The Civil Courts - 4 main courts

民事法庭The Civil Courts

民事法庭种主要有4个主要法庭There are four main Civil Courts ——

1．地方法院(郡法院)County Court；

2. 最高法院High Court of Justice
（分为王座庭Queen’s Bench Division、家事Family Division和大法官庭Chancery Division——此三庭又分别设：行政庭Administrative Court和上诉庭Divisional Court）

3. 上诉法院（民事庭）Court of Appeal (Civil Division) ；和

4. 上议院(House of Lords).

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1．地方法院(郡法院)County Court；

郡法院遍及整个英格兰以及威尔士，完全处理民事案件。每个法庭都有一个单独的法官任职。并由一个记录员/有合法资质的地区法官来协助工作（district judge充当助理法官）
There are local county courts throughout England and Wales dealing entirely with civil cases. Each court is staffed by a single judge. The judge is assisted by a registrar / district judge (legally qualified) who acts as assistant judge.

郡法院司法权

郡法院的主要功能职责如下：(The main function of a county court is as follows-)

l 快速途径(Fast Track)案件 (Fast Track cases)
——该法庭审理简单民事案件，例如：合同的违反(breach of contract)，民事侵权行为(Tort), 该类金额在5,000英镑到15,000镑的民事案件可以通过“fast-track”程序处理。 其目的是为了减少法律成本(legal costs) 并节省时间(save time)。该类法庭管理这类案件以确保他们迅速地接受、并审理。诉讼双方必须依从郡法院的时间表，并且审判成本受法院约束。
——This court tries simple civil cases, e.g. for breach of contract and tort, for amounts between £5,000 and £15,000 by a ‘fast-track’ procedure. The purpose of this is to reduce legal costs and also to save time. The courts will manage the cases to ensure that they proceed quickly to, and during trial. The two parties must comply with the court’s timetable and the trial costs are capped by the court.

l 小额钱债索偿程序(仲裁程序) Small Claims Track (Arbitration Procedure)
——所有等于或低于£5,000的索偿，都提提交仲裁处理，即，受处理时候不开庭审判。在涉及更大金额的主张中，如果得到当事双方的同意，该案件也可以由仲裁处理。 助理法官常作为仲裁人。仲裁便宜、迅速、非正式，且私人聆听。
——All claims for £5,000 or less are referred to arbitration, i.e. to be settled without open court trial. Claims for higher amounts can also be settled by arbitration provided both parties agree. The assistant judge usually sits as arbitrator. Arbitration is cheap, quick, informal and heard in private.
l 多轨审理程序(Multi-Track cases) —— 高于£15,000 的索偿(claims over £15,000)，或复杂索偿 (legally complex claims)；
l 合同及信托案件(Contract and Tort cases) —— for damages up to £25,000 (损害赔偿金最高£25,000的案子)；
l 个人伤害案件(Personal Injury cases) —— for damages up to £50,000 (损害赔偿金最高£50,000的案子)


除了以上5主要事务外，郡法院还处理其他多种事物，比如：
l 子女收养；
l 某些离婚案例；
l 有偿清理公司结算，或清算£120,000或以下地的股本；
l 遗嘱及关于小额遗产经营的信件；
In addition to the above five main matters, a county court deals with a variety of other things, e.g.:
l Adoption of children;
l Certain divorce cases;
l Winding-up of companies with paid; winding-up share capital of £120,000 or less;
l Probate and Letters of administration for small estates.

注意:
(a) 郡法院处理所有小额索偿程序，大部分的快速程序，以及一些多轨审理程序；
(b) 在所有的民事案件中，超过90%的民事案件在到达法庭前就有双方解决了。
Note:
(a) The county court deals with all small claims track, most fast track and few multi-track claims;
(b) Over 90% of all civil cases are settled by the parties before the case reaches court.

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郡法院的司法权仅限于该地区。申请者通过上递claim form启动诉讼程序。被告可以选择承认其liability ，或者在14天内递交答辩书。
The jurisdiction (司法权) of a County Court is confined to <禁闭于> its own locality. The claimant commences proceedings by serving a claim form. The defendant(被告) then chooses to admit liability or to submit a defence <答辩> within 14 days.

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2. High Court of Justice 高级法院

As explained previously, this Court has 3 divisions – in each division a single judge sits to try a case. Legally complex cases for damages below £15,000, and all cases for larger amounts are tried by a multi-track procedure in this court. The claimant commences proceeding by claim form (这点同county court相同).

a) QBD (Queen’s Bench Division)
This division deals mainly with complex and difficult breach of contract and tort cases for damages of £15,000 or more without limit. It also deals with all matters not allocated to the other two divisions（即另外的大法官庭Chancery Division & 家事庭Family Division）.

b) Chancery Division
This division deals mainly with cases which used to be tried in the old Court of Equity (abolished 1875), e.g. Law of trusts, company law, taxation, partnership law etc.
Both the Company Court and the Bankruptcy Court (破产法庭) are specialist Courts of this..

c) Family Division
This division deals mainly with divorce cases, custody (监护) and adoption of children, property disputes between spouses etc.

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3. Court of Appeal (Civil Division) 上诉法院(民事庭)

Three appeal judges sit together to listen to an appeal. They can deliver a majority judgement. This court deals with appeals from all County Courts, all three divisions of the High Court and a few other bodies, e.g. EAT (i.e. Employment Appeal Tribunal 劳资上诉审裁处).

It has power to uphold (维持) or reverse (反转) the judgement of the court below, or to substitute(替换)a new judgement. In exceptional （特别情况）cases, it may order a new trial.

* Tribunals（特别法院，又被称为”审裁处”, 实际并非法院）
Tribunals are an alternative method to settle disputes and have a heavy caseload with over 250,000 hearings per year. They deal with issues such as employment, social security and matters relation to land.
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4. House of Lords 上议院

This is the highest Appeal Court for both Civil and Criminal cases, (except cases involving European Union Law). Five Law Lords (上议院高级法官) usually sit together to deal with an appeal. They can deliver a majority judgment(多数票数的决定).

Either the Court below or the House itself must give leave to appeal(上述许可令)．

If a case involves European Union Law, it is possible to appeal from the House of Lords to the ECJ (i.e. European Court of Justice).

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Note:
Leap-Frog Procedure蛙跳程序 (Civil cases only)
In one exceptional situation, it is possible to appeal from the High Court direct to the House of Lords [即：直接越过Court of Appeal (Civil Division)] on a point of law, subject to an existing Court of Appeal binding precedent (约束性先例), or which involves interpretation(说明) of a statute(法规) or statutory instrument(法定文件). This is called the “leap-frog” procedure.