Describe the criminal and civil jurisdiction of the magistrate court.

Authors Avatar

Describe the criminal and civil jurisdiction of the magistrate court.

A magistrate court is a court within England and Wales which consists of between two and seven magistrates or a single stipendiary magistrate exercising the jurisdiction conferred by the Magistrates Courts Act 1980, amongst other statutes.  The principal function of the court is to provide the forum in which all criminal prosecutions, i.e. the resultant proceedings following an act which has been deemed by statute or common law to be a public wrong and therefore punishable by the state, are initiated.  The court also has a limited jurisdiction in civil matters, i.e. private law as opposed criminal law, and primarily relates to issues of debt and matrimony.

Criminal Jurisdiction of the Magistrates Court

The jurisdiction of the magistrates’ court is dependant upon the classification of the offence as each group has a separate procedure for which the magistrates must follow.  There are three classes of offence as listed in the Criminal Law Act 1977:

Join now!

(1) offences triable only on indictment before a jury.  These are the most series of the offences such as murder, manslaughter or rape;

(2) offences triable only summarily by the magistrates.  These offences include most minor offences and include common assault, road traffic offences and battery; and

(3) offences triable either way.

The Magistrates Court Act 1980 applies a single procedure within the Magistrates court to all cases where the defendant is of an age of 17 or over (the court also has limited jurisdiction for defendants under 17 years of age which I shall ...

This is a preview of the whole essay