|
Terminology
Before considering the system of civil and criminal courts,
it is useful to consider the terminology used in those courts.
In a civil case, the person who brings the action is known
as the plaintiff, and the person against whom it is brought
is known as the defendant, so that if Jones brings a case
against Brown, it will be cited as Jones b. Brown, Jones being
the plaintiff and Brown the defendant. At the end of the case
it is said that judgment is given, either for the plaintiff
of for the defendant. If the losing party (who may be either
the plaintiff or the defendant) decides to appeal against
the judgment he becomes known as the appellant in any appeal
court, the other party being known as the respondent. Thus
if the plaintiff loses his case in the court in which it is
originally heard (known as the court of first instance) and
appeals, say, to the Court of Appeal, he is the appellant
in the Court of Appeal and the defendant becomes the respondent.
A person found to be responsible in civil proceedings is said
to be liable, rather than guilty. So, for example, one talks
of a person being ‘liable in negligence,’ not
‘guilty of negligence,’ and damages (or some other
civil remedy) are awarded against him.
In criminal law, a person who brings a prosecution (criminal
prosecutions are usually brought in the name of the monarch,
that is R. – Rex (King) or Regina (Queen) – although
in summary cases they are brought in the name of the actual
prosecutor, who is usually a police officer) is called the
prosecutor, and the person against whom the proceedings are
brought is known as the defendant, or the accused, or sometimes
the prisoner, although the latter term should be avoided as
it is misleading. If the case against the defendant is proved,
he is said to be guilty, or to have been convicted, and the
penalty imposed upon him, such as a fine or imprisonment,
is known as a punishment. This terminology applies irrespective
of the magnitude of the offence, so that both the speeding
driver and the murderer have committed criminal offences,
and will be found guilty and punished, although the punishments
will be vastly different. The notion common amongst many laymen
that certain minor offences, particularly traffic offences,
are ‘technical’ offences and not criminal offences
at all, is quiet wrong.
Various courts have been well established since the reign
of Henry II, but from time to time they have been re-organised,
most recently by the Administration of Justice Act 1970 and
the Courts Act 1970.
Before enumerating the main courts, it is necessary to note
that courts are referred to as either superior of inferior
courts, and that unfortunately the terms superior and inferior
are used in two different senses.
In a non-technical sense, a court is said to be inferior if
it ranks below another. For example, the Court of Appeal is
the second highest court in England, but it is inferior to
the House of Lords, which ranks above it, and thus is called
superior. In this sense, all courts except the lowest (magistrates’
courts and the County Court) are in some contexts superior
and all except the House of Lords are in some contexts inferior.
In a legally recognised sense, an inferior court is one which
is subject to control by the Queen’s Bench Division
of the High Court, whereas a superior court is not. |
|
UK
Legal Directory