This chapter discusses the issues that need to be addressed in the period leading up to a trial. These include contacting witnesses to ensure their availability; obtaining witness summonses where appropriate; briefing trial counsel; agreeing and compiling trial bundles; and counsel preparing speeches, examination-in-chief, and cross-examination of witnesses.
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Chapter
This chapter discusses the issues that need to be addressed in the period leading up to a trial. These include contacting witnesses to ensure their availability; obtaining witness summonses where appropriate; briefing trial counsel; agreeing and compiling trial bundles; and counsel preparing speeches, examination-in-chief, and cross-examination of witnesses.
Chapter
The multi-track deals with a vast range of cases, from simple contractual disputes involving little more than £25,000, to complex commercial cases involving difficult issues of fact and law with values of several million pounds, to cases where perhaps no money is at stake but which raise points of real public importance. Cases on the multi-track will generally be dealt with either in the Royal Courts of Justice or other civil trial centre. This chapter discusses agreed directions; case management conferences; fixing the date for trial; pre-trial checklists; listing hearings; pre-trial review; directions given at other hearings; and variation of case management timetable.
Chapter
The multi-track deals with a vast range of cases, from simple contractual disputes involving little more than £25,000, to complex commercial cases involving difficult issues of fact and law with values of several million pounds, to cases where perhaps no money is at stake but which raise points of real public importance. Cases on the multi-track will generally be dealt with either in the Royal Courts of Justice or other civil trial centre. This chapter discusses agreed directions; case management conferences; fixing the date for trial; pre-trial checklists; listing hearings; pre-trial review; directions given at other hearings; and variation of case management timetable.
Chapter
Claims that are not compromised and which do not end through striking out or summary or default judgment, have to be determined by the court at trial. Listing is the process whereby the court gives a date for the trial. This chapter discusses listing for trial; pre-trial reviews; listing in the Royal Courts of Justice; and adjournments.
Chapter
Claims that are not compromised and which do not end through striking out or summary or default judgment, have to be determined by the court at trial. Listing is the process whereby the court gives a date for the trial. This chapter discusses listing for trial; pre-trial reviews; listing in the Royal Courts of Justice; and adjournments.
Chapter
Antonio Cassese, Paola Gaeta, Laurel Baig, Mary Fan, Christopher Gosnell, and Alex Whiting
This chapter highlights the most significant features of investigation and trial procedure before international criminal courts. It assesses how fairness has been balanced with effectiveness in the unique and challenging context of conflict or post-conflict environments.
Chapter
This chapter discusses the rules relating to the proof of admissions and documents at trial. It covers the nature of admissions; pre-action admissions of liability; permission to withdraw an admission; notice to admit facts; and proving documents.
Chapter
This chapter discusses the principles governing the use of expert evidence in civil claims. It covers the admissibility of expert evidence; control of evidence; choice of expert; privileged nature of experts’ reports; disclosure of experts’ reports; written questions to experts; examinations by experts; experts’ immunity from suit; and use of experts’ reports after trial.
Chapter
This chapter discusses the rules relating to the proof of admissions and documents at trial. It covers the nature of admissions; pre-action admissions of liability; permission to withdraw an admission; notice to admit facts; and proving documents.
Chapter
This chapter discusses the principles governing the use of expert evidence in civil claims. It covers the admissibility of expert evidence; control of evidence; choice of expert; privileged nature of experts’ reports; disclosure of experts’ reports; written questions to experts; examinations by experts; experts’ immunity from suit; and use of experts’ reports after trial.
Chapter
Antonio Cassese, Paola Gaeta, Laurel Baig, Mary Fan, Christopher Gosnell, and Alex Whiting
The right of defendants to appeal against conviction or sentence is normally regarded as a fundamental human right. At present this right is laid down in numerous international treaties on human rights, as well as in the Statutes of international courts. The notion and purpose of appellate proceedings vary in national systems. Subject to a number of specifications and exceptions, in civil law countries, that is countries of Romano-Germanic legal tradition, these proceedings amount largely to a retrial by a court of appeal. In contrast, in most common law countries appellate proceedings do not lead to a retrial. Appeals courts, which do not have any jury, do not review facts, but decide on the basis of the trial record. In international criminal proceedings neither the common law system nor the civil law model have been upheld. Rather, a mixed system has been accepted, which is discussed in this chapter.
