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Facts About Civil Litigation in the UK:

1) A civil litigation lawsuit is started as soon as the plaintiff files a written complaint. The plaintiff must try to prove the liability of the defendant on the balance of probabilities. The defendant then responds and delivers a written "answer" to the complaint in order to make any kind of plea. After the answer is filed the parties engage in the "discovery" process. At this point the parties will learn about all the facts involved in the case in order to prepare the trial. Depending on the circumstances, the lawyer may work out a settlement with the opposite party before any litigation starts.

Possible civil litigation lawsuits include, but are not limited to: Tort claim; Worker's compensation; Employee grievance appeals; Employee discrimination claims; General civil claims; Miscellaneous.

The choice of court depends in most cases on the value of the claim.

Claims of lesser value will start in a County Court (deal with divorce and bankruptcy matters). Relatively small claims (less than about Ј3,000) can be handled by a Small Claims Procedure. This involves a quick hearing, often without lawyers being present, before a District Judge. The parties can however appeal to a Circuit Judge who also deals with full County Court trials. More substantial civil claims (over around Ј25,000) are heard in the High Court.

The High Court is organized according to case type into Divisions: a) A Family Division deals with divorce and child welfare matters and also the administration of wills; b) A Chancery Division considers complex matters such as disputes about wills, settlements and trusts, bankruptcy, land law, intellectual property (copyright and patents) and corporate laws; c) The Queen's Bench Division deals with the business disputes about contracts or torts or land. Its some specialist sub-divisions, include: a Commercial Court (dealing with large and complex business disputes); a Crown Office List (dealing with actions against public authorities) and an Admiralty Court (shipping matters).

The system of appeal in civil cases is as follows: a) from a County Court or the High Court - to the Civil Division of the Court of Appeal on law only; b) from the High Court - to the Supreme court on a matter of legal importance; c) from the Court of Appeal - to the Supreme court on fact or law, but usually only on matters of legal importance.

Facts About Criminal Procedure in the UK:

Дата добавления: 2015-07-08