advise them about the law and the procedure.
More serious criminal offences are tried in the Crown Court, which also hears appeals by way of rehearing from the magistrates’ court.  In the Crown Court the case will be decided by a jury if the defendant is pleading not guilty.    The Judge will give guidance to the jury about the meaning of the law. He or she will also decide on sentencing once a verdict of guilty has been given.   If the case is an appeal from the magistrates it will be heard by a Judge sitting with two magistrates : they will hear the case from scratch rehearing all the evidence.

Appeals from the Crown Court and the magistrates’ courts on points of law go to a section of the High Court called the Divisional Court.  Appeals from the Crown Court against verdict and / or sentence go to the Criminal Division of the Court of Appeal and from the Court of Appeal to the House of Lords.  When hearing these sorts of appeal the court does not usually hear any live evidence.

Civil courts

The magistrates’ courts  deal with some civil cases such as applications for licenses to sell alcohol.  They also hear many disputes about children and almost all care cases start in the magistrates’ courts.

The majority of civil cases start in a County Court.  These include personal injury actions, actions to recover debts etc.

More complex civil cases and those where the level of damages claimed is over £25,000 (£50,000 in personal injury cases) generally start in the High Court.  This is also the court which hears applications for judicial review which often features in the context of education.  There are various subdivisions of the High Court which deal with different types of cases.
Appeals from a County Court or the High Court are dealt with by the Civil Division of the Court of Appeal, and after that by the House of Lords.
Tribunals

Governments have not always felt that the court system proper is the best way in which to resolve disputes.   A court hearing can be costly and it can take a long time to get a decision.  The atmosphere of a court is formal.  The judge may not know very much about the factual background to a dispute.  In an attempt to overcome these perceived drawbacks to the court system a  number of tribunals have been established to hear specialised disputes.  The Special Educational  Needs Tribunal and the Industrial Tribunals are  well-known examples.  Whether tribunals do provide all the advantages which are claimed for them may be debatable.  Depending on the tribunal there may be a right of appeal to a court.  For example, an appeal against a decision of an industrial tribunal will be dealt with by the Employment Appeal Tribunal.

All tribunals are overseen by the Council on Tribunals and this includes less obvious bodies such as the panels constituted by the local education authorities to hear admissions appeals and exclusion appeals.  There is a list of bodies for which the Council is responsible here - http://www.council-on-tribunals.gov.uk/links/tribunals.htm.