Media Law lecture -- Court Structure

##Interesting topics:## Photography in court -- in Britain, court sketches only; must be done from memory outside of court. Ken Clarke (sp?) said there may be some changes in terms of what's allowed in the future.

Rio Ferdindand v. Mirror Group -- Look at the judgement, Judicial Communications Office.

Sign up for: Adjudications from the PCC Monthly Bulletin, OFCOM; inforrm

###Two branches of law

####Criminal Law

• Controls behaviour
• R. v Smith
• Legal aid
• Trial: Magistrates Court (summary courts), then Crown Court (indictable offenses). (Some cases are either way)
• Either a magistrate or a judge/jury decides outcome

####Civil Law

• Resolves disputes
• Brown v. Jones
• Privately funded (Ability to take cases where individuals can't pay but may win -- conditional fees -- with uplift fees due to extra risk.)
• Trial: County Court / High Court (If >£50,000 for personal complaints, >£15,000 for other disputes)
• Vast majority of cases decided by a judge

####Appeals

• If a matter of law, an appeal from the magistrates court goes to High Court. If a matter of fact, goes to Crown Court, then Appeals Court.
• Court of Appeals has two divisions, one each for civil and criminal

##A workflow for cases:

• Royal Courts of Justice, Fleet St., then:
• Supreme Court, Parliament Square, then:
• Marylebone Road Magistrates, then:
• Old Bailey criminal court, then back to Royal Courts of Justice.

##The Courts System hierarchy

1. Supreme Court

• Supreme Court Justices; head: Lord Phillips

1. Court of Appeal (Civil division head: Master of the Rolls -- Baron Neuberger; Criminal division head: Lord Judge)
2. Crown Court (Criminal; Smalls Claims Court is a subdivision) or High Court (Civil; Family, Queens Bench and Chancery are subdivisions)
3. Magistrates Court/Youth Court (Criminial) or Count Court (Civil)

###High Court

• Family division
• Queens Bench division
• Chancery Division

##Personnel of the law

• Judges — Supreme Court Justice, Lord Justice of Appeal, High court Judge, Circuit judge, District Judge, Recorder, Magistrates
• Lord Chancellor (Head of the Ministry of Justice -- Ken Clarke QC), Lord Chief Justice (, Master of the Rolls
• Law officers: Attorney General, Director of Public Prosecutions, Solicitor General (Deputy Attorney General)
• Barristers/Solicitors *Barrister: More generalized, but many take specialized training *Solicitors: specialized Solicitor
• In-house lawyers
• Juries (12 members)
• Crown Prosecution Service (Prosecution within the courts)
• Ministry of Justice
• Police
• IPCC
• ACPO
• Police Federation