What is the small claims court ?
What exactly is the small claims court? What’s special about it?
When is a Court not a Court?
It may surprise you to learn that there is in fact no such thing as the Small Claims Court! Claims are issued in the County Court and then allocated to the Small Claims Track. However, the term has passed into our vocabulary and although technically incorrect it continues to be used by lawyer's and Judges, as well as the man or woman in the street.
The Small Claims Track
All cases issued in the County Court are allocated to one of three Tracks; the Multi Track, (which is for complex, high value claims), the Fast Track (which most moderate value claims are allocated to), and the Small Claims Track. The two factors which differentiate the Small Claims Track from the others are:-
- It's informal procedure.
- The level of costs that a winning party can recover from the other side.
Informal Procedure
The rules which govern proceedings in the Small Claims Court reflect the fact that it is intended for use by ordinary people who haven't had any legal training. In general procedure is much less formal than other Courts. Judges appreciate that most people using the system will have little or no previous legal knowledge or experience. The system aims to provide people with a quick and efficient means of legal redress the cost of which is kept in proportion to the value of the dispute.
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