Chapter
Although a large percentage of civil cases are settled well in advance of trial, it remains important for legal representatives look to the possibility of running a case to trial. This chapter focuses on fast-track and multi-track cases that proceed to trial. It covers professional conduct issues; procedural and administrative preparation for trial; the day of the trial; judgment and appeals. It also discusses settlement without trial.
Chapter
This chapter deals with international criminal procedure, focusing on the International Criminal Court (ICC). It first introduces international criminal procedure and the various parties involved in the process (judges, prosecutors, suspects or accused persons, and witnesses and victims). It then examines the pre-trial phase of proceedings, including criminal investigation, the decision to prosecute, and the role of the document specifying the charges (called an ‘indictment’ by some courts and national systems). Next, the chapter provides an overview of the trial phase and examines the role of guilty pleas, evidence (and its pre-trial disclosure), and the conduct of trial proceedings.
Chapter
This chapter explains what happens once a person has been charged with a criminal offence. Whether a case remains in the magistrates’ court or is sent to the Crown Court depends on whether the offence is ‘summary only’, ‘indictable only’, or ‘triable either way’. Summary trial takes place before a district judge or bench of lay justices in the magistrates’ court. Trial on indictment takes place before a jury in the Crown Court. An offence that is triable either way may be allocated to the Crown Court or, if it is suitable for summary trial, the defendant may nevertheless choose Crown Court trial. Criminal proceedings are governed by the Criminal Procedure Rules (CrimPR), whose overriding objective is to deal with cases justly, including acquitting the innocent and convicting the guilty. The chapter considers those parts of the CrimPR that set out the steps to be taken before a trial in both the magistrates’ court and the Crown Court, including decisions relating to bail. It also explores key evidential and procedural rules that apply at trial, such as rules governing the disclosure of material in the possession of the prosecution and the rule that the prosecution bears the burden of proving a defendant’s guilt beyond reasonable doubt.
Chapter
This chapter explains what happens once a person has been charged with a criminal offence. Whether a case remains in the magistrates’ court or is sent to the Crown Court depends on whether the offence is ‘summary only’, ‘indictable only’, or ‘triable either way’. Summary trial takes place before a district judge or bench of lay justices in the magistrates’ court. Trial on indictment takes place before a jury in the Crown Court. Criminal proceedings are governed by the Criminal Procedure Rules (CrimPR). The overriding objective is to deal with cases justly, including acquitting the innocent and convicting the guilty. The chapter considers those parts of the CrimPR that set out the steps to be taken before a trial in both the magistrates’ court and the Crown Court. It explores key evidential and procedural rules that apply at trial, such as the rule that the prosecution must prove a defendant’s guilt beyond reasonable doubt.
Chapter
Antonio Cassese, Paola Gaeta, Laurel Baig, Mary Fan, Christopher Gosnell, and Alex Whiting
This chapter begins with a comparison of the inquisitorial and adversarial systems of criminal procedure. It then discusses trial proceedings; appellate proceedings; and the adoption of the adversarial model at the international level.
Chapter
This chapter focuses on the criminal trial itself which is the focal point of criminal procedure. The rules governing trials therefore shape the decisions made by the police and prosecutors. The trial remains important because defendants’ decisions on whether or not to plead guilty are often informed by what they believe to be the probability of conviction. The chapter considers the courtroom processes and raises questions about the roles of judge and jury. The chapter also discusses the modes of trial; the Crown Court trial; and confrontation and the protection of witnesses all of which are closely connected to issues of procedural fairness.
Chapter
Cases can readily be won or lost on the strength of witness evidence at trial. Important applications may fail if a witness statement does not adequately deal with all of the issues. A legal representative, therefore, must understand both the underlying theory behind the use of witness evidence and documentation during the course of litigation, including the rules on hearsay, and the practical requirements and challenges encountered in the preparation of witness statements. This chapter discusses the use of evidence at trial; the preparation of witness statements for interim applications and at trial; the use of hearsay in civil cases; and evidential tools.
Chapter
This chapter provides an overview of the main stages of the litigation process. It first describes the Civil Procedure Rules 1998 and the accompanying Practice Directions, which provide a basis for civil litigation, as well as the adversarial approach and the right to a fair trial. It then explains the various stages of the litigation process, beginning with the pre-action stage, which involves gathering appropriate information, evaluating the case, taking key decisions about framing the case, and building a working relationship with the other side. This is followed by discussions on starting an action; statements of case (i.e. defining the parties, the issues between the parties, and remedies sought); interim stages and case management; options for interrupting or ending litigation; preparations for trial; trial and judgment; and cases with an international element.
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