Types of UK courts. The full hierarchy explained.

The UK has four separate legal systems, and within each one there's a hierarchy of courts. If you're standing in front of a legal problem, the court that hears your case depends on what kind of case it is, how serious it is, and whether you've already lost once and are appealing.

This page maps out every type of court in England and Wales, which is where most of the caseload sits. If you need to know about Scotland or Northern Ireland, I'll point you to where those differ.

Here's the calm, plain-English answer.

The short version

The UK divides cases two ways: by seriousness (criminal vs civil) and by geography (England and Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland, and some UK-wide appellate courts).

For criminal cases in England and Wales:

• Magistrates Court handles 90+ percent of cases. Theft, assault, drunk driving, common offences. Low-seriousness, no jury.
• Crown Court handles the serious ones: murder, rape, robbery, theft over a limit, cases where the defendant wants a jury. One judge, one jury.
• Court of Appeal (Criminal Division) hears appeals from the Crown Court.
• Supreme Court hears appeals on questions of law that matter to the whole country.

For civil cases in England and Wales:

• County Court handles most civil claims: contract disputes, personal injury, eviction, small-money matters.
• Family Court (which sits inside the County Court structure) handles divorce, children, financial arrangements.
• High Court handles serious and complex cases: judicial review, serious commercial disputes, appeals from lower courts.
• Court of Appeal (Civil Division) hears appeals from the County Court and High Court.
• Supreme Court hears appeals on points of law of public importance.

Outside the main hierarchy:

• Tribunals (First-tier, Upper Tribunal) handle specialist disputes: employment, immigration, benefits, mental health. Different rules, faster, less formal.
• Privy Council handles some Commonwealth appeals and ecclesiastical matters.

At a glance

A quick reference table of every court and what it does.

The Magistrates Court

The Magistrates Court is where the vast majority of criminal cases start and end. Over 90 percent of all criminal cases are dealt with here.

Magistrates Courts handle three types of case. First, summary offences: minor crimes that the law says can only be tried in the Magistrates Court. Drunk in charge of a motor vehicle, common assault, theft of low value, harassment. Second, either-way offences: crimes that can be tried either in Magistrates or Crown Court. The defendant gets to choose. Theft, burglary, assault causing actual bodily harm. If the defendant chooses summary trial, the Magistrates Court hears it; if they want a jury, they can elect to go to Crown Court. Third, committal hearings: the Magistrates Court decides whether there's enough evidence to send a defendant to the Crown Court for trial on an indictable offence (a serious crime like robbery or murder).

Magistrates Courts don't have juries. They're run by lay magistrates (volunteers with minimal legal training) or district judges (salaried lawyers). The bench is typically three lay magistrates plus a clerk (lawyer). The sentences they can hand down are limited. Maximum six months prison for one offence, up to a year if you're convicted of two offences at the same time, or fines up to £5,000 for most matters.

Decisions from the Magistrates Court can be appealed. Appeal goes to the Crown Court for a rehearing on the law and the facts.

The Crown Court

The Crown Court hears serious criminal cases. Murder, rape, robbery, drug trafficking, any case where the defendant has elected to be tried by jury.

There are 77 Crown Courts in England and Wales, split into three tiers. Tier 1 courts (London, Manchester, Birmingham, Bristol) hear the most serious cases. Tier 2 courts hear all types but concentrate on less serious ones. Tier 3 courts hear lower-seriousness indictable cases.

A Crown Court trial has a judge and a jury. The jury decides guilty or not guilty. The judge rules on the law, controls the trial, and if the defendant is convicted, decides the sentence. Crown Court judges are circuit judges or recorders (part-time judges), overseen by High Court judges in the most serious cases.

Sentences in Crown Court are much harsher than Magistrates. For murder, the minimum sentence is life. For other serious offences, sentences run to 10, 15, 20 years or more.

Appeals from the Crown Court go to the Court of Appeal (Criminal Division). The defendant can appeal against conviction (arguing it was unsafe) or against sentence (arguing it was too harsh).

The County Court

The County Court is the workhorse of civil law in England and Wales. Contract disputes, personal injury claims, debt recovery, landlord and tenant cases, employment disputes, low-value claims. There are dozens of County Courts scattered across England and Wales.

County Courts have jurisdiction limits. Most money claims up to a certain amount stay in County Court. Above that, or for more complex cases, the case goes to the High Court. Judges are circuit judges and recorders.

County Court procedures are designed to be more flexible than High Court procedures. There are fast tracks for lower-value claims, where the judge decides that a quick, informal hearing is appropriate. There's also a small claims track for claims under a threshold (currently £10,000 for most claims, £15,000 for personal injury below £1,000).

Appeals from the County Court go to the Court of Appeal (Civil Division), but only with permission. Not every decision can be appealed. The Court of Appeal has to think it raises an important point of law or something has gone seriously wrong.

The Family Court

The Family Court is technically part of the County Court structure, but it hears family law matters separately: divorce, dissolution of civil partnerships, children, financial arrangements following a breakdown, domestic abuse cases, care orders, adoption.

