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Established in the 14th century, the magistracy is a key part of the judiciary of England and Wales, [6] and it is a role underpinned by the principles of 'justice by one's peers'. [6] Magistrates typically sit as a bench of three, known as a panel, [7] mixed in gender, age and ethnicity where possible, to bring a broad experience of life to ...
All three magistrates contribute equally to the decision-making, and carry equal authority, but the presiding justice will speak on their behalf in open court. [11] The magistracy is an ancient institution, dating in England from at least 1327. The role is underpinned by the principles of "local justice" and "justice by one's peers". [15]
The term magistrate is used in a variety of systems of governments and laws to refer to a civilian officer who administers the law. In ancient Rome, a magistratus was one of the highest ranking government officers, and possessed both judicial and executive powers.
A justices' clerk had the powers of a single magistrate, for example to issue a summons, adjourn proceedings, extend bail, issue a warrant for failing to surrender to bail where there is no objection on behalf of the accused, dismiss an information where no evidence is offered, request a pre-sentence report, commit a defendant for trial without consideration of the evidence and give directions ...
A chief magistrate is a public official, executive or judicial, whose office is the highest in its class. Historically, the two different meanings of magistrate have often overlapped and refer to, as the case may be, to a major political and administrative officer (usually at a subnational or colonial level) or a judge and barrister .
The Supreme Court is independent of the government of the UK, of Parliament, and of the court services of England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. It takes appeals from the Appeals Courts of England and Wales and of Northern Ireland, and Scotland's High Court of the Judiciary (civil cases only [ 31 ] ).
The role of the examining magistrate is important in civil-law jurisdictions such as France, which have an inquisitorial system.In contrast, common-law jurisdictions such as England and the United States have an adversarial system and lack a comparable official.
A key principle of the 1949 Act was that magistrates' courts should operate on a local basis with a large degree of autonomy. However, it left the central issue of accountability unanswered. In 1989, Julian Le Vay, a civil servant, conducted an "Efficiency Scrutiny of the Magistrates' Courts" [3] on the instruction of the Home Secretary. He ...