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Chapter 7: LAY MAGISTRATES

INTRODUCTION:

There is a tradition of using lay people, that is people who are not legally
qualified, in the decision making process in our courts. Today this applies
particularly to the Magistrate Courts and the Crown Court.

There are 2 types of judges who sit in the Magistrate court:-

I. LAY MAGISTRATES
II. DISTRIST MAGISTRATES

LAY MAGISTRATES:

 Lay Magistrates are those judges who have no legal knowledge.

 They are also known as the Justices of the Peace.
 They are part time and unpaid judges who sit in Magistrate court in a
bench of 2 or 3.
 Sometimes they even sit in a Crown court to hear licensing appeals.
 There are over 36000 lay magistrates dealing with 97% of criminal
cases which is why they form the backbone of the Criminal justice
system.
 They are also known as the work horses of the English legal system.

QUALIFICATIONS OF LAY MAGISTRATES:

 They have to be aged between 18 and 70 years and they must live
within 15 miles of the commissioned area as they are paid the travel
expenses to and from the court.
 They sit for 26 half days per year. The local advisory committee
interview’s candidates, whose names are put forward by political
parties or individuals
 Lay magistrates do not have to have any qualifications in law, but they
must possess the 6 qualities which have been set out by Lord
Chancellor:
i. Good character
ii. Understanding and communication
iii. Social awareness
iv. Maturity and sound temperament
v. Commitment and reliability
vi. Sound judgement

RESTRICTIONS ON APPOINTMENT:
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 Some people are not eligible to be appointed as lay magistrates:

a. People with serious criminal convictions
b. Undischarged bankrupts
c. Members of the forces
d. Those whose work is incompatible with magistrate such as police
officers and traffic wardens.
e. Relatives of those working in the local criminal justice system
f. People whose hearing is impaired
g. Close relatives

APPOINTMENT:

 About 1200 new magistrates are appointed each year. .

 The appointments are made by the Lord Chancellor. In order to decide
who to appoint the Lord Chancellor relies on recommendations made to
him by the local advisory committees and this method of appointment is
much criticised. The lay magistrates could be dismissed from office for
misconduct.
 The power to appoint a magistrate has now been transferred to the Lord
Chief Justice who delegates the function to the Senior Presiding Judge
for England and Wales.
 The committee should have a maximum of 12 members and these
should include a mixture of both magistrates and non magistrates.
About half the members to retire in rotation every 3 years.

INTERVIEW PROCESS:

 When applying, the candidate must fill in an application form and give
the names of 2 referees.
 Then there is a two stage interview process, where at the first stage
the panel tries to find out more about the candidate’s personal
attributes, in particular looking to see if they have the 6 key qualities
required. The interview panel will also explore the candidate’s
attitudes on various criminal justice issues such as youth crime or
drink driving.
 The second interview is aimed at testing candidate’s potential judicial
aptitude and this is done by a discussion of at least two case studies
which are typical of those heard regularly in magistrate’s courts. The
discussion might, for example focus on the type of sentence which
should be imposed on specific case facts.
 The advisory committees will interview candidates and then submit
names of those they think are suitable to the Senior Presiding Judge.
He will then appoint new magistrates from this list.

COMPOSITION OF BENCH TODAY:

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 Out of 20000 lay magistrates 53 percent are women and 47 percent

men. Also, ethnic minorities were reasonably represented in the
magistracy. 8 percent of magistrates are from ethnic minorities. The
Lord Chancellor has encouraged disabled people to apply to become a
magistrate.

ROLE OF MAGISTRATES:

 Magistrates have a wide workload which is mainly concerned with

criminal cases, although they also deal with some civil matters.
 Under criminal law the Magistrates hear summary offences (minor
offences) as well as offences triable either way (e.g. theft).
 They sit as a special youth court when have to hear serious offences
relating to under 18 years old.
 They hear very few civil cases such as straight forward family cases,
council tax cases as well as licensing cases.
 The Magistrate court cannot fine more than 5000 pounds and cannot
sentence anyone for more than 6 months imprisonment.
 Lay magistrates also sit at the Crown Court to hear appeals from the
Magistrates Court.