Family Court judges are circuit judges, High Court judges, and district judges. The judge sits without a jury and hears evidence from you, your spouse or partner, the other parent if children are involved, witnesses, and expert evidence (like reports from children's social workers or child psychiatrists).

For routine matters, the Family Court operates on agreed facts and documents. For contested cases, there's a hearing where both sides give evidence. The judge decides what's best in the interests of any children, and what's a fair financial split between the adults.

Appeals from the Family Court go to the Court of Appeal (Civil Division).

The High Court

The High Court is the serious end of civil law. It has three divisions.

The Queen's Bench Division (or King's Bench Division, depending on the monarch) hears judicial review (challenges to government and other public bodies), serious commercial disputes, appeals from lower courts on points of law, and some first-instance cases of national importance. Judicial review is one of its key functions. If the government has acted unlawfully, or a public body has breached someone's rights, you can ask the High Court to review the decision.

The Chancery Division handles trusts, wills, probate disputes, mental capacity, company law, and probate. If there's a dispute over who inherits an estate, or whether a will is valid, or whether a trust was set up properly, it goes to Chancery.

The Family Division handles the most serious family law cases: international child abduction under the Hague Convention, disputes between parents over jurisdiction, disputes over very large financial settlements, rare cases where the welfare of children requires High Court oversight.

High Court judges are High Court judges (not circuit judges). Cases are more formal and expensive than County Court. There's usually more written evidence and expert reports.

Appeals from the High Court go to the Court of Appeal (Civil Division).

The Court of Appeal

The Court of Appeal has two divisions: Criminal and Civil.

The Court of Appeal (Criminal Division) hears appeals from the Crown Court. The defendant can appeal against conviction (arguing the conviction was unsafe or the trial was unfair) or against sentence (arguing it was too harsh). The Crown Prosecution Service can appeal on a point of law. The court is made up of Lord Justices of Appeal, senior judges. They read written arguments and hear oral argument. They can quash the conviction and order a retrial, dismiss the appeal, or reduce the sentence.

The Court of Appeal (Civil Division) hears appeals from the County Court and the High Court. A party who lost at trial can appeal on the grounds that the judge made a legal error, not on the grounds that they simply disagree with the judge's findings of fact. Permission to appeal is required, and is only granted if the case raises a point of law of public importance or if there's been a serious procedural flaw. The court is made up of Lord Justices of Appeal. Like the Criminal Division, they read written arguments and hear oral argument.

Both divisions sit in London, in the Royal Courts of Justice on the Strand.

Appeals from the Court of Appeal go to the Supreme Court, but again, only on questions of law of public importance.

The Supreme Court

The UK Supreme Court is the final court of appeal for most cases. It sits in the Parliament buildings in Westminster. It has 11 justices, usually including the President of the Supreme Court (the most senior judge in the UK) and the Deputy President.

Very few cases reach the Supreme Court. The court receives hundreds of applications to appeal every year, and grants permission to hear only about 80. The cases it does hear are ones that raise questions of law of public importance: cases where the law is unclear, or where a lower court has made a legal error that affects lots of other cases, or where a point of principle matters to the whole country.

Once the Supreme Court has decided a case, that's final. There's no appeal above it. Its decisions shape the law for everyone. When the Supreme Court says what the law is, that becomes the law for all courts below it.

The Privy Council

The Privy Council is a small, specialist court. It hears appeals from some Commonwealth countries (Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, Mauritius, and a handful of others) that retained the Privy Council as their final court of appeal instead of abolishing appeals to the UK. It also hears appeals in ecclesiastical law (disputes about church property or discipline) and professional discipline (for example, disputes about whether a doctor's medical licence should be removed).

The Privy Council is made up of senior judges and politicians, but in practice the judges do the deciding. Cases are heard by a small panel, usually five, and decisions are final.

Tribunals

Tribunals are a separate world from ordinary courts. They exist to resolve specialist disputes quickly and cheaply, with less formality and more flexibility than courts.

The First-tier Tribunal hears first-instance cases in about 20 different areas: employment disputes, immigration and asylum, benefits (disability living allowance, universal credit), mental health detention, tax, child support. There are different chambers for different subject areas. Employment cases go to the Employment Tribunal, immigration cases to the Immigration and Asylum Chamber, and so on.

Employment Tribunals are particularly important and busy. They hear unfair dismissal claims, discrimination claims (sex, race, disability, religion, sexual orientation), breach of employment contract, and claims under wages legislation. The panel is usually a judge plus two lay members (people with employment expertise). The atmosphere is less formal than a civil court trial.

The Upper Tribunal hears appeals from the First-tier Tribunal on points of law. If you lost before an employment tribunal and disagree with the decision, you can apply for permission to appeal to the Upper Tribunal. Permission is only granted if the Lower Tribunal made a legal error.

The Court of Appeal (Tribunal route) hears appeals from the Upper Tribunal on points of law of public importance.

Above tribunals, the ordinary courts provide appeal and supervisory review via judicial review (in the High Court).

