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In all legal systems there are institutions for modifying, interpreting and applying the law. Usually these take the form of a hierarchy of courts as a branch of government established to administer justice. The role of each court and its capacity to make decisions is strictly defined in relation to other courts. There are two main reasons for having a variety of courts.
Main article: President of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom
The current President of the Court is Nicholas Phillips, Baron Phillips
of Worth Matravers, former Master of the Rolls and Lord Chief Justice,
and previously the Senior Lord of Appeal in Ordinary.
Main article: Deputy President of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom
The current Deputy President of the Court is David Hope, Baron Hope of
Craighead, one of the two present Scottish judges and former Lord President
of the Court of Session.
Main article: Justice of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom
Justices of the Supreme Court are not subject to term limits, but may
be removed from office on the address of Parliament. All British judges
(including Supreme Court justices) are forced to retire at the age of
70 if first appointed to a judicial office after 31 March 1995, or at
the age of 75 otherwise.
In addition to the twelve permanent Justices, the President may request
other senior judges, drawn from two groups, to sit as "acting judges"
of the Supreme Court.
§ The first group is those judges who hold 'office as a senior territorial
judge': judges of the Court of Appeal of England and Wales, judges of
the Court of Appeal of Northern Ireland and judges of the First or Second
Division of the Inner House of the Court of Session in Scotland.
§ The second group is known as the 'supplementary panel'. The President
may approve in writing retired senior judges' membership of this panel
if they are under 75 years of age.
The first Chief Executive of the Court is Jenny Rowe, and the first Registrar,
Louise di Mambro.
The Constitutional Reform Act 2005 makes provision for a new appointments
process for Justices of the Supreme Court. A selection commission will be formed when vacancies
arise. This will be composed of the President and Deputy President of
the Supreme Court and a member of the Judicial Appointments Commission of
England and Wales, the Judicial Appointments Board for Scotlandand the
Northern Ireland Judicial Appointments Commission. In October 2007,
the Ministry of Justice announced that this appointments process would
be adopted on a voluntary basis for appointments of Lords of Appeal in
Ordinary. New judges appointed to the Supreme Court after its creation
will not necessarily receive peerages.
Ten Lords of Appeal in Ordinary (Law Lords) holding office on 1 October
2009 became the first justices of the 12-member Supreme Court. The 11th place on the Supreme Court was filled by Lord Clarke (formerly
the Master of the Rolls), who was the first Justice to be appointed directly
to the Supreme Court. One of the former Law Lords, Lord Neuberger, was
appointed to replace Lord Clarke as Master of the Rolls, and so did not
move to the new court. Sir John Dyson became the 12th and final justice
of the Supreme Court on 13 April 2010.
The Senior Law Lord on 1 October 2009, Lord Phillips, became the Supreme
Court's first President.
The first and current Justices, in order of seniority (from 13 April
2010), are:
The Constitutional Reform Act 2005 gave time for a suitable building
to be found and fitted out before the Law Lords moved out of the Houses
of Parliament, where they had previously used a series of rooms strung out along
a corridor in the House of Lords.
After a lengthy survey of suitable sites, including Somerset House, the
Government announced that the new court would be located in the Middlesex
Guildhall, in Parliament Square, Westminster. That decision was the subject
of an inquiry by a committee of Parliament, and the grant of planning
permission by Westminster City Council for refurbishment works was challenged
in judicial review proceedings by the conservation group SAVE Britain's
Heritage. It was also reported that English Heritage had been put under
enormous pressure to approve the scheme. Feilden + Mawson LLP, supported
by Foster & Partners, were appointed architects for the project.
The building had formerly been used as a headquarters for Middlesex County
Council and the Middlesex Quarter Sessions, and later as a Crown Court centre.
6. Badge
The emblem with stylised depictions of the four
floral emblems.
The official badge of the Supreme Court was granted by the College of
Arms in October 2008. It comprises both the Greek letter omega (representing
finality) and the symbol of Libra (symbolising the scales of justice),
in addition to the four floral emblems of the United Kingdom: a Tudor
rose, representing England, conjoined with the leaves of a leek, representing
Wales; a flax for Northern Ireland; and a thistle, representing Scotland.
Two adapted versions of its official badge are used by the Supreme Court.
One (above, in infobox at top right portion of this article) features
the words "The Supreme Court" and the letter omega in black
(in the official badge granted by the College of Arms, the interior
of the Latin and Greek letters are gold and white, respectively), and
displays a simplified version of the crown (also in black) and larger,
stylised versions of the floral emblems; this modified version of the
badge is featured on the new Supreme Court website, as well as in the
forms that will be used by the Supreme Court. A further variant on the
above omits the crown entirely and is featured prominently throughout
the building.
