Special Types of Practice: Court Trials & Appeal Courts - Guides
Court Trials & Appeal Courts
11. Judgement
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Last updated: 18 Jul 2015
- Once the closing addresses are complete the evidence must be considered by the decision maker. This will be either the judge or jury.
- If it is a criminal trial before a jury an adjournment will be called and the jury will leave the courtroom to consider all of the evidence and try to reach a verdict. If it is a trial before a judge alone the judge will adjourn the case to consider the evidence before making a decision.
- It is then for the judge or jury to decide whether the prosecution’s case has been proven ‘beyond a reasonable doubt’ in the case of a criminal trial or if the plaintiff’s case has been proven ‘on the balance of probabilities’ in a civil trial.
- When the judge or jury has made a decision it will be given in court.
- When a jury has reached its verdict they return to deliver the verdict through their foreperson who speaks on behalf of them all. The decision must be unanimous which means that all twelve jurors have the same opinion.
- If a unanimous decision is not reached the jury will be asked by the judge to go back and try again.
- In all states and territories except for the ACT a majority verdict of either 11:1, 10:1 or 9:1 depending on the state or territory will be accepted after a certain number of hours if a unanimous decision cannot be reached. The exception is when the defendant is on trial for murder or treason in which case only a unanimous verdict will be sufficient for conviction.
- If the jury decides they cannot agree on a majority verdict and declare that extra time will not change this then the jury may be discharged and a new trial may be held. This is called a ‘hung jury’.
- If the charge in a criminal trial has been proven the judge may convict the defendant and impose a penalty. As well as ordering cost penalties the defendant may also be ordered to pay the costs of the trial for example witness fees.
- The case may be adjourned to another date for the judge to consider what decision, penalty or sentence should be given. If the offence is serious the defendant may have their bail revoked and be kept in custody to await sentence.
- If the prosecution is unsuccessful the case will be dismissed and the defendant can ask for the prosecution to be ordered to pay costs. The defendant is discharged and free to go.
- At the end of a civil trial once the trial has finished the judge will review all of the evidence and make their decision usually after an adjournment to give the judge time to go carefully through all of the evidence and come to a decision.
- Whoever receives judgment in their favour has ‘won’ the civil case. In debt matters the judgment may be for the entire debt or for part of it.
- If you sought an action from the other party the court will determine what the other party must do.
- A judgment in your favour at the end of a civil trial means your claim has been successful. If your claim was for money then the judgment means that you are owed this money (now called a judgment debt) and that it must be paid by the defendant.
- A successful party can ask the judge to order that the other side pays their legal fees or out of pocket expenses. What you can ask for may vary between different states and territories. The judge decides whether to order such costs and how much should be paid.
- In NSW if the judge does order costs to be paid this is unlikely to cover the whole amount of your legal fees. There is a difference between:
- solicitor and client costs which is the amount you lawyer charged you for the litigation including barrister’s fees if applicable; and
- party/party costs which is the amount that an unsuccessful party may be liable to pay.
- Party/party costs are either an amount agreed between the lawyers or if no agreement can be reached an amount determined by a costs assessor of what it is fair and reasonable to make the other party pay.
- You will still need to pay any difference between the award of costs in your favour and the full amount of your lawyer’s invoice.
- In some extreme cases if the other party has been extremely uncooperative or brought a claim with no chance of success it is possible for the judge to order that they pay all of your legal costs. This is known as indemnity costs.
- A judgment in a civil trial does not guarantee that the debt will be paid and it is up to the plaintiff to enforce the judgment through a separate post-trial process. Even with judgment in your favour you cannot force someone to pay if they do not have the money. However there are a wide range of avenues you can take in order to enforce the debt. You can read more about these in our topic on Debt Collection.
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