Legal personnel within the English courts
English courts’ legal personnel’s role differs depending on the court. There are different cases of lay personnel in a court, mainly criminal; magistrates and jurors. Their effectiveness could be considered relevant or irrelevant.
Justices of the Peace, or magistrates derive from the 1195’s Richard I’s knights who were requested to maintain the peace in areas where there was a lack of governing body and controlling that laws imposed by the king were being followed. They were called ‘Keepers of the Peace’. 1327 Act of Parliament selected men to ‘guard the peace’, in their country. The word ‘Justices of the Peace’ was first used in 1361, and their roles have evolved since then. There are roughly 30.000 lay magistrates in England and Wales with approximately an equal amount of men and …show more content…
Lay magistrates are underpaid excluding expenses, however District judges, who are legally qualified magistrates who work full time are paid. Their training cost £500 per individual. They are part-time, but give pledges to operate for a minimum of “26 half-days a year”. In civil cases, they have limited jurisdiction, yet they deal with young offenders, having special training to do so. Reflecting society is one of their functions, representing gender, race and other residents of their local areas. 16.000 new magistrates are accepted every year; leavers do so as they are retiring or are unable to continue. Their role is to deal with an entire criminal process for 95% of each case. Magistrates’ workload is elevated as many of the cases involve more than 1 hearing; for example, in 2009 1.6 million cases were heard in the Magistrates Court “with 1.3 million convictions” . In a court, they sit as a bench of 3. To become a magistrates there are no specific qualification, only personal qualities and the
English courts’ legal personnel’s role differs depending on the court. There are different cases of lay personnel in a court, mainly criminal; magistrates and jurors. Their effectiveness could be considered relevant or irrelevant.
Justices of the Peace, or magistrates derive from the 1195’s Richard I’s knights who were requested to maintain the peace in areas where there was a lack of governing body and controlling that laws imposed by the king were being followed. They were called ‘Keepers of the Peace’. 1327 Act of Parliament selected men to ‘guard the peace’, in their country. The word ‘Justices of the Peace’ was first used in 1361, and their roles have evolved since then. There are roughly 30.000 lay magistrates in England and Wales with approximately an equal amount of men and …show more content…
Lay magistrates are underpaid excluding expenses, however District judges, who are legally qualified magistrates who work full time are paid. Their training cost £500 per individual. They are part-time, but give pledges to operate for a minimum of “26 half-days a year”. In civil cases, they have limited jurisdiction, yet they deal with young offenders, having special training to do so. Reflecting society is one of their functions, representing gender, race and other residents of their local areas. 16.000 new magistrates are accepted every year; leavers do so as they are retiring or are unable to continue. Their role is to deal with an entire criminal process for 95% of each case. Magistrates’ workload is elevated as many of the cases involve more than 1 hearing; for example, in 2009 1.6 million cases were heard in the Magistrates Court “with 1.3 million convictions” . In a court, they sit as a bench of 3. To become a magistrates there are no specific qualification, only personal qualities and the