Yet another emblem is formed from a more abstract set of depictions
of the four floral emblems and is used in the carpets of the Middlesex
Guildhall. It was designed by Sir Peter Blake, famous for designing the
cover of The Beatles' 1967 album, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.
Crown
C
ourt
This article is about the British court.
The Crown Court of England and Wales is, together with the High Court
of Justice and the Court of Appeal, one of the constituent parts of
the Senior Courts of England and Wales. It is the higher court of first
instance in criminal cases; however, for some purposes the Crown Court
is hierarchically subordinate to the High Court and its Divisional Courts.
The Crown Court sits in around 90 locations in England and Wales. The
administration of the Crown Court is conducted through HM Courts Service.
Previously conducted across six circuits (Midland, Northern, North Eastern,
South Eastern, Wales & Chester and Western), HM Courts Service is
now divided into seven regions: Midlands, North East, North West, South
East, South West, London and Wales. The Wales region was identified
separately, having regard to the devolved legislative powers of the
Welsh Assembly Government [1]. The Central Criminal Court at the Old
Bailey, originally established by its own Act of Parliament, is part
of the Crown Court, and is the venue at which many of the most serious
criminal cases are heard.
The Crown Court carries out four principal types of activity: appeals
from decisions of magistrates; sentencing of defendants committed from
magistrates’ courts, jury trials, and the sentencing of those who
are convicted in the Crown Court, either after trial or on pleading
guilty. On average, defendants in custody face a waiting time of 13
weeks and 3 days. Those on bail experience greater delay, waiting on
average 15 weeks and 4 days until their case is heard. Rather than speaking
of a location at which the Crown Court sits, it is common practice to
refer to any venue as a Crown court, e.g., Teesside Crown court.
1.
Appeals from the Magistrates' Court
See also: Challenges to the decisions of Magistrates'
Courts
In 2003-4 the Crown Court heard 11,707 appeals against conviction and/or
sentence from those convicted in the magistrates' courts. At the conclusion
of the hearing the Crown Court has the power to confirm, reverse or
vary any part of the decision under appeal. If the appeal is decided
against the accused, the Crown Court has the power to impose any sentence
which the magistrates could have imposed, including one which is harsher
than the one originally imposed. There was a waiting time of just over
8 weeks for appeals; 90% of appellants waited 14 weeks or less.
2.
Defendants committed from magistrates for sentencing
In 2003-4 the Crown Court dealt with 31,018 cases for sentencing from
the magistrates. As the Magistrates' Court only has the power to impose
a six-month custodial sentence or a £5,000 fine, the court has the
power to commit defendants to the Crown Court for sentencing — this
can be done when they are of the opinion that either the offence, or
the combination of the offence and one or more offences associated with
it, was so serious that greater punishment should be inflicted than
the Magistrates' Court has power to impose, or, in the case of a violent
or sexual offence, that a custodial sentence longer than the court has
power to impose is necessary to protect the public from serious harm.
Committals may also arise from breaches of the terms of a Community
Rehabilitation Order or a suspended sentence of imprisonment. The court
performance target is that cases committed for sentence should be heard
within 10 weeks.
3.
Trials
The Crown Court disposed of 83,247 committals for trial in 2003-4. Taking
into account 29,752 cases still outstanding, the implied waiting time
for trials was 18.5 weeks. This is the time between committal or lodging
an appeal and the start of the Crown Court hearing. This level of delay
has been gradually worsening over the last 6 years. The average time
to try a case on a plea of not guilty is about 7 hours. Since the average
length of a sitting day is 4.33 hours, this implies that a not guilty
case takes just over the equivalent of one and a half court days.
4.
Appeals from the Crown Court
Main article: Appeals from the Crown Court
See also: Courts of England and Wales
When the Crown Court is dealing with a matter connected with a trial
on indictment (i.e., a jury trial), appeal lies to the criminal division
of the Court of Appeal and thence to the Supreme Court. In all other
cases, appeal from the Crown Court lies by way of case stated to a Divisional
Court of the High Court.
5.
Judges
The Judges who normally sit in the Crown Court are High Court Judges,
Circuit Judges and Recorders. Circuit Judges also sit in the County
Court. Recorders are Barristers or Solicitors in private practice, who
sit part time as Judges. The most serious cases (treason, murder, rape
etc.) are allocated to High Court Judges and Senior Circuit Judges.
The remainder are dealt with by Circuit Judges and Recorders, although
Recorders will normally handle less serious work than Circuit Judges.
The allocation is conducted according to directions given by the Lord
Chief Justice of England and Wales.
6.
