Appeal From the Magistrates Court to Crown Court - Essay Example

?Procedure Work Table of Contents Table of Contents 2 Introduction 3 Appeal from the Magistrates' Court to Crown Court 4 Appeal from the Magistrates' Court and the Crown Court to the Divisional Court by Case Stated and Judicial Review 6 Critical Evaluation 9 Conclusion 13 References 15 Bibliography 18 Introduction The right to appeal is often categorised as a judicial right, offered to an appellant or a defendant to appeal in the court of law. With the provisions of this right, if a party is to be pleaded guilty or even if they have not pleaded guilty, is offered with legal provisions to appeal in higher courts against both conviction and sentence, so that decisions can be reviewed by other independent judges more accurately. Subsequently, the court executing an appeal will be able to correct errors, which are made in judicial decisions in trial or those made in magistrates’ courts1. However, the upper court has no authority to amend the decisions reached by the magistrates. The upper court can sent back the case to the lower or magistrates’ courts for reconsideration. At the same time, according to the provisions, the upper court has to give reasons for the decisions made in order to eliminate any possible ground for judicial review2. In accordance with the scenario, the Ministry of Justice should review the process in relation to the right to appeals, which are made in the upper court against a sentence and/or conviction. Accordingly, the proposal made by the Ministry of Justice emphasises on removing the right to appeal to High Court by way of case stated or judicial review. Moreover, the proposal advocates that the right to appeal to Crown Court should be amended accordingly so that the judicial process of a re-hearing can be developed as time-efficient. Appeal from the Magistrates' Court to Crown Court As per rules as well as regulations of the judicial systems of the UK, appeals can be made to the Crown Court on certain grounds and provisions. These provisions are recognised to be governed under the ‘Part 63 Criminal Procedure Rules 2010’ (“the Rules”). The Crown Court is statutorily obliged to deal with cases, which are appealed from magistrates’ courts on certain specific conditions as mentioned below. Conviction and/or sentences, which are made in magistrates courts (section108 Magistrates Courts Act 1980) Orders linking hospital or guardianship (section 45(1) Mental Health Act 1983) Failure of an individual to conform with supervision order (paragraph 11, schedule 3 Powers of Criminal Courts (Sentencing) Act 2000) Failure in making orders associated with football banning orders (section14A(5A) Football Spectators Act 1989) Source: 3 The Crown Court is also provided with the provision of modifying any sentences as well as any other orders made within a time frame of 56 days from the day on which the decision was made. In certain incidents in case of dismissing an appeal, the Crown Court is required to provide reasons and factors, which are accountable for such an occurrence. It is in this context that the provisions oblige the Crown Court to justify reasons responsible for the rendered decisions. In the case of [R v Harrow Crown Court ex p. Dave [1994] 1 All ER 315, [1994] ! WLR 98] and [R -v- Knightsbridge Crown Court ex p International Sporting Club [1981] 3 All ER 417, [1982] QB 304] it has been identified that it is one of the mandatory duties of the judges to provide appropriate reasons for the decisions as well as the dismissal of appeal of any appellant4. In this context, refusing to provide reasons and information relating to decisions as well as denial of appeal will act as a violation of Article 6 ‘European Court of Human Rights’ (ECHR), which may lead to judicial review of the case5. Stating precisely, the right to appeal is offered to parties who make appeal against certain convictions and/or sentences. According to ‘Part 63 Criminal Procedure Rules’, the application must be made within the 21 days of actual hearing conducted by the magistrates’ court. The appeal is also heard in the Crown Court with no less than two and not more than four magistrates. It is worth mentioning that appeal made against the conviction is a complete process of re-hearing of the entire case, irrespective of the judgement delivered in the lower court. In the similar context, the appeal made against the sentence delivered in the Magistrates’ court can be considered for the re-hearing of sentencing process only. According to the case of [R v Swansea Crown court, ex parte Stacey [1990] Crime LR 260 DC] Crown Court cannot give its own verdict against the decision made by the Magistrates’ court. As a consequence, Crown Court can direct the magistrates’ court to reconsider the case only. However, Crown Court does have the authority to amend the original verdict or the judgement made by the magistrates’ court6;7. Appeal from the Magistrates' Court and the Crown Court to the Divisional Court by Case Stated and Judicial Review The High Court is segregated into three divisions, which include Chancery, Family as well as Queen’s Bench. The three divisions of the High Court are entitled with the responsibility to hear any appeal, which are made from magistrates’ court and Crown Court. The High Court is also responsible to hear cases, which are appealed at the ‘first instance’. The Chancery division is entitled to hear cases in relation to insolvency disputes relating to corporate sectors as well as trade disputes. This division is also entitled to hear cases relating to issues of mortgage, intellectual property and copyrights. Subsequently, the Queen’s Bench Division (QBD) is responsible to hear civil as well as contract cases, which include any harm done to any individual, property and act of negligence. Similarly, the family division is entitled to hear cases, which are related to children or minority cases and wardship jurisdictions. This division also hears cases, appealed from other courts and family proceeding courts of law. Thus, it can be comprehended from the above discussion that the High Court is assigned with the responsibilities of hearing a diverse range of cases relating to civil, criminal, family cases as well as appeals which are made from other courts. Owing to such diversity