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Queen’s Bench Division
Contract and tort, etc.
Commercial Court
Admiralty Court
Administrative Court
Supervisory and appellate jurisdiction overseeing the legality of decisions and actions of inferior courts, tribunals, local authorities, Ministers of the Crown and other public bodies and officials
| Family Division
Divisional Court
 Appeals from the magistrates’ courts
| Chancery Division
Equity and trusts, contentious probate, tax partnership, bankruptcy and Companies Court, Patents Court
Divisional Court
 Appeals from the county courts on bankruptcy and land
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16. Using the scheme above, decide which British courts can try the following cases:
1. Mr Johnson and Mrs Johnson are getting divorced. Mrs Johnson
demands to have the house, the car, 75% of MrJohnson‘s life savings and
their pet cat, Tigger. “No way!” says angry Mr Johnson.
2. Two separate companies, English International Telecommunications
and Britphone, both bring out a new mobile phone which they call the
‘Smell-O-Phone’. Both companies claim that the name was their own idea.
3. Five workers have been sacked from the computer manufacturing
company ‘Compucrash’ for incompetence. They believe that they have
been unfairly dismissed.
4. Mr and Mrs Waugh had a new window installed in their house. The
window company now wants the Waughs to pay, but Mr Waugh is refusing
because he thinks the quality of workmanship is poor.
5. Newspaper editor MrHislop publishes an article describing the Prime
Minister as a ‘useless, incompetent fool who can barely tie his own shoelaces,
let alone run the country’. The PM decides to take immediate legal action
against the paper.
Complete definitions 1 – 18 with words / expressions from the box. Note that several of these are related to British or English and Welsh law only, although other countries will usually have an equivalent.
Admiralty Court
Commercial Court
coroner’s court
County Court
courthouse
court-martial
Court of Appeal
Court of Protection
Crown Court
employment tribunal
European Court of Human Rights
European Court of Justice
High Court
Lands Tribunal
magistrates' court
rent tribunal
small claims court
Supreme Court
1. A _______________ is a court that deals with disputes over small amounts of money.
2. A _______________ is a civil or criminal court to which a person may go to ask for an award orsentence to be changed.
3. A _______________ is a court which tries someone serving in the armed forces for offences againstmilitary discipline.
4. A ______________ is the general word for a building in which trials take place.
5. A _______________ is one of the types of court in England and Wales which hears local civil cases.
6. The _______________ is a court which considers the rights of citizens of states which are parties tothe European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights.
7. An _______________ is a body responsible for hearing work-related complaints as specified bystatute.
8. A _______________ is a court which hears cases of petty crime, adoption, affiliation, maintenanceand violence in the home (= domestic violence), and which can also commit someone for trial orsentencing in a Crown Court.
9. A _______________ is a court presided over by a public official (usually a doctor or lawyer) whoinvestigates sudden, unexpected and violent deaths.
10. A _______________ is a court above the level of a magistrates' court which hears criminal cases.
11. A _______________ is a court which deals with compensation claims relating to land.
12. A _______________ is a court in the Queen's Bench Division (= one of the main divisions of theHigh Court) which hears cases relating to business disputes.
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13. A _______________ is a court which adjudicates in disputes about money paid or services providedin return for borrowing something – usually buildings or land.
14. The _______________ is the main civil court in England and Wales.
15. The _______________ is the court set up to see that the principles of law as laid out in the Treatyof Rome are observed and applied correctly in the European Union.
16. A _______________ is a court appointed to serve the interests of people who are not capable ofdealing with their own affairs, such as patients who are mentally ill.
17. The _______________ is court which is part of the Queen's Bench Division (see number 12 above),which decides in disputes involving ships.
18. The _______________ is the highest court of appeal in the United Kingdom (although appellantsunhappy with a decision made here can appeal to the European Court of Justice).