上述兩者均是英國(guó)England和Wales地區(qū)審理刑事案件的法院。一般說來，凡是案情較輕微，屬于summary offenses的犯罪僅可在magistrate's court ( “治安法院”）中審理[1]。而案情嚴(yán)重，須經(jīng)indictment予以起訴之案件則只能在Crown court ( “刑事法院”）中審理[2] (因Crown Court也作初審法院審理案件, 故筆者認(rèn)為有人將其譯為“刑事上訴法院”的翻譯不甚妥當(dāng)）。此外大量的案件，如theft及多數(shù)burglaries等犯罪，則屬于“triable either way”，即“兩種法院均可審理”之案件。此時(shí)， 被告既可選擇接受Crown Court中由一名法官和陪審團(tuán)進(jìn)行的審判，其也選擇在magistrate's court審理。但治安法官則可作出“此案因過于嚴(yán)重而應(yīng)移送到Crown Court予以審理之裁定”（the magistrate may decided that the case is so serious that it should be committed to the Crown Court for trial)。
[1]“The magistrate's court bears cases of petty crime. ”Cf. P, H. Collin, Dictionary of Law, 2nd edition，at p. 333, Peter Collin Publishing Ltd. (1993).
[2] "A Crown Court is formed of a circuit judge and jury, and bears major criminal cases. ” Id. at p. 147. “An English court having jurisdiction over major criminal cases. ” Cf. Bryan A. Gamer, Black's Law Dictionary, 7th edition, at p. 384, West Group (1999).