- Case Stated
Case Stated is legal function available in
England and Wales to review amagistrates' court decision on a point of law. Any person who is party to proceedings before a magistrates' court may question the proceedings on the basis that the justices' erred in law. The application to state a case must be made within 21 days to the appropriate magistrates' court. The decision as to whether to state a case is made by the Justices orDistrict Judge who can allow or refuse the application. If the application is granted the matter is referred to the High Court in the form of questions for thejudge to determine. This usually takes the form "were we/was I correct to..." and then the specified aspect of law to which the appeal relates. If the application to state a case is refused the applicant could seek redress byjudicial review . The High Court will determine whether or not the law was correctly applied. If the appeal is upheld the High Court will refer the case back to the appropriate magistrates' court with directions to correct its decision. Otherwise the appeal would be dismissed.If an appeal has gone initially from the magistrates' court to the
Crown Court the power to case state any legal decisions taken by the Crown Court arises. There is, however, no power to case state any cases dealt with by the Crown Court after committal or sending for trial, transfer or committal for sentence.An application for the court to state a case cannot be made until the court is "
functus officio ".
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