High Court – Oberster Gerichtshof?

BBC News:

bq. A High Court judge in London has reserved his ruling on a case that could lead to Bernie Ecclestone losing control of Formula One racing.

F1Total.com-News (Werbespruch: Enjoy our fast world…):

bq. Der Oberste Gerichtshof in London hat heute die Entscheidung im Rechtsstreit zwischen drei Banken und Bernie Ecclestone zunächst auf einen späteren Zeitpunkt vertagt.

Something went wrong there. The High Court, one judge sitting, is similar to the German Landgericht, the court of first instance that deals with more expensive or more serious matters at first instance.

Die Welt:

bq. Auch wenn die Verhandlungen vor dem Londoner Gerichtshof gerade noch einmal um einige Tage verschoben wurden, ist Ecclestones Lebenswerk wohl in Gefahr.

In a comment to an earlier entry, I wrote that I think Gerichtshof traditionally means any court with Kollegialgerichte (panels) as opposed to Einzelrichter (judges sitting alone), and remains for the highest courts. Another commenter felt the word was appropriate for the buildings of the High Court in London – but then, those buildings also contain the Court of appeal.

Dictionaries suggest Oberstes Zivilgericht. Does that make a person think of Landgericht as opposed to Amtsgericht? Why not just der/das High Court? or just erstinstanzliches Gericht? Note that newspapers in the USA sometimes call the Supreme Court the High Court, especially to save space in headlines, I imagine.

(Via Handakte WebLAWg)

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