Comparing lay magistracy to district judges, with lay magistracy you are being tried by your peers, they have local knowledge of the community. For example there was a case ‘Bowman v DPP (1991) where the defendant drove with excess alcohol at high speeds around a multi-storey car park shortly after midnight. Was the car park “a public place” within the meaning of the Act. The magistrate (using their local knowledge of the area and lived near the car park) with their knowledge that the barriers were raised at night so that motorists could use it freely, and convicted. However, in some cases it could be argued that that its better to be tried by a district judge as they have legal knowledge, just because the magistrates live within 15 miles of
