Unit 1: Criminal law, Result 3: Research assignment at the magistrates' court1. Define key legal terminology such as court hierarchy, jurisdiction, and court staffing. Court Hierarchy A court hierarchy is a structure or/or ranking order of courts within a state or country. The hierarchy of courts allows each court to deal with specific types of cases depending on the severity of the crime and the jurisdiction of the court. Therefore, courts dealing with more serious crimes would be found higher in the court hierarchy than courts dealing with less serious crimes. In Victoria, the Supreme Court is the apex of the state justice system, with the county court and magistrates' court below. JurisdictionJurisdiction is the authority given to a court to hear criminal/civil matters. Jurisdiction may be limited/extended by certain factors including, but not limited to, case types, geographic location and monetary limitations. Court staff------------------------ --------------------------- ----------------------- --------------------------- ----------------------- -----------------------2. Reasons for a hierarchy of courts? There are several reasons why the existence of a hierarchy of courts is beneficial to the Victorian justice system. These include: Specialization: Courts are ranked in order of importance based on the types of cases they are most likely to hear. Therefore, because the Supreme Court deals with serious indictable offenses involving, but not limited to, murder and treason, it sits above the county court, which hears all indictable offenses not related to murder. The Magistrates Court examines all summary offenses and issues referrals for indictable offences. In theory, a theft charge could be heard in the Supreme Court, but would be... middle of paper... out on bail, pending an appeal date. Criminal charge: theft and fraud; 140 counts (18 February 2014) Penalty: Subject to appeal: 12 months custody, with 9 months suspended for 2 years (25 March 2014) Criminal status: Bail granted pending outcome of appeal against conviction and the sentence (25 March 2014) Conviction: Subject of appeal: Theft and fraud; 65 charges (March 25, 2014)------------------------------------------ --------- ----------------------------------------- --------- ----------------------------------------- --------- -10. Bibliography http://www.magistratescourt.vic.gov.au http://www.justice.vic.gov.au http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Department_of_Justice_(Victoria) http://en.wikipedia .org/ wiki/Magistrates'_Court_of_Victoriahttp://svc114.wic016v.server-web.comKey concepts in VCE Legal Studies Units 1+ 3Sam Richards