History of the Crown Court
The Crown Court was established in 1972 by the Courts Act 1971 to replace
the courts of Assize and Quarter Sessions. The Crown Court is a permanent
unitary court across England and Wales, whereas the Assizes were periodic
local courts heard before judges of the Queen's Bench Division of the
High Court, who travelled across the seven circuits into which England
and Wales were divided, assembling juries in the Assize Towns and hearing
cases. The Quarter Sessions were local courts assembled four times a
year to dispose of criminal cases which were not serious enough to go
before a High Court judge.
A Crown Court and a County Court may be located in the same building
and use the same jurors. Since the establishment of Her Majesty's Courts
Service in April 2005 there is an increased sharing of facilities between
Crown Courts, County Courts and Magistrates' Courts.
7.
Physical layout
At the front of the court, on a raised platform, is a large bench. This
is where the judge sits. His rank can be distinguished by the colour
of gown worn, and different forms of address are appropriate for different
ranks of judge, with "your honour" being the most common.
The judge enters from a door at the side of the platform, preceded by
a cry of "court rise" from the usher or clerk of the court
who sits below and in front of the judge's bench. Everyone in the court
is expected to show his subjection to the Court by standing as the Judge
enters and until he sits down.
The clerk of the court, who sits facing the court (that is, the same
way as the judge) has a smaller desk on which sits a telephone, used
when communication is necessary with other parts of the court building
(for example the jury assembly area or the cell complex).
Also in the area just in front of the judge's bench is the sound recordist.
Proceedings will be recorded on a double deck cassette recorder with
one tape or the other being changed at intervals. This record may be
used if the case later goes to appeal.
Additionally there may be a court reporter who also records proceedings
on a stenograph, by typing keys as the witnesses speak, using special
shorthand. Alternatively, if there is no stenographer, a tapelogger
or shorthand writer will be there to operate the tapes and ensure that
a log of the proceedings is kept.
Facing the clerk will be the usher. If papers or other objects need
to be passed around the court, for example notes from members of the
jury, or evidence being shown to the jury, normally the usher will do
this and will be the only person in the court to walk around while the
court is in session.
Behind the usher, wearing black gowns and white wigs and facing the
judge, will be the prosecuting and defending barristers. The defending
barrister will usually be nearest the jury. They will also be likely
to have laptop computers in addition to files of papers relating to
the case which will be on the desk in front of them. Unlike the judge,
who speaks sitting down, the barristers always stand to address the
court.
Behind or alongside the barristers will sit the instructing solicitors,
which in the case of the prosecution will either be a representative
of the Crown Prosecution Service or policemen concerned with the case.
The latter is more common with trials, whilst the former is more apparent
in sentences, plea and case management hearings and other such cases.
At the back of the courtroom, behind the barristers, is a semi-partitioned
area known as the "dock". This is where the defendant or defendants
are placed. A custody officer will be sitting with them in the dock.
Also at the back of the court, often adjacent to the dock, is a small
area where the public can observe the proceedings. In some courts, notably
the Old Bailey, this area is positioned above the defendant.
Taking of notes is usually forbidden in the public gallery. Members
of the press must sit in the press bench, which is usually positioned
alongside the prosecuting barrister. Etiquette usually requires reporters
to identify themselves to the usher before taking position here and
starting to write.
Alongside the defending barrister is the jury box. This is where the
jury watch the case from. They will be called to it from the jury waiting
area (benches next to it) to be sworn in. Once sworn they always sit
in the same seat throughout the trial. If proceedings (such as legal
argument about the admissibility of evidence) take place which they
are not supposed to see occur, the usher will escort them into a room
just outside the courtroom (probably behind the dock). Only jurors and
ushers ever enter this room.
Opposite the jury box is the witness box. Witnesses stand facing the
jury and give their evidence so the jury can watch their demeanor while
giving it, which might help them decide if the witness is being truthful.
When the judge sends the jury to consider their verdict, the usher escorts
them to a small suite consisting of a large table, 12 chairs, lavatory
facilities, paper and pencils, a button with which to call the usher
and prominent notices about not revealing deliberations to anyone else.
The usher withdraws, and when the jury have arrived at a verdict, they
push the button.
During deliberations only limited contact is permitted with the outside
world, always via the usher. The jury will be permitted only (a) to
call for refreshments, (b) to pass a note to the judge, perhaps asking
for further guidance, or (c) to announce that they have reached a verdict.
The judge may decide to recall them to the court to address them again
at any time.
8.
Circuits
Originally, the court was divided into six circuits as follows:
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The Judicial Branch in the USA
1. Courts in the United States are subdivided into two principal systems:
the federal courts, referred to as United States courts, and the state courts.
There is the Supreme Court of the United States, the members of which
are appointed for life by the president with the Senate approval and
federal courts which are created by the Congress. The Supreme Court
is composed of nine judges, who are called justices. It
is the highest court in the nation. It interprets
the laws and reviews them to determine whether they conform to the U.S.
