Court of Appeal (England and Wales)
The Court of Appeal (EWCA) | |
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Established | 1 November 1875[1] |
Location | Royal Courts of Justice, Strand, City of Westminster, London, UK |
Authorized by |
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Appeals to | |
Website | https://www.judiciary.gov.uk/you-and-the-judiciary/going-to-court/court-of-appeal-home/ |
Sir Geoffrey Vos | |
Since | 11 January 2021 |
This article is part of the series: Courts of England and Wales |
Law of England and Wales |
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The Court of Appeal (formally "His Majesty's Court of Appeal in England",[2] commonly cited as "CA", "EWCA" or "CoA") is the highest court within the Senior Courts of England and Wales, and second in the legal system of England and Wales only to the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom.[3] The Court of Appeal was created in 1875,[4] and today comprises 39 Lord Justices of Appeal and Lady Justices of Appeal.[4]
The court has two divisions, Criminal and Civil, led by the
The Court of Appeal deals only with appeals from other courts or tribunals. The Court of Appeal consists of two divisions: the Civil Division hears appeals from the High Court and the County Court and certain superior tribunals, while the Criminal Division may only hear appeals from the Crown Court connected with a trial on indictment (i.e., for a serious offence). Its decisions are binding on all courts, including itself, apart from the Supreme Court.
History
Formation and early history
The appeal system before 1875 was chaotic. The superior courts system consisted of 12 different courts, with appeal on common law matters to the
The new legal structure provided a single Court of Appeal, which heard appeals from all the various divisions of the new unified
Changes in appellate jurisdiction and procedure
The absence of limits on appeals to the House of Lords was the cause of much concern: it led to an additional set of expensive and time-consuming appeals from the Court of Appeal, which thus could not take decisions in the knowledge that they were final. The appeals from the county courts were seen similarly, involving an appeal to the High Court of Justice and the bypassing of the Court of Appeal for a second set of appeals to the Lords. The Administration of Justice (Appeals) Act 1934, a short statute, solved both problems neatly by abolishing the appeal of county court decisions to the High Court and instead sending them automatically to the Court of Appeal, and by establishing that appeals to the Lords could only take place with the consent of the Court of Appeal or of the Lords themselves.[9]
A second set of reforms to the appeals system followed the report of the Evershed Committee on High Court Procedure in 1953, which recognised the high cost to the litigants of an additional set of appeals, particularly since the loser in a civil case paid the victor's legal bills. Among the few changes that were made, the practice ceased of counsel reading out the judgment, cross-examinations, documents and evidence given in the lower court; this saved time and costs. The process of "leapfrogging" (appealing from the High Court to the House of Lords without needing to go through the Court of Appeal), which the committee had recommended, was eventually brought into force with the Administration of Justice Act 1969.[10]
A separate Court of Criminal Appeal had been established in 1908. In 1966 this was merged with its older namesake, establishing the present-day structure of a single Court of Appeal with two Divisions: Civil and Criminal.[7]
In the early 1960s there was discussion between judges and academics in the United Kingdom and the United States comparing the processes of appeal used in each nation. Although the British judges found the emphasis on written arguments unattractive, they did like the idea of pre-reading: that the court should read the pleadings of counsel, the case being appealed and the judgment from the lower court before delivering its judgment. But the idea was quietly scrapped, despite a successful tryout in the Court of Appeal. The court over which
The Woolf and Bowman reforms
In July 1996,
Bowman's recommendations were mainly enacted through statutory provisions, such as Part IV of the Access to Justice Act 1999. In Tanfern Ltd v Cameron-MacDonald [2000] 1 WLR 1311, Brooke LJ laid down the procedural methods of the Court of Appeal post-Woolf and Bowman. With a few exceptions, such as cases where "the liberty of the subject" is an issue, permission is required to appeal, and may be granted either by the lower court or by the Court of Appeal.[15] As a general rule, appeals are now limited to a review of the decision of the lower court, only allowing a full appeal where there was a serious procedural irregularity or the decision was wrong through "blatant error".[16]
Divisions
Civil Division
The Civil Division deals with all non-criminal cases, and has been part of the court since its establishment in 1875. The Civil Division is bound by the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom when making decisions, and is normally bound by its own previous decisions, with four exceptions:[citation needed]
- where the previous decision was made without the judges knowing of a particular law:
- where there are two previous conflicting decisions;
- where there is a later conflicting Supreme Court or House of Lords decision, and
- where a law was assumed to exist in a previous case but did not.
The first three were established by the case of Young v Bristol Aeroplane Co Ltd in 1946, the fourth by R (on the application of Kadhim) v Brent London Borough Housing Benefit Review Board in 2001.
