34 Chapter 1The legal system
will be decided by the jury, but the judge will supervise the proceedings. He will also sum
up the law to the jury, so that they can reach the correct verdict, and pass sentence if the
accused is convicted.
Nineteen per cent of judges are female and four and a half per cent are of minority ethnic
origin. In the precedent-making courts the judges are almost exclusively white and male.
Only three such judges are from a minority ethnic background and only nineteen are female.
Ninety-seven per cent of all criminal cases are decided in the magistrates’ court, rather
than in the Crown Court. Most magistrates are lay magistrates, meaning that they are not
legally qualified. However, there are currently 134 district judges (magistrates’ court) and
they are assisted by 103 deputies.
There are somewhere around 30,000 lay magistrates, who are not paid a salary. Although
they are not legally qualified, upon appointment lay magistrates do receive training on
matters such as decision-making, stereotyping and avoiding prejudice. Magistrates gener-
ally sit as a bench of three, and are advised about the law by the legally qualified clerk of
the court. As well as deciding whether or not a person accused of a crime is granted bail, mag-
istrates try cases, deciding whether an accused is innocent or guilty and passing sentence
on those who are convicted. They also conduct committal proceedings when a defendant is
committed for trial to the Crown Court. Lay magistrates must live or work in the area in
which they serve, must have a good knowledge of the local community, must be of good
character and have personal integrity. Generally, they must be between the ages of 27 and- Most people are eligible to become magistrates, but those in the police or the armed
forces are not.
Judicial review
Judicial review is a legal procedure which allows the Administrative Court to examine
whether a public law decision, or the exercise of discretionary power by a public body, is
legal. The definition of public body includes government ministers and has been held to
cover decisions of private bodies which make decisions that affect the public.
The court can grant one or more of the following remedies:
n An order that overrules the original decision.
n An order that forces the decision-maker to do something.
n An order which prevents a decision-maker from doing something which is not legal.
n State the legal position between the parties.
Judicial review has become increasingly important in recent years as the number of applica-
tions has increased dramatically. Businesses are increasingly either applying for judicial
review or are subject to judicial review proceedings. A business might apply, for example,
on the grounds that a decision taken by a government minister affects the running of the
business.Juries
In the Crown Court the jury decides whether the accused is guilty or not guilty. This deci-
sion is based on the judge’s summing up, which explains the relevant law to the jury. It is
therefore said that juries decide the facts of the case. A judge can direct a jury to acquit an