Not to be confused with formal proceedings of so-called Summary judgment

Summary judgment

In law, a summary judgment is a determination made by a court without a full trial. Such a judgment may be issued as to the merits of an entire case, or of specific issues in that case....

 (e.g. in United States courts, for civil matters where there is no dispute of material fact).

Summary justice refers to the trial and punishment of suspected offenders without recourse to a more formal and protracted trial (for example a jury trial

Jury trial

A jury trial is a legal proceeding in which a jury either makes a decision or makes findings of fact which are then applied by a judge...

) under the legal system. It is also a term sometimes used to describe or justify vigilantism

Vigilante

A vigilante is a private individual who legally or illegally punishes an alleged lawbreaker, or participates in a group which metes out extralegal punishment to an alleged lawbreaker....

.

Vigilantism

Outside the pursuit of the formal legal order, the term is sometimes applied to punishments awarded by unauthorized persons or groups (e.g., rebels or insurgents

Insurgency

An insurgency is an armed rebellion against a constituted authority when those taking part in the rebellion are not recognized as belligerents...

, etc.). Such groups and vigilantes feel it is a vital weapon to uphold a specific social order.

Completely extra-legal 'justice' is called vigilante

Vigilante

A vigilante is a private individual who legally or illegally punishes an alleged lawbreaker, or participates in a group which metes out extralegal punishment to an alleged lawbreaker....

 justice. The extreme, though the word is sometimes used by exaggeration for milder cases, is the Lynch mob or posse

Posse comitatus (common law)

Posse comitatus or sheriff's posse is the common-law or statute law authority of a county sheriff or other law officer to conscript any able-bodied males to assist him in keeping the peace or to pursue and arrest a felon, similar to the concept of the "hue and cry"...

, which executes a suspect without having any legal authority to judge at all.

Emergency measures

However, even the legal authorities themselves sometimes have recourse, especially if the legal and political system are weak on checks and balances, to 'special courts', especially in regions and periods of increased insecurity, either in a legally-controlled manner (emergency legislation, martial law

Martial law

Martial law is the imposition of military rule by military authorities over designated regions on an emergency basis— only temporary—when the civilian government or civilian authorities fail to function effectively , when there are extensive riots and protests, or when the disobedience of the law...

) or improvised, as sometimes occurs in wartime or political power struggle.

Summary jurisdiction in England and Wales

In England and Wales summary justice also refers to the system for trying and punishing offenders in the magistrates' court

Magistrates' Court

A magistrates' court or court of petty sessions, formerly known as a police court, is the lowest level of court in England and Wales and many other common law jurisdictions...

s.

For the purposes of jurisdiction, crimes are divided into 3 groups:

• Serious crimes must be heard in the Crown Court
  Crown Court
  The Crown Court of England and Wales is, together with the High Court of Justice and the Court of Appeal, one of the constituent parts of the Senior Courts of England and Wales...
  
  , tried before judge
  Judge
  A judge is a person who presides over court proceedings, either alone or as part of a panel of judges. The powers, functions, method of appointment, discipline, and training of judges vary widely across different jurisdictions. The judge is supposed to conduct the trial impartially and in an open...
  
   and a jury
  Jury
  A jury is a sworn body of people convened to render an impartial verdict officially submitted to them by a court, or to set a penalty or judgment. Modern juries tend to be found in courts to ascertain the guilt, or lack thereof, in a crime. In Anglophone jurisdictions, the verdict may be guilty,...
  
  . They are known as indictable-only offences.
• Lesser crimes or summary offences (punishable by no more than six month's imprisonment in the case of an adult) can be heard by two or more lay magistrates (or a legally qualified district judge) sitting without a jury. 95 percent of criminal cases in England and Wales are heard like this. The Crown Court may then hear an appeal
  Appeal
  An appeal is a petition for review of a case that has been decided by a court of law. The petition is made to a higher court for the purpose of overturning the lower court's decision....
  
   against conviction or sentence. For this purpose the Crown Court does not include a jury, but consists of a Crown Court judge and two lay magistrates (who must not be the same magistrates who originally heard the case). The Crown Court does not examine the original decision but simply rehears the case
  De novo
  In general usage, de novo is a Latin expression meaning "from the beginning," "afresh," "anew," "beginning again." It is used in:* De novo transcriptome assembly, the method of creating a transcriptome without a reference genome...
  
  .
• The third group can be tried before either court, and so are called either-way offences. If the defendant pleads not guilty (or does not plead) then he is asked to choose which court he wants to be tried in. However if a summary court thinks an offender deserves more punishment than it is allowed to impose, crimes in this group can be referred to the Crown Court for trial and sentence. If the defendant pleads guilty then he can be sentenced in either court.

Generally juveniles are always tried summarily even if the maximum sentence is higher than six months, unless the crime is particularly serious or they are jointly charged with an adult. When tried summarily the maximum sentence is two years.

See also