Constitution. If the majority of justices rule that the law in question
violates the Constitution, the law is declared unconstitutional and
becomes invalid. This
process is known as judicial review. All lower courts follow the rulings
of the Supreme Court.
2. Judges of federal courts are appointed for life by the president
with the approval of the Senate. These courts are the district courts,
tribunals of general original jurisdiction; the courts of appeals, exercising
appellate jurisdiction over the district courts. A district court functions
in each of the more than 90 federal judicial districts. A court of appeals
functions in each of the 11 federal judicial circuits
and in the District of Columbia; there is also a more specialized court
with nationwide
jurisdiction known as the court of appeals for the federal circuit.
3. Federal Courts have the power to rule on both criminal and civil
cases. Criminal action under federal jurisdiction includes such cases
as treason, destruction
of government property, counterfeiting, hijacking, and narcotic violations.
Civil cases include violations of other people's rights, such as damaging
property, violating a contract, or making libelious statements. If found
guilty, a person may be required to pay a certain amount of money, called
damages, but he or she is never sent to prison. A convicted criminal,
on the other hand, may be imprisoned.
The Bill of Rights guarantees a trial by jury in all criminal cases.
A jury is a group of citizens - usually 12 persons - who make the decision
on a case.
4. Each state has an independent system of courts operating under the
constitution and laws of the state. The character and names of the courts
differ from state to state but as a whole they have general jurisdiction
and handle criminal and other cases that do not come under federal jurisdiction.
5. The state court systems include a number of minor courts with limited
jurisdiction. These courts dispose of
minor offenses and relatively small civil actions. Included in this
classification are police and municipal courts in cities and the courts presided over
by justices of the peace in rural areas.
Between the lower courts and the supreme appellate courts, in a number
of states, are intermediate
appellate courts. Courts of last resort, the highest appellate tribunals
of the states in criminal and civil cases and in law and equity, are
generally called supreme courts.
6. In some states, judges are publicly elected, in others they are appointed,
by state governors or by special bodies such as judicial councils -
though except at the lowest levels only lawyers are eligible for election
or appointment. Some judges hold office
for fixed periods, but others are installed for
life or up to a retiring age;
or there may be provision for 'recall'. Under
this arrangement a group of people dissatisfied
with a judge may collect signatures on a 'recall' petition, and if the
signatures reach the required number the people of the state (or county)
vote 'yes' or 'no' to the question whether the impugned judge
should be confirmed in office.
The US Supreme Court and Its Procedures
A Term of the
Supreme Court begins, by statute, on the first Monday in October. Usually
Court sessions continue until late June or early July. The Term is divided
between "sittings," when the Justices hear cases and deliver
opinions, and intervening recesses,
when they consider the business before the Court and write opinions.
Sittings and recesses alternate at
approximately two-week intervals.
With rare exceptions, each side is allowed 30 minutes argument and
generally 22 to 24 cases are argued at one sitting. Since the majority
of cases involve the review of a decision of some other court, there
is no jury and no witnesses are heard. For each case, the Court has
before it a record of prior proceedings and printed briefs containing
the arguments of each side.
During the intervening recess period, the Justices study the argued
and forthcoming
cases and work on their opinions. Each week the Justices must also evaluate
more than 110 petitions seeking review of judgments of state and federal
courts to determine which cases are to be granted full review with oral
arguments by attorneys.
When the Court is sitting, public sessions begin promptly at 10 a.m.
and continue until 3 p.m., with a one-hour lunch recess starting at
noon. No public sessions are held on Thursdays or Fridays. On Fridays
during and preceding argument weeks, the Justices meet to discuss the
argued cases and to discuss and vote on petitions for review.
When the Court is in session, the 10 a.m. entrance of
the Justices into the Courtroom is announced by the Marshal. Those present,
at the sound of the gavel, arise
and remain standing until the robed Justices
are seated following the traditional chant: "The Honorable,
the Chief Justice and the Associate Justices of the Supreme Court of
the United States. Oyez! Oyez!
Oyez! All persons having business before the Honorable, the Supreme
Court of the United States, are admonished
to draw near and
give their attention, for the Court is now sitting. God save the United
States and this Honorable Court!"
Prior to hearing
oral argument, other business of the Court is transacted.
On Monday mornings this includes the release of
an Order List,
a public report of Court actions including the acceptance and rejection
of cases. Opinions are typically released on Tuesday and Wednesday mornings
and on the third Monday of each sitting, when the Court takes the Bench
but no arguments are heard.
The Court maintains this schedule each Term until all cases ready for
submission have been heard and decided. In May and June the Court sits
only to announce orders and opinions. The Court recesses at
the end of June, but the work of the Justices is unceasing.
During the summer they continue to analyze new petitions for review,
consider motions and applications, and must make preparations for cases scheduled for fall argument.