How a case moves between courts

Understanding the hierarchy helps you understand where you are and where you might go next.

Criminal cases: The criminal path usually starts in the Magistrates Court. If it's a serious case, or if the defendant is unhappy with summary trial, the Crown Court is the trial court. If someone is convicted in the Crown Court and wants to challenge the conviction, they appeal to the Court of Appeal (Criminal Division). If the Court of Appeal's decision raises a point of law of public importance, they can apply to the Supreme Court.

There's also a back door: a defendant who pleaded guilty in the Crown Court or lost a trial can ask the Court of Appeal for permission to appeal based on fresh evidence. This is rare and requires very strong evidence that was not available at trial.

Civil cases: Most civil disputes start and end in the County Court. If someone's unhappy with the County Court's decision, they can ask for permission to appeal to the Court of Appeal (Civil Division). For very serious cases or cases of exceptional importance, cases might go to the High Court in the first place. Appeals from the High Court also go to the Court of Appeal.

The Supreme Court is the endpoint. Permission to appeal is required and granted only for cases raising points of law of public importance.

Tribunal cases: Tribunal cases start in the First-tier Tribunal. If someone disagrees with the decision, they can appeal to the Upper Tribunal on points of law. If the Upper Tribunal's decision raises a point of law of public importance, there's an appeal route to the Court of Appeal. Judicial review (in the High Court) is also available if a tribunal has acted unlawfully.

Common misconceptions

"All courts have juries." False. Only Crown Court has juries (for criminal trials). Magistrates Courts, civil courts, and tribunals all operate without juries. The judge (or judges) decides guilt or liability and the outcome.

"The High Court is the highest court." Close, but no. The High Court is senior, but the Supreme Court is higher. The High Court handles serious civil cases and judicial review. The Supreme Court handles appeals on points of law of public importance.

"You can appeal any decision." No. Permission to appeal is usually required, especially in the Court of Appeal. The appeal court has to agree that your case raises a point of principle or that something serious went wrong. If the court below made a factual finding you disagree with, that's rarely a ground for appeal. Legal error is the bar.

"Scotland and Northern Ireland courts work the same way." They don't. Scotland has a completely different system (Court of Session, Sheriff Court) with different names, different procedures, and different appeal routes. Northern Ireland's system also differs. The Supreme Court is the final appellate court for all four systems, but the journey there is different in each one.

"Tribunals are easy and always quicker." Tribunals are informal and designed to be accessible, but that doesn't mean they're simple. Employment Tribunal cases can run for days and involve complex evidence. The advantage is no wigs, no formality, and judges with subject-matter expertise.

Related concepts

If you found this page useful, these related terms come up often in legal contexts and may be worth understanding:

• Appellate court. A court that hears appeals. The Court of Appeal is appellate. Trial courts are first-instance.
• Jurisdiction. The power of a court to hear a particular case. A Magistrates Court doesn't have jurisdiction over murder, only the Crown Court does.
• Judicial review. A challenge to a government or public body decision in the High Court, arguing that it was unlawful.
• Litigant in person. Someone representing themselves in court without a lawyer.
• Counsel. Another word for barrister. "I've instructed counsel" means I've hired a barrister.
• First instance. The first time a case is heard by a court (as opposed to an appeal court).
• Sentencing remarks. The judge's spoken explanation of why they've given a particular sentence. You have a right to hear these in Crown Court.
• McKenzie Friend. A non-lawyer who attends court with a litigant in person to provide quiet support and take notes.
• Precedent. A decision by a higher court that binds lower courts. If the Supreme Court decides something, that's binding on all courts below it.
• Indictable offence. A serious crime that's tried on indictment (with a jury) in the Crown Court.
• Summary offence. A less serious crime tried summarily (without a jury) in the Magistrates Court.

Sources

The information on this page is based on:

• HM Courts and Tribunals Service. Official information about all UK courts and tribunals. https://www.gov.uk/courts-tribunals
• The Judiciary of England and Wales. Official information about the court system, judicial independence, and the judges. https://www.judiciary.uk/
• The UK Supreme Court. Official information about the Supreme Court, its decisions, and how to appeal. https://www.supremecourt.uk/
• The Judicial Conduct Investigations Office. Official regulator of judicial conduct. https://www.judicialconduct.judiciary.uk/
• Ministry of Justice. The UK government department responsible for courts, sentencing, and legal aid. https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ministry-of-justice

This page was reviewed for accuracy on 2026-05-27. UK court procedures and structures change occasionally. For the most current information, check the official government and judiciary websites.

A note on what this page is and isn't

This is information, not legal advice. It describes how the UK court system is structured, not what you should do in your particular situation. If you have a specific legal problem, talk to a solicitor (or a Direct Access barrister) about it.

CaseCalm helps litigants in person understand UK court procedures and draft their own documents. We are not a law firm and we are not authorised by the Solicitors Regulation Authority. When your situation needs real legal advice, we point you to qualified professionals.

Written by Peter Kolomiets. Reviewed for accuracy 2026-05-27. Comments or corrections to peter@casecalm.com.