Chapter 3Resolving disputes■There should be a thorough review of the law of crim-
inal evidence, including reform of the rules in relation
to the admissibility of hearsay evidence and the
defendant’s previous misconduct.
■The routes of appeal should be simplified and limited
exceptions to the rule against double jeopardy should
be permitted to allow the prosecution to appeal
against acquittals where the offences are punishable
by life or long terms of imprisonment.
The government’s response to the Auld Review of
Criminal Courts and the Halliday Report of the Review
of the Sentencing Framework, also published in 2001,
was set out in a White Paper, Justice for All(July 2002).
The Criminal Justice Act 2003 implements the govern-
ment’s reforms in relation to court procedures and
sentencing. Reference is made to the changes introduced
by the 2003 Act, in the following description of the
criminal court structure.
Magistrates’ courts
Magistrates’ courts have been part of the legal scene for
over 600 years. Today their importance lies in the fact that
magistrates’ courts handle over 95 per cent of all criminal
cases. There are two kinds of magistrate, or justices of the
peace, as they are also known. There are approximately
30,000 part-time, unpaid amateur judges, known as lay
magistrates. They are appointed by the Lord Chancellor
on the recommendation of local Advisory Committees.
(In Greater Manchester, Lancashire and Merseyside,
appointments are made by the Chancellor of the Duchy
of Lancaster.) Since legal knowledge is not a qualification
for the position, a new magistrate must undergo an
initial course of training. In court, the justices are given
guidance on points of law by a legally qualified justices’
clerk. A minimum of two lay magistrates is required
to try a case, but usually three sit together. There are
approximately 130 full-time, paid, professional District
Judges (Magistrates’ Court), formerly known as stipen-
diary magistrates. District Judges (Magistrates’ Court)
are appointed from persons having a seven-year general
advocacy qualification within the meaning of the Courts
and Legal Services Act 1990. (A person has a general
advocacy qualification if he or she has a right of audience
in relation to any proceedings in the Supreme Court, or
all proceedings in county courts or magistrates’ courts.)
They work in London and other big cities, such as
Birmingham and Manchester, and sit alone to try a case.
The appointment and removal of magistrates and
the organisation and management of magistrates’ courts
through Magistrates’ Courts Committees (MCCs) was
governed by the Justices of the Peace Act 1997. How-
ever, the Courts Act 2003, which implements the court-
related recommendations of Sir Robin Auld’s Review
of Criminal Courts in England and Wales, repeals the
1997 Act. The Courts Act paved the way for the Secret-
ary of State for Justice to establish a single centrally
funded agency to manage all courts, including mag-
istrates’ courts, and to establish locally based Courts
Boards. Her Majesty’s Court Service was launched in
April 2005.Jurisdiction
As well as their civil jurisdiction, which will be discussed
later in this chapter, the magistrates deal with the follow-
ing criminal matters.
1 Trial of minor offences.The magistrates are respons-
ible for deciding both the verdict and the sentence. Their
sentencing powers are limited. The Criminal Justice Act
2003 provided for an increase in the maximum sentenc-
ing powers of magistrates for one offence from six
months to 12 months and from 12 months to 65 weeks
for two or more offences to be served consecutively.
However, this part of the Act has not been brought into
force. Although magistrates exercise limited sentencing
powers they have the power to send a convicted person
to the Crown Court for sentencing, where a heavier sen-
tence can be imposed. However, the introduction of
new procedures for allocating either-way offences intro-
duced by the Criminal Justice Act 2003, as amended by
the Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008, will
severely limit the circumstances in which a defendant
can be sent to the Crown Court for sentencing. The new
allocation procedure is yet to come into force.
Under the Magistrates’ Courts Act 1980, as amended
by the Criminal Appeals Act 1995, the magistrates have
the power to rectify an error by means of a retrial by a
different bench.
2 Sending for trial and committal proceedings.
Traditionally, a person could not be tried by the Crown
Court unless the evidence had been examined by the
magistrates’ court to see whether the prosecution had
a good enough case to justify a trial. Committal pro-
ceedings either took the form of a full hearing of the
evidence, known as an ‘old-style’ committal, or without
consideration of the evidence, a procedure known as53