HM Courts and Tribunals Service
1 Contributions by HM Courts and Tribunals Service Experts
PRACTICE NOTES
Complaint proceedings underpin the civil jurisdiction of magistrates’ courts. They are adversarial and, at their inception, were almost indistinguishable from criminal cases, commonly started by an information. Criminal procedure has been revised repeatedly over the years, whereas civil procedure has altered far less. Even so, the kinship means many rules on informations still bear on complaints.
enforcement of civil financial liabilities, including council tax, rates and child maintenance
appeals against decisions of other bodies, for example licensing decisions or certain decisions of public authorities or regulators
police forces seeking civil behaviour orders, such as sexual harm prevention orders, football banning orders and domestic violence protection orders/domestic abuse prevention orders
The basis of proceedings on complaint in the magistrates’ court
Magistrates’ courts are statutory creations and hold no inherent jurisdiction. Proceedings for an order on complaint are governed by the statute that creates the order and by sections 51–64 of the
Corporate Crime
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