Introducing the District Court

Abstract

Chapter 1 introduces the Irish District Court as the lowest yet busiest court in the ordinary courts system, examining the type of crime it deals with and the extent of its criminal jurisdiction in terms of offences and sanctions. It then moves onto to look at the nature of proceedings, how offences are processed and at the characteristics of some of the main participants (notably the prosecution, judge and defendant). Finally, it explores the legal process in terms of legal language and courtroom discourse on the basis that the District Court is a predominantly verbal arena.