in the cases registered to the high court, the jurisdictional process becomes time consuming and also inconvenient for the appellants owing to its cost consuming nature8. According to MCA 1980, s. 111(1), the right to appeal can be practiced to register a case in the High Court on the basis of certain grounds, which either postulates that the decision made at the magistrates’ court was bias. The provision also states that the application must be made within 21 days of the actual hearing made in the magistrates’ court. It is worth mentioning in this context that, if the appeal is made to the High Court directly on the basis of the case stated in the Magistrates’ court, the appellant shall not be deemed as liable to appeal in the Crown Court. Similar to the Crown Court, the High Court does not have the right to give decisions against the verdict made in the magistrates’ court. In certain circumstances, where it is identified that the decision made in the magistrate’s court was inappropriate, the High Court holds the power to give the direction to magistrates’ court ordering a reconsideration of the case on the ground of ascertained flaws identified by the High Court9. Similarly, the SCA 1981, s.28(1) states that if the defendant has unsuccessfully appealed to the Crown Court from the magistrates’ court and has committed for conviction or sentence have the right to appeal to High Court. As per this provision as well, the application must be made within 21 days against the conviction/sentence with the right to appeal in the Crown Court10. In accordance to these provisions, a legal procedure in follow by the high court on the basis of which, appeal should be made to higher courts. This comprises proper grounds as well as appropriate time frames in order to make proper appeal to higher courts from the magistrate level. The judicial system of the UK is an independent body, which is free to make any decision without any interference from governmental officials and other staffs of courts11;12. It is identified that right to appeal has both advantages as well as disadvantages imposed on the judicial method followed within the nation. The right to appeal offers appellants with the opportunity of having better judicial decisions. Moreover, the right to appeal is effective in improving the procedures of decision making in lower courts. The judges in lower courts will have to make decisions in an enhanced manner so that appropriate decisions as well as judgements are made. Respectively, the right to appeal has enhanced the judicial system of the UK as a symbol of justice, both in criminals as well as civil cases13. Additionally, the right to appeal grounded on the stated cases and judicial reviews has assisted higher courts in evaluating the practices as well as decisions made by the judges of lower courts and therefore, act towards maintaining transparency in the mode of conduct14. On the other hand, with the implementation of the right to appeal, certain disadvantages can also be identified as persisting in the judicial system of the UK. It has been determined that with the right to appeal, the judicial system of the UK has become complex as the higher courts are required to deal with on-going as well as re-appealed cases from lower courts, when judgements are often the same, yielding no benefit to the appellant. The right to appeal has stretched the legal proceedings of courts which further increases the time frame for judicial procedures. The judges in the lower courts are also not offered with adequate judicial powers, which seem to hamper their motivation as well as perceptions15. Critical Evaluation With the provision of this right to appeal, defendants are also offered with the opportunity of obtaining a fair judgement through the procedure16. In contrast, the right of appeal has minimised the significance of the legal proceedings, which are executed in the lower courts including the Crown Court as well as the magistrates’ court. Right to appeal, based on the stated case and judicial review from magistrates’ court to Crown Court or High Court and from Crown Court to High Court, has increased the complexity of judicial decisions made in the form of re-hearing. Evidently, it can be comprehended that the legal proceedings of the judicial system of the UK is elongated and time consuming along with costing defendants with large amount of monetary expenditure. As a consequence, the judges of High Court are mainly required to deal with complex as well as difficult cases, but with the introduction of right to appeal, the High Court is required to deal with pre-stated cases from lower courts too, leading to increased workload17. Thus, it can be determined that there are certain pros as well as cons in relation to right to appeal, as practiced currently in the UK judicial system. In accordance with the scenario, the Ministry of Justice reviewed the process of right to appeal against conviction and/or sentence, which are made in the Crown Court and magistrates’ court. In this context, the Ministry of Justice forwarded a proposal suggesting that right to appeal to the High Court should be removed in order to ensure speedy decision making by eliminating the process of re-hearing. On the other hand, the proposal suggested that the right to appeal in the Crown court should be amended and the requirement for right to appeal should be introduced to reduce the workload on the High Courts. According to this proposed provision, the appeal made by defendants against the conviction and decisions made at lower court (magistrates’ court) are rectified in the Crown court without sending the case back to the magistrates’ court. In this respect, the removal of right to appeal based on the stated case and judicial review from the High Court will facilitate the judges of the High Court in making fair judgements along with accelerating the decision making process of the judicial system of the UK. Additionally, the magistrates’ court and the Crown Court are quite likely to be facilitated with the opportunity of executing their legal proceedings in an appropriate manner. The removal of re-hearing process form High Court can further facilitate defendants to seek quick judgements in a cost effective manner as well. The various advantages, which can be acquired with the