Briefly outline the court system in England and Wales, and in particular the role of the Crown Court - Essay Example

The Courts of England and wales are made up of the following different courts namely, the magistrate’s courts, the country courts, the Crown court, the High Court of justice, the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court which work in line with the European court of Justice and the European Court of Human Rights (Clarissa, 2004). These courts are subdivided in to three main divisions namely the senior courts, the subordinate Courts and the special courts. The senior courts include the Supreme Court, the Court of Appeal, and the Crown Court.

The Subordinate courts include the magistrates’ court and the county courts while the special courts and tribunals include the ecclesiastical courts and the coroners’courts. These are smaller specialized courts dealing with various matters. The tribunals in England and Wales include the Employments Tribunal, Employment Appeals Tribunal and the first tier and Upper tribunals. The Employment tribunal and the Employment Appeal Tribunal are established to hear industrial disputes. The First-Tier and Upper tribunals have taken up most of the roles and functions that have traditionally been conducted by various tribunals.

Other special courts are the Coroner court and the ecclesiastical courts which date back to over 1000 years ago (Richard, Amanda &Amanda, 2011). The coroner’s courts deal with causes of death for individuals who pass away in suspicious circumstances or in foreign countries. The Ecclesiastical courts are based on the Church of England’s legal system, which is the official state church. The court has jurisdiction over marriage and divorce matters, defamation and testamentary matters. The jurisdiction of the court has however narrowed down to the clergy men of the Church of England.

These are subordinate local courts established to hear mainly criminal cases and some civil matters at the first instance. These courts are staffed by