Court Hierarchy

CHILDRENS COURTBy NJ, JH, HP

Structure

The children's courts sits at the bottom of the court hierarchy alongside the local court.

There is one judge, magistrates

there are no public members allowed inside and there is also no jury.

Personnel

Judges and Magistrates wear black robes but no wigs.

There are no Juries in the Children’s Court.

Court is closed to general public.

CCAS are the Children’s Court Assistance Scheme workers volunteer to come to court and help by assisting you.

Sheriff, Police Officers that are often called as witnesses.

Defendant, Solicitor and People that are relatives to be there for support.

Jurisdiction

❏ The Children's Court has jurisdiction to hear and determine proceedings in respect of any offence, other than serious children's indictable offences and certain traffic offences.

❏ The court hears proceedings in respect any indictable offence This mainly includes a serious children’s indictable offence like homicide and armed robbery which could see the child face more than 25 years imprisonment.

❏ Whereas, if you receive a traffic it must occur out of the same circumstances as another offence that is alleged to have been committed by the person which is being dealt with by the Children's Court.

❏ If the offence is alleged to have been committed by a person who is either a child when he/she committed the offence or if the child was under the age 21 years.

Examples & location

2 George St, Parramatta NSW 2150 Parramatta Children's Court, Address

This is the main Children's court in NSW

Coroner’s Court By Adem, Milan & Max

Structure Hierarchy:

The Coroner's Court is in the state stream of the Australian court hierarchy, and its operation is defined by state legislation.

Personnel Coroners in Australia are lawyers and nowadays are mostly judicial officers.

Important people in Coroner’s Court: Must be a magistrate, elected by the governor of NSW

- State Coroner

Oversee the court and coronial services, as well as investigate the issue

- Deputy State Coroner

- People involved with the incident

Jurisdiction/Cases heard at this court The State Coroner ensures that all deaths, suspected deaths, fires and explosions are properly investigated and they also hold jurisdiction over the remains of a body.

Locations in NSWThe Coroner’s court of NSW is located on Parramatta Road in Glebe.

Local Court

By Zack Ball, Ben Robson, Harrison Conyngham

Structure of Court Local courts are the 1st Tier of the Court structure. They are the lowest criminal courts and have little power. Defects all highly serious cases to the district court. This court has no judge or jury and all matters are heard by a Magistrate who hands down the final judgement.

Personnel in court- Prosecution, Defence, Magistrate, Witnesses, Court Officers, General Public/Media, Police and Assistant lawyers (Both sides)

- The Local Court of New South Wales is the lowest court in the judicial hierarchy of the state of New South Wales and of Australia.

- Which means it requires significantly less personnel as they mainly deal with petty crimes

Jurisdiction of the CourtHears petty crimes that are both Civil and Criminal:

- Monetary claims (up to $100,000)

- Mental Health Issues

- Family law/Child care

- First stage of lesser criminal hearings (Stealing, Speeding, Drug abuse etc.)

- Licensing issues that are less than $100,000

- Industrial and mining matters

- Children and coroner courts are subsections of the local court

- Hands out punishments of Jail, Community Service, Fines and forceful Rehabilitation programs

- Cannot sentence anyone to over 2 years for one crime or over 5 years for a multiple of crimes

Examples/LocationsWaverly Court in Sydney: Sydney Central local Court: (151 Bronte Rd, Waverley NSW 2024) (98 Liverpool St, Sydney NSW 2000)

The District Court

What is the District Court?The District Court of NSW is the intermediate court (the middle court on the hierarchy) of the NSW state courts.

There are full time sittings at the CBD of Sydney, Parramatta, Penrith, Campbelltown, Newcastle, Gosford, Wollongong and Lismore.

Personnel in CourtThe Personnel in a district court are as followed

The accused

The judge

The judge’s associate

Crown prosecutor and a legal clerk

Defence lawyers

The Jury

The bailiff

Court reporters

Witnesses

Jurisdiction of Court-The District Court deals with all crimes with the exception of murder, treason and piracy.

-The court also deals with all motor accident cases and money claimed up to the amount of $750,000.

-The court is also allowed to deal with family and compensation issues.

The District CourtsThe chief Justice of the NSW District Court is Derek Michael Price.The district court can sit at a number of locations including Campbelltown, the CBD, Parramatta, Penrith and Wollongong.

Supreme Court

Structure of Court

- Second highest court in court hierarchy

- The Supreme Court is the highest in NSW and deals with the most serious criminal

- The Supreme Court also deals with appeals from the two lower courts.

Personnel of Court (Roles)

Accused

Associate judge

Barrister

Bench Clerk

Defence Solicitor or duty solicitor

Informant

Judge

Magistrate

Plaintiff, Complainant or applicant

Prosecutor

Registrar

Respondent

Tipstaff

● The supreme Court has both original and appellate jurisdiction.

● The court has original jurisdiction over cases involving two or more states and all cases brought against ambassadors or other public ministers.

● Most cases heard by only the court are appeals cases. The court hears only one to two cases per year.

Jurisdiction of the supreme court

Examples/Locations in NSWLaw Courts Building, 184 Phillip St, Sydney NSW 2000