In civil law court cases, the court in which the case is first heard is known as the court of first instance. Depending on how much money the claimant is holding the defendant liable for will determine the track the case will be put in to.

The tracking system was introduced by Lord Woolf in order to make the court process more efficient. There are three main tracks used in the civil law procedure. The first track is known as the small claims track in which the claimant is asking for an amount of money below the cost of £5000, and for an amount below £1000 if it is a personal injury or housing claim. Although small claims have been given a track, cases involving these claims aren’t conducted as full trials in the court of law.

The second tracking system is known as the Fast-track. Fast track claims are worth £5000 - £25,000 and to be held over a period of 30 weeks, and the actual court date to be done within one day due to the long procedure building up to court date. The introduction of a protocol by Lord Woolf allowed both parties to communicate before the trial and obtain information to see if a settlement could be reached outside of the courts in order to help the courts.

The final tracking system is known as the multi track for cases above the value of £25,000. These are similar to fast track cases, although they are not given a trial deadline as they deal with more serious matters.

The High Court is the civil court of first instance for cases involving more than £25,000. The High court also acts as an appeal court for cases heard on courts lower down the hierarchy, such as County court or small claims court. Within the High courts there are three divisions, the Queens bench, the Chancery division and the Family division. Each division specialises in a different area of problems. Juries used to sit in civil cases however it has become a rarity over