County Court (England and Wales)
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The County Court is a national civil court for England and Wales with unlimited financial jurisdiction.[1]
The County Court sits in various County Court buildings and courtrooms throughout England and Wales, and not in one single location. It is a single court in the sense of a single centrally organised and administered court system. The County Court centres the court sits in today correspond to the earlier individual county courts.
History
The history of the English
In
The chief business of the court was to hear civil pleas. There were numerous separate county court systems, each with jurisdiction across England and Wales for enforcement of its orders, but each with a defined "county court district" from which it took claims. County court districts did not always have the same boundaries as counties.
County Courts Act 1846 | |
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Act of Parliament | |
Dates | |
Royal assent | 28 August 1846 |
Other legislation | |
Repealed by | County Courts Act 1888 |
Status: Repealed | |
Text of statute as originally enacted |
County Courts Act 1867 | |
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Act of Parliament | |
Dates | |
Royal assent | 5 July 1865 |
County Courts Act 1888 | |
---|---|
Act of Parliament | |
Dates | |
Royal assent | 13 August 1888 |
The modern County Court in England and Wales was created by the County Courts Act 1846 (
Further reorganisation was achieved by the
Procedure
County Court matters can be lodged at a court in person, by post or via the Internet in some cases through the
Small claims
Civil claims with an amount in controversy under £10,000 (the Jackson Reforms have increased this from £5,000) are dealt with in the County Court under the small claims track (sometimes known to the lay public as "small claims court," although it is not a separate court). Claims between £5,000 and £25,000 (£15,000 for cases started before April 2009) that are capable of being tried within one day are allocated to the "fast track" and claims over £25,000 (£15,000 for cases started before April 2009) to the "multi track." These 'tracks' are labels for the use of the court system – the actual cases will be heard in the County Court or the High Court depending on their value. For personal injury, defamation, and some landlord-tenant dispute cases the thresholds for each track have different values.
Appeals
Appeals are to a higher judge (a circuit judge hears appeals from a district judge). From the decision of a circuit judge an appeal lies to either the
Enforcement
In debt cases, the aim of a claimant taking County Court action against a defendant is to secure a County Court judgment. This is a legal order to pay the full amount of the debt. Judgments can be enforced at the request of the claimant in a number of ways, including requesting the court bailiffs to seize goods, the proceeds of any sale being used to pay the debt, or an Attachment of Earnings Order, where the defendant's employer is ordered to make deductions from the gross wages to pay the claimant.
County Court judgments are recorded in the Register of Judgments, Orders and Fines and in the defendant's credit records held by credit reference agencies. This information is used in consumer credit scores, making it difficult or more expensive for the defendant to obtain credit. In order to avoid the record being kept for years in the register, the debt must be settled within thirty days after the date the County Court judgment was served (unless the judgment was later set aside). If the debt was not fully paid within the statutory period, the entry will remain for six full years.[5]
References
- ^ "The courts and tribunals of England and Wales". ICLR. Retrieved 3 March 2023.
- ^ Ford, Byington (1913). A History Of The County Court Of England From 1066-1307. California: University of California.
- ^ Ford, Byington (1913). A History Of The County Court Of England From 1066-1307. California: University of California.
- ^ Oxford History of the Laws of England, Vol XII 1820-1914: English Legal System. OUP. 2010.
- ^ EX320 Registered judgments – What does it mean Archived 2011-04-10 at the Wayback Machine Access date 2010-09-25.