TRAINING:

 The training of lay magistrate is supervised by the Magistrates

Committee of the Judicial Studies Board.
 This committee has drawn up a syllabus of the topics which lay
magistrates should cover in their training.
 The Judicial College provides some direct training for Bench
Chairmanship and for members of the local Training and Development
Committees(TDC’s).On average there will be about 30 courses run by
the Collage each year with up to 700 people attending.
 New magistrates have to attend for introductory training so that they
understand the organisation of the Bench, the administration of the
court and the roles and responsibilities of those involved in magistrates
Courts.
 New magistrates are given 40 hours of training spread over a period of
3 years.
 It involves attending lectures, workshops and learning on job.
 Magistrates are specially trained in human rights, sentencing, family
cases and in cases involving young offenders.
 A magistrate clerk is present to guide the Magistrates, who are a
qualified lawyer with at least 5 years of experience.
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 A clerk’s duty is to guide the magistrates on questions of law, practice

and procedure. This is set out in s28 (3) of the Justices of the Peace Act
1979.
 After one year, or whenever it is felt that the magistrate is ready, there
will be an appraisal of the magistrate to check if they have acquired the
necessary skills. Amy magistrate who is unable to satisfy the appraisal
will be given extra training.

RETIREMENT AND REMOVAL:

 At the age of 70, magistrates do not retire officially; instead their names
are placed on the Supplement list. This means that they no longer sit in
the Magistrates Court. However, they can continue to carry out
administration functions mainly connected with signing documents.
 Section 11 of the Courts Act 2003 gives the Lord Chancellor power to
remove a magistrate on following grounds:
1. Incapacity or misbehaviour
2. Persistent failure to meet such standards of competence as
are prescribed
3. If the Senior Presiding Judge is satisfied that the
magistrate is declining or neglecting to take a proper part in
the exercise of his functions as a Justice of the Peace
 The Judicial Conduct Investigation Office will investigate any complains
about lay magistrates.
 Removal for misbehaviour usually occurs when a magistrate is
convicted of a criminal offence. There are about ten such removals each
year.

DISADVANTAGES OF LAY MAGISTRATES:-

 They have been criticized for being ‘middle class, middle aged and
middle minded’. Despite efforts at recruiting younger people,
magistrates are actually getting older. Statistics for 2015 showed that
57 percent of magistrates were aged 60 or above. Magistrates under the
age of 40 made up only 3 percent of the magistracy.
 It is argued that the Lay Magistrates should be replaced with
professional judges as their training is inadequate according to their
workload.
 Lay Magistrates tend to be prosecution biased, believing the police too
readily and acquit only in 25% of cases.
 They are unlikely to live in the poorer areas and so do not truly know
the area’s problems.
 Magistrates are inconsistent in granting sentences and in granting bail.
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 The lack of legal knowledge of the lay justices should be offset by the
fact that a legally qualified clerk is available to give advice. However,
this will not prevent inconsistencies in sentencing since the clerk is not
allowed to help the magistrates decide on a sentence. In some courts it
is felt that the magistrates rely too heavily on their clerk.

ADVANTAGES OF LAY MAGISTRATES:

Despite the disadvantages the lay magistrates play a very important role in
the English Legal System.

 Lay Magistrates provides a wider cross section on the bench then

would be possible with the use of professional judges.
 Lay magistrates used to live within 15 miles of the area covered by the
commission, in order that they would have local knowledge of particular
problems in the area. Hence they will have more awareness of local
events, local patterns of crime and local opinions than a professional
judge from another area.
 The cost of trial in the magistrate court is also much cheaper than a trial
in the crown court. This is partly because cases in the crown court are
more complex and therefore likely to take longer.
 They are not complete amateurs because they do receive special
training.
 The use of unpaid Lay Magistrates is cheap hence replacing so many
lay magistrates with district judges will affect the government budget.
 Comparatively few defendants appeal against magistrates’ decisions
and many of the appeals that are made are against sentence not
against the finding of guilt.
 There is a value of impartiality when 3 people make the decision
instead of one.
 Their decisions can be reviewed by the Divisional Court of Queen’s
Bench and will be quashed if the Magistrates have misunderstood the
law or misapplied the law. In such a case a rehearing will be ordered.

DISTRICT MAGISTRATES:

 Also sit in the Magistrate Court.

 They must have 5 years qualification. This means they must be
qualified as either a barrister or a solicitor and have gained
experience in the law or be a Deputy District Judge. Before becoming
a district judge they will usually sit part time as a deputy district
judge to gain experience, and to establish their suitability for full
part appointment.
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 They are full time and paid judges who sit alone to hear the case.
 Before august 2000 they were called stipendiary
Magistrates(working for payment rather than voluntarily)