Anglais: la cour d'appel

The court of appeal

- 2 branches : civil division & criminal division

- 37 lords of appeal sit in panels of three

- Sits in up to 12 courts in the royal courts of justice

- A jury is never required

Civil division

Jurisdiction

- Appeals from the High Court

- A lot of work

Personnel

- Master of rolls is the president of this division

- Head of civil justice system

- Judges are chosen from among HC judges with at least 2 years experience, or advocate who have had a minimum of 10 years experience

Decision

- Taken by majority

- Civil division hears appeals on questions of law and sometimes on issues of fact

- If the appeal is accepted, the first decision can be reversed, affirmed or amended. A new trial can be ordered

Criminal division

Jurisdiction

- Crown court

Personnel

- Lord chief justice of England and Wales is the head of the criminal justice system and presides over the division

- Assisted by a lord justice of appeal : vice president of the criminal division

Decision

- CD can dismiss appeals

- Can quash previous convictions and order retrials

The supreme court of the UK

- At the apex of the British court system

- Appellate committee of the house of lords

- Sits in Middlesex guildhall, London, since 2008

- At the centre of the constitutional reform started in 2003

Jurisdiction

- Criminal and civil cases

- No jurisdiction in Scottish criminal cases following the Scotland act 1998

Personnel

- The court is headed by a president and a deputy president

- Law lords are generally appointed from among the most respected judges of the court of appeal

- Sit in panel of 5, occasionally 7

Decisions

- Taken by majority

- Affirm or reverse decision

- Has the power of overrule its own previous decision, power of seldom

Judicial committee of the Privy Council

- Oldest

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