The quote is one hundred percent correct. The court hierarchy plays a very important role in our society as it provides efficient and effective justice at all levels of the state.”
Court hierarchy is defined as a graded system of both state and federal courts that exist in Australia, in which the courts are arranged in ascending order of authority. Courts having the least authority are at the bottom of the hierarchy, and courts with authority to hear the most important cases are at the top.” The lower courts are known as the Magistrates’ Court or Local Court, followed by the intermediate courts known as the County Court or District Court, with the Supreme Court at the top. The highest court to which any litigant may appeal from either a state or federal court is the High Court of Australia. Each court in the hierarchy has its own boundaries or limits on what sort of cases it can hear.
This is called jurisdiction. The type of case or dispute in which you are involved will determine the court in which the case will be heard. All courts have original jurisdiction, meaning they can hear a case for the first time. Some courts have appellate jurisdiction, which allows them to hear appeals from cases that were first held in lower courts. All courts have civil and criminal jurisdiction, enabling them to hear disputes involving the infringement of people’s rights and cases resulting from police prosecutions for breaking the law.
These jurisdictions provide a fine line as to what powers each court has and where their powers stop, allowing for a more organized, efficient, and effective legal system. Appeals are brought before a court, calling on a higher court to review the decision made in a lower court. These appeals must be granted by the higher court or the trial judge. There are many grounds on which a party may contest a court decision, including appeals on questions of fact or points of law, which must be granted by the higher court or the trial judge.
Appeals create fairness for both the victim and accused. Both parties have the ability to call on the higher court to review the decision made if they found it unjust in any way. This makes the court hierarchy achieve justice at all levels. Precedent is the reasoning underlying a court’s decision. The application of a precedent may be either binding or persuasive in nature. From the time the precedent is set, people involved in similar cases expect that their case will have the same outcome. This works well in court hierarchy, providing the mechanism for decisions made from the higher courts to be binding on the courts lower down the ladder.
Even though the court hierarchy system has been in place for a long time and many people trust it and feel confident in its ability to find truth and justice, there is still some uncertainty. Some advantages of this system include the correction of wrong verdicts, the ability for a case to be heard by more than one judge and jury, the need for judges to be accountable, a more flexible legal system, choices” for plaintiffs and defendants to pursue or accept legal outcomes, and a sense of certainty and equal fairness of representation. Some disadvantages include legal systems dragging on for too long, incentives for solicitors/barristers to earn more money, challenges to the “integrity” of the jury verdict, benefits for the rich who can afford to keep cases going, punishment for victims who must endure re-hearing evidence that may cause distress, and a lack of confidence in the legal system. The court hierarchy is necessary and ensures that justice is achieved at all levels, providing an efficient and effective means of administering our legal system. With such a just and reasonable system playing such a big role in our society, it boosts citizens’ confidence in the country.
