<P> Until unification in 2014, county courts were local courts in the sense that each one has an area over which certain kinds of jurisdiction, for example, proceedings for possession of land had to be started in the county court in whose district the property lay, but in general any county court in England and Wales could hear any action and claims were frequently transferred from court to court . </P> <P> The Family Court is a national Court and has jurisdiction to hear all Family cases in England and Wales . Local jurisdictional boundaries have disappeared and there is only one single jurisdiction for all family proceedings . The Family Court sits at many locations in England and Wales, and it usually sits at the County Courts and Magistrates Courts where family work was previously heard by county courts or family proceedings courts . Family Court judges are now more categories of judges who will be eligible to hear family cases including lay magistrates, district judges, circuit judges, and High Court judges from the Family Division . </P> <P> Magistrates' courts are the criminal court where all criminal proceedings start . They are presided over by a bench of lay magistrates (a.k.a. justices of the peace), or a legally trained district judge (formerly known as a stipendiary magistrate), sitting in each local justice area . There are no juries . They have jurisdiction to hear minor criminal cases, as well as certain licensing appeals . Youth courts are run on similar lines to adult magistrates' courts but deal with offenders aged between the ages of ten and seventeen inclusive . Youth courts are presided over by a specially trained subset of experienced adult magistrates or a district judge . Youth magistrates have a wider catalogue of disposals available to them for dealing with young offenders and often hear more serious cases against youths (which for adults would normally be dealt with by the Crown Court). Youth courts are not open to the public for observation, only the parties involved in a case being admitted . </P> <P> Prior to the enactment of the Crime and Courts Act 2013, some magistrates' courts were also a family proceedings court and heard Family law cases including care cases and they had the power to make adoption orders . Family cases are no longer heard by the Magistrates' courts, instead being heard by the single Family Court established by the 2013 Act . </P>

Which court deals with minor criminal cases in england wales and northern ireland