Case stated and residual judicial review

A. Case stated: law or jurisdiction

An appeal by case statedGlossary termAppeal by case stated asks the lower court to set out the material facts, its decision and the legal question for the High Court to determine. Under Magistrates’ Courts Act 1980 section 111(1), a party to the proceedings, or a person aggrieved by the conviction, order, determination or other proceeding, may apply on the ground that the decision is wrong in law or in excess of jurisdiction. This can include a prosecution challenge; it is not exclusively a defendant’s route.

Identify a legal question, not a demand for a new witness assessment. A wrong interpretation of a statute, use of the wrong burden, or exercise of a power the court did not possess fits the route. A finding for which there was no evidence, or which was not reasonably open on the evidence, can itself raise a legal question. CrimPR 35.3(4)(d) expressly provides for the relevant evidence to be stated where that issue is raised. That does not allow every ordinary credibility disagreement to be relabelled an error of law.

Apply to the magistrates’ court within 21 calendar days after the relevant decision. Under section 111(3), where the trial was adjourned after conviction for sentence or another disposal, the relevant date is the later disposal date. Thus the trigger can differ from the Crown Court conviction-appeal clock discussed above. This statutory application period cannot be extended or shortened by the rules: CrimPR 35.2 and 35.5. The application must identify the decision, the proposed question or questions and the grounds; serve it as Part 35 requires on the court officer and the other parties.

No separate appellate permission, but a case must be stated. Under section 111(5), the magistrates may refuse a frivolous application; they must not refuse an application made by or under the Attorney General’s direction. If they refuse, section 111(6) permits an application to the High Court for an order requiring a case to be stated. That is a specific response to the refusal, not a fresh right to have the merits reheard. Deal with such a refusal promptly under the applicable High Court procedure.

There are two procedural stages. First, apply in time to the originating court and participate in settling an accurate statement of the case under CrimPR Part 35. Second, start the High Court appeal: Civil Procedure Practice Direction 52E paragraph 2.2 requires the appellant’s notice and the stated case to be filed or lodged within 10 days after the date of the case stated. Do not substitute the date on which it happens to be read. The documents include the challenged decision; where the case comes from a Crown Court magistrates’ appeal, the magistrates’ decision must also be supplied. Paragraph 2.4 requires service on the respondents within four days after filing or lodging; exclude the filing day, Saturdays, Sundays, bank holidays, Christmas Day and Good Friday when calculating that short period under CPR 2.8(2)–(4). The 10-day filing period counts calendar days; for the act at the court office, rule 2.8(5) addresses a last day when that office is closed. The High Court’s general procedural power under CPR 3.1(2)(a) can extend a rules-based filing or service period, including after expiry, subject to any contrary provision; seek that order with reasons rather than assume extra time. The 10-day filing step and that procedural power do not extend the initial statutory 21-day magistrates’ application period.

Under Senior Courts Act 1981 section 28A, the High Court determines the question and may affirm, reverse or amend the determination, or remit the matter to the magistrates’ court with its opinion. It can also require amendment of an inadequate stated case and make appropriate consequential orders, including costs. An error does not invariably mean that the defendant must be acquitted: the remedy depends on what the correct law requires on the facts.

B. Case stated from the Crown Court

Case stated is not confined to magistrates’ courts. Under Senior Courts Act 1981 section 28(1), a party can ask the Crown Court to state a case concerning an order, judgment or other decision alleged to be wrong in law or beyond its jurisdiction. This is particularly important when the Crown Court has heard an appeal from the magistrates’ court. The destination is the High Court, not the Court of Appeal (Criminal Division).

The jurisdictional exclusion matters. Section 28(2)(a) excludes a Crown Court decision relating to trial on indictment. A defendant cannot use case stated to avoid the statutory criminal-appeal route for a jury conviction or a ruling within that trial. Other specific statutory exclusions also remain, and section 28(4) contains a narrow exception concerning specified legal-aid payment decisions. The practical first question is therefore what jurisdiction produced the particular decision, not whether it was signed by a Crown Court judge.

The Crown Court application is due within 21 calendar days after the decision under CrimPR 35.2. Unlike the magistrates’ statutory period, this Crown Court period is governed by the Rules and can be extended under CrimPR 35.5, including after expiry. A late applicant must seek the extension and explain the delay; there is no automatic extra period. The subsequent High Court filing and service stages are the same case-stated stages described above. The High Court’s powers under section 28A apply to cases stated by either originating court.

A Crown Court sentence after a qualifying committal for sentence presents a further distinction: Criminal Appeal Act 1968 section 10 provides a Court of Appeal sentencing route. Do not confuse it with a sentence imposed by the Crown Court on an appeal from the magistrates’ court, which section 10 excludes. Case stated is an available statutory legal-review jurisdiction where its conditions are met, not a reason to ignore an expressly applicable sentence-appeal right.

C. Judicial review: supervisory and residual

Judicial reviewGlossary termJudicial review in criminal proceedings concerns the legality of public decision-making, including jurisdiction, procedural fairness and public-law error. In criminal matters the claim is normally brought in the Administrative Court, part of the High Court’s King’s Bench Division. It is not a third opportunity to have the prosecution witnesses believed or disbelieved. An adequate statutory appeal or case-stated remedy will ordinarily make judicial review inappropriate; the claimant must explain why supervisory intervention is required.

Permission is required under Civil Procedure Rules 54.4. Under rule 54.5, the claim must be filed promptly and in any event within three months after the grounds first arose. These are calendar months, not 90 days. A claim within three months can still be too late because it was not prompt. The parties cannot agree to extend that period; any extension requires the court’s exercise of its powers and a proper explanation. Correspondence about reconsideration should not be assumed to restart the clock.

The High Court must also have jurisdiction. Under Senior Courts Act 1981 section 29(3), its ordinary supervisory powers over the Crown Court do not extend to matters relating to trial on indictment. Calling a complaint “procedural unfairness” does not remove that exclusion. By contrast, Crown Court appellate proceedings from the magistrates’ court can fall within supervisory jurisdiction, although an adequate case-stated route remains an important reason to use that route instead.

Remedies are discretionary. A quashing order sets aside an unlawful decision; a prohibiting order prevents an unlawful step; a mandatory order requires performance of a legal duty. The High Court may remit a matter for lawful redetermination rather than decide guilt itself. The relief sought must match the illegality. For example, being denied a legally required opportunity to make representations may justify setting aside and remitting a reviewable decision, but does not necessarily establish that the substantive allegation is false. See Senior Courts Act 1981 sections 29 and 31 and CPR Part 54.