Lay Magistrates In The Legal System Of England And Wales

The Magistrates’ role was to hear the evidence of distinct cases, criminal or civil matters and decide whether the accused is guilty or not guilty to an offence as charged and decide the penalty that will be given to those that are found guilty or plead guilty to an offence. Moreover, the Magistrate determined whether a case should go to a different court or to adjourn the case to another date.

Lay people are people who don’t get paid and who are not qualified; they are volunteer’s, lay people in the law are the magistrate and the jury and I will be explaining their role and the advantages and disadvantages of having lay people get involved with the legal system.

Lay magistrates are people that deal with the vast majority of legal cases in the courts. They sit on a bench of two to three magistrates. They are part-time and unpaid, and also unqualified. They have to be aged between 18- 65 and sit 26 and a half days per year. You are unable to become a lay magistrate if you have a serious criminal conviction, undischarged bankruptcy and a member of the police or a

Lay people are extremely useful individuals within the civil and criminal courts within the English legal system. The most influential lay people are the Lay Magistrates and the Jury who have important roles with the legal system. Magistrates usually deal with most cases that are heard within the criminal system. They are the decision makers as to guilt or innocence making 97-99% of all cases while on the other hand 1% of cases are heard with a jury present. This shows us that those that are not legally qualified make most decisions regarding the criminal justice system, which means that they are ordinary people who hail

Throughout the United Kingdom Lay Magistrates are used within our courts and legal system in relation to sentencing criminals. They work within the Magistrates court dealing with summary offences, triable-either way offences and they also deal with starting off indictable offences which will then be sentenced in the Crown Court. Lay Magistrates come from local areas and when appearing at a court they would usually gather three Lay Magistrates. This is in order for the Lay Magistrates to come together in relation to making a final decision, towards making their final decision they are able to receive guidance from the court clerk

Merit –compare and contrast the role of judges ,lawyers and lay people within the English courts.

Judge Dee was considered the “Father and Mother Official.” Magistrates function as a judge, jury, prosecutor, and detective. He was the highest power in his district and was in charge of many things. He was in charge of the town, land administration, the tribunal, the bureau for the collection of taxes, the register office, and the public order in the district. Magistrates had to have great moral strength, intellectual power, and refined literati also trained on Chinese letter and arts. Without any of these skills, the magistrate would have failed his job. He would have barely gained any support since these skills were signs of a good leader. The Magistrates were almost miniature monarchs of their own lands. Even though whatever they say is not law, they are able to convict and torture people until they listen. Judge Dee took everything under his control form the detective work to sentences. He used lieutenants and constables to help out, but most work was done single-handedly. No one else I the district has more power than him. A few magistrates in the book even had their own private army for example; the magistrate in Turnip Pass had a garrison to protect the area from criminals. Magistrates are supposed to be truth-seeking men. Judge Dee is obviously truth seeking because he tries to see why the husband died in “The Strange Corpse” even though no one filed a complaint, he did this for righteousness, which is looked for in

For this criteria I will be producing a written evaluation of the effectiveness of magistrates and juries in the administration of justice in the English legal system.

On observing the District Court a number of distinctions from the Local Courts were immediately made apparent. Without going in to detail about the actual structure of the courts, they seemed to fit more closely with the traditional schema of a typical courtroom. In particular the larger courtrooms with more facilities combined with the barristers and magistrates wearing their wig and robes seemed to instantly uphold the ideology of justice. It is interesting to note how appearances can automatically provide an impression that justice will be upheld. The

Is our NSW court system effective? It is if you have money. Is it something that we can just adhere to with out ever allowing it to adapt and evolve to meet societies needs? Absolutely not. Just like humanity, the NSW court system contains protruding faults that are made apparent with further scrutiny. The court system is something that requires our constant attention and support to improve and advance. In order for the court system to attain eligibility it relies heavily on 4 fundamental components; affordability, simplicity, fairness and accessibility. For countless Australians our legal system is lacking on all these fronts.

Acting as a legal practitioner is considered a “great privilege” and “offers the opportunity to serve the community in a profoundly important way.” Lawyer’s roles as officers of the Court and administrators of justice give them a monopoly on the delivery of counselling and representation services. In order to “maintain their capacity to serve the community” , legal practitioners must accept that they are

Lay magistrates are otherwise known as Justices of the Peace. Lay magistrates work is mainly connected to criminal cases although they also deal with some civil matters, especially family cases. Firstly, it is to be noted that lay magistrates only perform their duties

The role of a lay magistrate is one that is at the core of the legal system in England & Wales. They help maintain the foundation of the criminal justice system and deal with approximately 98% of all criminal matters. The sheer volume of cases that they deal with has helped earned them the title of the workhorses of the criminal justice system.

Magistrates hear a broad range of different cases meaning that they can help with most issues and cases. Magistrates usually only receive expenses which saves the legal system hundreds of millions of pounds every year. Members of the community are able to participate in the administration of justice which promotes the idea of an open system. The public have trust and confidence in Magistrates as they are not professional members of the criminal justice system.

The Magistrate was the key point of intersection between the Government and the people (von Sivers, Desnoyers, and Stow 362). The position brought a lot of responsibilities, with magistrates having charge of about 100,000 people in rural areas and up to 250,000 in urban areas (von Sivers, Desnoyers, and Stow 363). The Magistrate was described as the “Father and Mother of the People” because their responsibilities encompassed a myriad of responsibilities (von Sivers, Desnoyers, and Stow 363). The Scholar Gentry were at the top of the local structures of power and influence (von Sivers, Desnoyers, and Stow 363). Although membership was technically open to all males and females only about 1-2 of the population of a given area were in members of