Although the Lady Chief Justice is senior to the Master of the Rolls, the Civil Division is much broader in scope than the Criminal Division. With only three judges on the bench (rather than five or more in the Supreme Court), this allows the Master of the Rolls huge opportunity for shaping the common law and, most notably,
Criminal Division
The Criminal Division was established in 1966 with the merger of the
Procedure for appeal
Sections 54 to 59 of the
Almost all appeals require permission, a major innovation from the previous system, where appeals were, on the request of counsel, almost all automatically put through. The application for permission should be made to the lower court, although this is not mandatory; it may be asked of the appellate court itself. In Re T (A Child) [2002] EWCA Civ 1736, the Civil Division strongly advised that counsel apply at the lower courts, since the judge, fully aware of the facts, will take less time to process, there is no harm if the application fails or if it is approved but counsel decides not to proceed with the case and there are no additional costs involved. The only problem here is that judgments may occasionally be reserved, and only given later by post – there may not be an opportunity to ask for permission to appeal at the lower court.[24]
The Court of Appeal, when considering an application for appeal, may decide based on the paper documents or refer the case to an oral hearing, something often done when it is apparent that a refusal of the written case will lead the applicant to send a second, oral application. If a written application is refused, the applicant may ask for an oral hearing to discuss the refusal. Under the
Under certain, limited, circumstances, second appeals are allowed. This is when an appeal goes to the High Court or the County Court and a party to the case wishes to appeal it further, to the Court of Appeal. Section 55(1) of the Access to Justice Act 1999 says that, when an appeal is made to the County Court or the High Court and that court makes a decision, no further appeal is allowed to the Court of Appeal unless the Court considers that the case raises "an important point of principle or practice" or "there is some other compelling reason for the Court of Appeal to hear it".[26] In Tanfern Ltd v Cameron-MacDonald [2000] 1 WLR 1311 the Court commented on this limitation of second appeals, pointing out that the Lords Justices of Appeal were a valuable and scarce resource – it was necessary to impose limitations on appeals to prevent the Court and its judges becoming overburdened.[27]
There are two sorts of hearings that the Court of Appeal can hold; reviews, and full rehearings. Section 52.11(1) of the
Judges
The Court of Appeal's main judges are the Lord Justices of Appeal and Lady Justices of Appeal. The Senior Courts Act 1981 provides that the Court of Appeal comprises 39 ordinary sitting Lords and Lady Justices and the
Lords and Lady Justices have, since 1946, been drawn exclusively from the
The division of work in the Court of Appeal is demonstrated by the 2005 statistics, in which Lords and Lady Justices sat 66% of the time, High Court Judges 26% of the time and Circuit and Deputy High Court Judges 8 per cent of the time.[32] Lord and Lady Justices are currently paid £188,900, with the Master of the Rolls paid £205,700 and the Lady Chief Justice £230,400.[33]
The Civil Division is led by the
Broadcasting
On 31 October 2013 the Court of Appeal allowed cameras in the court for a (70-second broadcast delay) "live" broadcast feed for the first time.[35] Cameras were banned in all courts in 1925 (although they were allowed in the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom from its 2009 inception). Cameras have now been allowed in some courts due to changes made by the Crime and Courts Act 2013. In 2013, only one court could be broadcast per day.[36]
See also
References
- ^ Wilson, Arthur (1875). The Supreme Court of Judicature Acts, 1873 and 1875. London: Stevens and Sons. Retrieved 16 May 2019 – via archive.org.
- ^ Interpretation Act 1978, Schedule 1
- ^ Courts and Tribunals Judiciary website
- ^ a b The history of the Court of Appeal, Judiciary website
- ^ Drewry (2007) p. 31
- ^ Drewry (2007) p. 32
- ^ a b "www.judiciary.gov.uk".
- ^ Drewry (2007) p. 34
- ^ Drewry (2007) p. 35
- ^ Drewry (2007) p. 36
- ^ Drewry (2007) p. 38
- ^ Drewry (2007) p. 46
- ^ Drewry (2007) p. 56
- ^ Drewry (2007) p. 57
- ^ Drewry (2007) p. 58
- ^ Drewry (2007) p. 60
- ^ Elliott (2008) p. 15
- ^ "Going to Court: Court of Appeal". Judiciary of England and Wales. Archived from the original on 28 October 2012. Retrieved 28 October 2012.
- ^ Senior Courts Act 1981, section 53(2)(d).
- ^ Elliott (2008) p. 16
- ^ "Lords Justices of Appeal". Archived from the original on 18 June 2012.
- ^ Drewry (2007) p. 68
- ^ a b Drewry (2007) p. 81
- ^ Drewry (2007) p. 69
- ^ Drewry (2007) p. 70
- ^ Drewry (2007) p. 71
- ^ Drewry (2007) p. 73
- ^ Drewry (2007) p. 78
- ^ Drewry (2007) p. 84
- ^ Senior Courts Act 1981, section 2(1).
- ^ Drewry (2007) p. 111
- ^ Elliott (2008) p. 129
- ^ Elliott (2008) p. 139
- ^ Drewry (2007) p. 110
- ^ channel4.com – "Cameras in court for the first time". Accessed 1 November 2013
- ^ Ministry for Justice. "Landmark Day for Justice: Television Broadcasting in court goes live" infosheet. Accessed online 1 November 2013
Bibliography
- Drewry, Gavin; Louis Bloom-Cooper; Charles Blake (2007). The Court of Appeal. Suzanne Fullbrook. Oxford and Portland, Oregon: Hart Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84113-387-4.
- Elliott, Catherine; Frances Quinn (2008). English Legal System (9th ed.). Pearson Longman. ISBN 978-1-4058-5941-7.