Courts of Northern Ireland
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Belfast Agreement (1998) |
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The Courts of Northern Ireland are the civil and criminal courts responsible for the administration of justice in Northern Ireland; they are constituted and governed by Northern Ireland law.
The United Kingdom does not have a single unified judicial system — England and Wales have one system, Scotland another, and Northern Ireland a third. There are exceptions to this rule, for example in immigration law, the Asylum and Immigration Tribunal's jurisdiction covers the whole of the United Kingdom, while in employment law there is a single system of Employment Tribunals for England, Wales, and Scotland (but not Northern Ireland).
In order to overcome problems resulting from the intimidation of jurors and witnesses, the right to a jury trial in Northern Ireland was suspended for certain terrorist offences in 1972, and the so-called "Diplock courts" were introduced to try people charged with paramilitary activities.
Administration of the Courts is the responsibility of the Northern Ireland Court Service.
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[edit] House of Lords
The House of Lords is the highest court of appeal in Northern Ireland. In practice, only the Law Lords hear the appeals. It was abolished by the Supreme Court of Judicature Act 1873, but an election was held before the act came into force, and the new Parliament passed the Supreme Court of Judicature Act 1875 which amended the first Act to preserve the House of Lords' judicial function. The Constitutional Reform Act 2005 will transfer these functions to the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom.
[edit] Court of Appeal
The next highest Court is the Court of Appeal which hears appeals from the Crown Court, High Court, county courts, courts of summary jurisdiction and tribunals.
[edit] High Court
The High Court of Northern Ireland is, like its English equivalent, split into three divisions: Queen's Bench Division, Family Division and Chancery Division. The High Court is located in the Royal Courts of Justice, Belfast.
[edit] Subordinate courts
Below the High Court are county courts (including small claims court, district judges’ court and family care centres), Crown Court for criminal cases, courts of summary jurisdiction (including domestic proceedings courts and family proceeding courts) and Tribunals.
