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Comparative Politics and Government

Notes
necessary to obtain permission to appeal either from the lower court or from the Court of
Appeal itself. The exceptions are in family matters and in cases where the liberty of the
subject is involved.
The Court of Appeal (Criminal Division) hears:
(a) appeals from the Crown Court arising from trials on indictment
(b) cases referred to it by the Criminal Cases Review Commission
(c) appeals from Divisional Courts in criminal cases.
The Court can affirm the sentence of the Court, quash the conviction, or quash a conviction
and order a new trial.
(ii) The High Court
The High Court sitting as a Divisional Court exercises the supervisory jurisdiction of the
High Court over inferior courts (such as coroner’s courts and magistrates’ courts) and of
the executive by the process known as “judicial review”. The Divisional Court will consider
the issues of law as applied to the facts found by the magistrates. There is only one High
Court for the whole of England and Wales.
The High Court is divided into three Divisions:
(a) the Family Division,
(b) the Chancery Division and
(c) the Queen’s Bench Division.
Within each Division there are a number of specialist Courts and Lists. For example:
Chancery Division: the Bankruptcy Court, the Companies Court and the Patents Court;
Queen’s Bench Division: Admiralty Court, the Commercial Court, the Administrative
Court and the Technology and Construction Court.
Most criminal matters come before a Divisional Court of the Queen’s Bench Division,
but civil cases from magistrates involving family and child custody matters go to a
Divisional Court of the Family Division. The Family Division deals with matters relating
to personal status, marriage and its dissolution.
The Chancery Division includes litigation concerning bankruptcy, the dissolution of
partnerships, intellectual property, etc.
The Crown Court
The Crown Court is the Court where serious criminal cases (eg. murder, manslaughter,
rape and other serious crimes) are tried by a Judge and Jury. There is only one Crown
Court, but it sits in about 90 locations around England and Wales of which the most famous
is the Central Criminal Court (or “ Old Bailey”). An accused person appears first in the
Magistrates’ Court which may send him for trial at the Crown Court. Some of the most
serious cases may only be tried in the Crown Court. Others may be tried either in the
Crown Court or in the Magistrates’ Court, but in the case of the latter cases, the Magistrates
may commit the Defendant for sentence by the Crown Court. The Crown Court hears
appeals from Magistrates’ Courts by way of rehearing. Appeals against conviction or
sentence on indictment in the Crown Court go to the Court of Appeal. Where there has
been a Crown Court rehearing of a case which was appealed from a Magistrates’ Court,
the procedure by way of case stated to a Divisional Court on a point of law remains
available.
County Courts
There are about 400 County Courts throughout England and Wales divided into Regional
Circuits. Some matters, such as many housing or consumer credit matters can only be
commenced in the County Court. In other matters, the County Courts have concurrent
jurisdiction with the High Court. Some County for resolution of smaller value commercial

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