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Lay People in the English
Legal System |
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Lay people |
Lay people have
no legal
qualifications they include:
1.
Magistrates;
2. Juries
3. Tribunals;
4. Arbitrators;
5.
Courts-martial;
6. Lay
Representatives (McKenzie Friend) |
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Magistrates' Association |
Magistrates website here.
There are about 30,000 magistrates in the UK.
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Auld Report and
Courts Act 2003 |
An extensive review of all criminal courts was undertaken by Lord Justice
Auld, his wide-reaching report covered the role of magistrates.
Some of his recommendations have been implemented by the
Courts Act 2003
A Review of the
Criminal Courts of England and Wales by The Right Honourable Lord Justice
Auld
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Keepers of the Peace first seen in 1195 |
The part played by magistrates in the judicial system of England and Wales
can be traced to the year 1195.
Richard I in that year commissioned certain knights to preserve the peace
in unruly areas.
They were responsible to the King for ensuring that the law was upheld.
They preserved the "King's Peace", and were known as Keepers of the Peace.
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Justices of the Peace first seen in 1361 |
The title Justices of the Peace derives from 1361, in the reign of Edward
III. An Act of 1327 had referred to "good and lawful men" to be appointed
in every county in the land to "guard the Peace".
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Binding over dates back to 1361 |
Justices of the Peace still retain (and frequently use) the power
conferred or re-conferred on them in 1361 to bind over unruly persons "to
be of good behaviour".
The bind over is not a punishment, but a preventive measure, intended to
ensure that people thought likely to offend will not do so.
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600 years of judicial work |
For the following 600 years, and continuing today, Justices of the Peace
have undertaken the greater part of the judicial work carried out in
England and Wales on behalf of the Sovereign.
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Other responsibilities now not performed |
For most of that time - until the invention of our modern system of local
government in the 19th Century - JPs also administered the country at a
local level.
They fixed wages, built and controlled roads and bridges, and undertook to
provide and supervise locally those services thought by the Monarch and by
Parliament to be necessary for the welfare of the country.
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