Civil courts: pre-trial to trial and after

Abstract

The civil courts provide a forum for the settlement of disputes between individuals. The disputes may be about breaches of contract, liability in tort, property disagreements, trusts and other such non-criminal matters. In civil law the state rarely plays a part or intervenes; the litigants may be individual people, shopkeepers, employers, employees, landlords, tenants, corporations, partnerships, and so on. Today well over 90 per cent of civil cases are handled by the local county courts. In this section is an examina tion of the jurisdiction, procedures and personnel of the county court, the High Court and the Court of Appeal (Civil Division). A list of civil court remedies is also included.