removal of right to appeal, grounded on the stated case and judicial review from High Court and modifying the right to appeal procedure in the Crown Court with the introduction of right to appeal will facilitate in reducing the complexities associated with the judicial decision making system of the UK. It is worth mentioning that by abolishing the right to appeal to the High Court will facilitate the defendants to eliminate the heavy expenditure made on the re-hearing process and save the valuable time of judges. In other words, abolishing the right to appeal in the High Court can be expected to facilitate in fast judicial decision making process and can also ensure the effectiveness of the entire judicial system of the UK. As a result, there will be a less number of pending cases that will ultimately facilitate in attaining a greater degree of trust of public on the judicial system. This will also make the judges of Crown Court responsible for identifying the errors in judicial decision making process at the magistrates’ court; thus, facilitating the resolution of the flaws in the judicial decision making at its early stage, engaging minimum time. Furthermore, it will reduce the burden of High Court to render equal significance in all the cases. This provision will also ensure that sustainable considerations are provided to the decisions as well as convictions, made by magistrates’ court and the Crown Court. The proposal will make it mandatory for appellants to provide adequate information and justifications on the basis of which appeal for re-hearing can be mitigated18. As in the case of [Uphill -v- BRB (Residuary) Ltd; CA 3-Feb-2005], stating important principle and practice had appealed for a right to appeal for a second time19;20. There are certain disadvantages, which can be expected to be yield from the proposal made to put forward by the Ministry of Justice when applying the provision for right to appeal. In this context, the removal of right of appeal from high court will reduce the trust of the people on the judicial system in the UK. The defendants, who are unsatisfied with the decisions on convictions and sentences made by the lower courts, will not be facilitated with the opportunity of appealing their cases to High Court in order to have better decisions and sentences. Additionally, the judicial decisions made against the verdict of lower court will raise several questions against the efficiency of the lower courts. In other words, it will be unethical to disregard the verdict made by the lower court. Moreover, the introduction of right to appeal to Crown Court will increase the number of cases and appeals from magistrates’ court. Subsequently, with increased number of cases and appeals, the judicial procedures at the Crown Court will become complex and will extend the time taken for decision making through the judgemental procedures. Additionally, the defendants will have no option to seek justice, if Crown Court is unable to offer reliable verdict. The defendants appealing in the High court will also have to represent the case from the beginning as the High Court will not take into account the previous judgements made by the lower courts21. It is identified that the implementation of the proposed change in the judicial procedure of the UK will facilitate the decision making as more effective and economically beneficial. Additionally, the implementation of the proposed change will enable in speedy decision making, which will ensure the reduction in the costs associated with appealing and re-hearing. Moreover, as per the proposed changes, the Crown Court will be assigned with the sole responsibility to provide directions to magistrates’ court. Furthermore, the High Court will be facilitated with the opportunity of executing cases more efficiently rather than sorting out appeal cases from lower courts. In this regard, it can be comprehended from the above discussion that the provision of removing right to appeal to High Court will assist in minimising workload for the High Court. Moreover, with the amendment in the form of right to appeal to Crown Court will enable appellants to seek proper justification in relation to the appeal made for re-hearing in Crown Court that will further assist in mitigating the re-hearing procedure or sending cases back to the lower courts by High Court. Thus, it can be affirmed that with the introduction of this proposal, the procedure of decision making can be quick and on the other hand, will improve the effectiveness of judicial system of UK. Conclusion Currently, the right to appeal in the judicial system of UK possesses an important place in order to safeguard as well as protect defendants against improper or unsatisfactory convictions and/or sentences made in lower courts. With the right to appeal, appellants are offered with legal authority to make appeal to higher courts for re-hearing. At the same time, the current process of appealing cases to higher courts possesses various advantages as well as disadvantages. The major disadvantage identified in this context is that it increases the cost for defendants, augments complexities in the decision making process along with consuming considerable time. In other words, the current process is lengthy and expensive. Respectively, with the proposal of the Ministry of Justice to remove right to appeal to High Court based on the stated case and judicial review, modifying the right to appeal to Crown Court with the introduction of leave to appeal will increase the overall efficiency of the judicial decision making process. The implementation of the proposal will reduce cost and time involved in the re-hearing process. Furthermore, it will simplify the complex nature of judicial system of the UK. References Black, D., Harman, G., & Moselle, B. ‘Should Energy Consumers and Energy Network Users have the Right to Appeal Ofgem Price Control Decisions? If so, what Form the Appeals Process Take?’, Final Report, , 2009 (accessed 24 August 2013). Crown. ‘Part 52 – Appeals’, Courts, , 2012 (accessed 24 August 2013). Crown. ‘Magistrates’ Courts Act 1980’, Right of appeal to the Crown Court, , 2013 (accessed 24 August 2013). Crown. ‘Prosecution Rights of Appeal’, Legal Guidance, , 2013 (accessed 24 August 2013). 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