Cases brought before the criminal courts are to
do with offences against the state which, these days, usually involve breach of the statutory law. In the UK, cases in the criminal courts are cited as R v Smith; R stands for Regina or the Crown against Smith. When lawyers refer to criminal cases they often use just the name of the accused: for example, Smith. If the accused is found guilty, the court can order punishment. This can either be a custodial sentence, which means going to prison, or a non-custodial sentence such as a fine, probation or a community service order.
Remember that a court is different from a tribunal, although the distinction is not always clear. The House of Lords decided in Attorney General v BBC [1980] that a court exercises the judicial power of the state. If it only has an administrative function, it is not a court. This distinction is not merely semantic as it has a direct bearing on contempt of court proceedings. Contempt of court, by definition, applies only to courts of justice and not to other legal decision- making bodies. It has been held that an Employment Appeal Tribunal which would hear cases of wrongful dismissal by an employer is a court; yet there can be no contempt of court in a tribunal.
Unit 3, Lesson 2, Exercise E 1.14 Part 4
So, to summarize. In the English legal system there are three different types of court: civil courts, criminal courts and tribunals which act as courts. We have looked at the cases that are likely to be heard in each type of court. Trespass is a tort and the plaintiff will sue in the civil courts. Assault can be both a crime and a tort, and the case could be brought in either the civil court or the criminal court, depending on the circumstances. In a civil case of assault the plaintiff will sue for damages while in a criminal case the police might charge a person with grievous bodily harm. Theft is a crime, and cases of theft are heard in the criminal courts.
Tribunals which act as courts and have a judicial rather than administrative function include the Employment Appeal Tribunal. This tribunal would hear cases of wrongful dismissal by an employer, for example.
OK, that’s it for today. Next time, we’ll look in detail at trespass to the person. Don’t forget to do a bit of research on that before you come. Thanks. See you soon.
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Unit 3, Lesson 2, Exercise F 1.15 1 Theft is a tort.
2 The usual remedy for trespass to property is for the court to award damages.
3 Cases involving a breach of contract would be heard in the criminal court.
4 A community service order is a type of non- custodial sentence.
5 Courts have only an administrative function.
6 If a case is cited as the Crown against Smith it will be heard in a civil court.
Unit 3, Lesson 3, Exercise A 1.16 1 'wrongdoing 2 in'junction 3 dis'pute 4 'trespass 5 'reckless 6 'prosecute 7 pro'hibitory 8 defa'mation 9 'damages
10 cus'todial 11 dis'honest 12 'criminal 13 con'tempt 14 'battery 15 a'ssault 16 'justice 17 de'liberately 18 'permanently
Unit 3, Lesson 4, Exercise B 1.17 Part 1
In the last lecture, we talked about trespass as a tort. As you’ll remember, trespass is the intentional wrongdoing to a person or to property. In this lecture, we’re going to look in more detail at trespass to the person. There are three types of trespass to the person: assault, battery and false imprisonment.
Assault is an act which intentionally causes another person to expect that unlawful force will
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