Business Law - Exploring the Possibility of Case Being Heard in an English Court - Essay Example

 This case is a typical criminal one: therefore, it could be originally heard at the English Crown Court. In the U.K., more serious criminal cases like murder, rape, or robbery are dealt with by the Crown Court; some of the cases may be referred to or on appeal from the Magistrates’ courts. The structure of the crown court consists of a judge and a 12-person jury. These juries are members of the society that are invited to deliberate on criminal cases so as to recommend certain punishment to the offender (Her Majesty’s Court Service 2007).

     The procedures for criminal litigation at the Crown Court

         According to Burton et al (1997), a defendant charged with an indictable offense or crime must be committed to trial so as to determine if the suspect has any case to answer or not.

        Part V of the Criminal Procedure and Investigations Act (CIPA) 1996 through amendment provides a procedure that is based on paper, which is now completely without oral evidence (Burton et al 1997). 

       Hence, the procedures for criminal litigation or hearing a criminal case at the Crown Court are as follows:

1. Committal with the considerations of evidence: s 6(1).

       (Burton et al 1997) explains that this is the first step that should be taken as criminal litigation is being brought against the defendant. And it involves some processes as highlighted below:

• The charge is read aloud to the accused for him/her to understand the real charge against him. But he/she would not be expected to enter into any plea.
• The defense of the accused would be asked if they would want the reporting restricted removed. The clerks would expect the defense to give a direct response to this inquiry.
• The defense may decide to make a submission that supports that the accused has got no case to answer, therefore ready to defend the charge against the accused.
• The magistrates would then decide if they should commit the accused to trial, that is, he/she has got a case to answer and then consider him for bail or legal aid.
• Or the magistrates may decide to discharge the defendant, which signifies that the submission of no case answer from his/her defense has been accepted because there is no enough evidence to prove that the accused actually commit the crime (Burton 1997).

                 Apart from the above-mentioned procedures, the magistrates at the Crown Court could choose the second option to commit the accused for trial as outlined below.

2. Committal without consideration of the evidence: s 6(2)       

           In this case, Burton et al (1997) explain that as 6(2) committal involves the following significant processes:

• The charge is read aloud to the accused so that he could have a clear knowledge of the case against him/her.
• The clerk asks whether the reporting restrictions be taken away. The defense for the accused has to make that decision.
• It is the duty of the clerks to check whether the formalities of s 6(2) has been strictly followed: that is, the prosecution evidence follows the s 5B-E guideline; to be sure that copies of the evidence have been served on the defense; the accused has a solicitor to represent him/her; and that the defense is not prepared to make a submission of no case to answer on behalf of the accused.
• The defendant is then committed to the Crown Court for trial.