Even the most trivial offense can be dealt with in the crown court if the accused wants it.
County courts do most of the minor civil cases : breach of contract or tort cases involving less than £5000 which takes in the vast majority of civil actions.. It may transfer to the high court if it involves an important issue of law or fact. County courts 1.5 million cases per year ( most settled out of court before a hearing)
Claims for money oweing and damages from motor and work accidents are the high courts main fodder Also deal with the small number of liable suits (lots of press due to personalities).QB also includes a division for commericial cases and for admiralty cases.
QBD can issue habeus corpus writ to free a person unlawfully detained It takes appeals from lower courts but only on points of law.
Family division is mostly on divorce or custody of children
Chancery: wills, taxation,companies , settlements, trusts,
Courts of Appeals : civil hears1600 appeals per year high court and county court
criminal 8000 appeals mostly on sentencing
The 27 judges make law to fill the gaps.
House of lords 119 appeals
Scotland C16 : Ayres for criminal cases raised significant funds while local courts proceeds were negligible
"The Sheriff,regality and baron courts were a source of profit" p225 Gordon Donaldson James5-7th
Sources of high costs : adversorial - each party prepares its evidence in secret- two investigations necessary
: insistence of oral witnesses :
Prosecution budget per district in 1992 was $226,000 for 157 arrests .
Bible- restitutution. If unpaid after agreed time then its theft and the amount could be doubled again. If still unpaid then debt service is in order.
In a Biblical society anyone should be able to take a judge to court for not enforcing Biblical law- because its the people God holds responsible if things go wrong By far the most popular tort action is negligence (The Law machine p130) vs assault, libel, slander,nuisance ( spoiling someones enjoyment of their property) . Negligence has been expanded to include product liability, professional negligence and economic loss; all of which were originally compensated only if there was a contract.
2/3rds of the trial claims in Queens bench )over £5000 are personal injury
150,000 divorce cases
Two million criminal cases
120,000 defendants tried ,34,000 used the trial by jury the others pleaded guilty and only needed to be sentenced.
500 judges at £70,000 per year is £35 million per year which is say £35 per case which isn't really very much at all.
Unlike Britain most countries have judicial codes so the judges role in making law is secondary.
A one day trial with a barrister in magistrates may cost £300, in the crown court it would take 2 days and cost £1000
For county courts, defendent must live in the area or land in question must be in the area.
Cases go to higher courts for sentencing when the magistrates court doesn't have the power to pronounce the sentence.
Magistrates also deal with some civil cases
There is clerk to advise magistrates on points of law and procedure
There are 2-7 justices at any hearing,
max penalty 6 months imprisonment or £1000 fine ,
There is a restricted practises court and a employees appeals court
In the US costs in 1988 of Police is £28 billion, of courts £12 billion ( cheaper per head than UK, on the courts side but not if you exclude legal aid in UK. 1990 crime rates: 732 per 100,000 violent, 5089 per 100,000 property Large companies overruling justice ? Appendix Who chooses where cases go? Judges can be sued for passing unbiblical decisions - possibly death penalty for overt attempt to overthrow God's law. This is the incentive for them to consult church experts.
To protect people from wrongful arrest , this would have to be compensated on generous terms by the arresting agency if the person turned out to be innocent. Rates of crime per 100,000 population per year:, 1994 Violence against person : 424, Sexual Offences: 63 , Burglary 2473, ( includes burg, robb, theft) Robbery 122, Theft and handling stolen goods: 5,008 Fraud and forgery : 287 Criminal damage: 1809 Other 93 (mostly drugs), 15 Total : 10,278 (wide variation : town /country) (most figures more than double those in 1981) % of households victimised at least once per annum Vandalism 10% Burglary 6.5% Car theft 19.6 ( only 11.4 in Scotland) Offenses cleared up by the police Violence against person : 78%, 76 Sexual : 84%, 80 Burglary 17%, 18 Robbery 28%,29 Theft hsg 24%,22 Fraud 56% , 52 criminal damage 18%, 17 drug traffic 97%, 93 Figures for north, and for Eng Numbers of police: 151,186 (UK) 118,827 Eng 22% households are members of neighbourhood watch schemes Law courts cost £3,923 million per year ( Blue book 1996) ( thats about £900 per crime/or £3000 per clear up)but do these stats include civil cases above not true because it does include civil case and figure includes legal aid CRIMES IN ENG AND WALES (thousands) Recorded crime cleared up % Found Guilty Cautioned INDICTABLE OFFENSES Violence ag person 212 163 77 29 a 20b Sexual 30 22 76 4.7 .3 Burglary 1239 259 21 35.3 10.5 Robbery 68 15 23 5.2 0.6 Theft/hsl 2452 566 23 116 104 Fraud.forg 133 65 50 17.2 7.9 Crim dam 699 134 19 9.6 3.8 Other 50 48 96 42.2 4 Motoring Offenses 11.2 none TOTAL 4885 1276 26 302 202 SUMMARY OFFENSES Motoring 642 0 Revenue Laws 123 Wireless Telegraphy Acts 113 Drunkeness 20 22 Assaults 29 8 Criminal Damage 22 25 TOTAL SUM 1052 88.7 GRAND TOTAL 1302 280 =1580 (thousand) a 27.4 wounding, 0.2 murder, 0.2 manslaughter b no murders cautioned 20% of offenses by 14-17s, 18 by 18-20, 43 by 21-34 30% of those convicted have no prev, same number have more than 3-10, 18% have more than 10 Prison in the US : $29 billion on 750,000 criminals, $38,477 each pa Over 81% offended before 1.93 people proceeded against in magistrates court Children under a year old are the group most at risk from homicide (25 x versus 14x for pop (per 1,000,000) Altogether 1.7 million known offenders (1120 per 100,000 pop) average age 18, 15 for girls Historical Middle ages happened as a result of the withdrawal of troops that led to disorder that wouldn't have happened if policing had been private. The middle ages had capital punishment but few murders were solved : usual problem no incentives. Judges were elected to be judges of 10, 50, 100 and 1000 The risk of being assaulted is higher for 16-24 year old males ( same as average age of most criminals) presumably because they are where the criminals are likely to be. At 1200 per 100,000 , at 600 per 100,000 is for women the same age. Slightly more , 620 is men 25-39 , 400 for women the same age, those 0-9 years have almost none , 60+ have similar rates 20 per 100000 for men and 5 per 100000 for women. About 5% of people are the victims of crimes every year, most people in surveys think its about 26% (they over rate most risks) Drugs Why is there a drug problem? People have always taken drugs- opium in England in previous centuries , alcohol is a type of drugs People like taking drugs and don't think about the future (present orientation) There are depressed about their future. Looking for a new experience, Higher health bills and crime Young problem Sollutions Asia and the Middle East Holland- high murder rare Everyone elses sollutions e.g. America : "Since 1980 when Reagan launched the war on drugs $300 billion spent with "no discernible impact on price or availability" But many breaches of human rights and corruption of police forces as a result Moral Education ; Christians schools throughout the world have much lower rates most none at all, privatising education and letting churches take over would help greatly. It is inevitable that in a democracy schools won't communicate moral values since everyone in a democracy has different values and theres no such thing as average values so they teach none. Welfare systems can destoy if people dont have to work they dont develop the disciplines that stop them starting or force them. .