Misplaced Pages

#17982

73-548: The Superior Court operates 36 courthouses throughout the county. Currently, the Presiding Judge is Samantha P. Jessner and David W. Slayton is the Executive Officer/Clerk of Court. They, together with 583 judicial officers and 4,800 employees, operate the nearly 600 courtrooms throughout the county, with an annual budget of over $ 1 billion. When California declared its statehood in 1849 and became

146-565: A JP in Queensland was Matilda (Maud) Hennessey of Mackay on 24 April 1918. Justices of the peace and bail justices, who are also volunteers, are appointed to serve a semi-judicial function in all areas of the Victorian community. The main official roles in the Victorian community include witnessing statutory declarations, witnessing affidavits and hearing bail matters outside court hours (bail justices only). The first woman to become

219-597: A JP in Victoria was Mary Catherine Rogers who, in 1920, became the first woman councillor in Australia when she was elected in the City of Richmond . Justices of the peace provide a service to the community as independent witnesses of statutory declarations, powers of attorney and affidavits. JPs, who are also volunteers, are selected through an extensive interview, written exam and practical testing. They are recommended by

292-549: A JP. They must not charge a fee or accept a gift for providing JP services, tell people what to write in a statutory declaration or affidavit or write it for them or give them legal advice. Ways to find a JP in New South Wales include: 1. Search the JP Public Register. The register lists all JPs for each postcode area and provides a telephone contact number for JPs who serve the community directly. 2. Check

365-416: A court session, a justice can perform other judicial functions, such as issuing search warrants. In Ontario , justices of the peace can preside over judicial interim release (bail) hearings and other criminal hearings. JPs can also exercise jurisdiction over provincial regulatory offences and municipal by-law prosecutions. JPs must retire by reaching the age of 65, but may continue working until 75 subject to

438-721: A judicial office election for the Los Angeles County Superior Court has risen from $ 3,177 in 1970 to $ 70,000 in 1994. Notable judges: A commissioner is a subordinate judicial officer elected by the judges of the Court and given the power to hear and make decisions in certain kinds of legal matters, similar to the United States magistrate judge . Their jurisdiction includes, but is not limited to, traffic matters, family law and juvenile cases, criminal misdemeanors, and criminal felony cases through

511-597: A justice of the peace can be the highest governmental representative, so in fact 'gubernatorial', in a colonial entity. This was the case in the Tati Concessions Land , a gold-mining concession (territory) in the Matabele kingdom , until its annexation by the British Bechuanaland protectorate. A justice of the peace in Australia is typically someone of good stature in the community who

584-553: A part of the United States, the first California Constitution authorized the legislature to establish municipal and such other courts as it deemed necessary. The 1851 California Judiciary Act divided the state into districts, placing Los Angeles, San Bernardino, and San Diego counties into one district. Each district had its own court, below which were County and then Justice of the Peace Courts. Judge Agustín Olvera of

657-740: A police magistrate in the Women's Court of the City of Edmonton (Alberta) on 19 June 1916. In British Columbia , pursuant to the Provincial Court Act , all judges are justices of the peace, and hence all of them are peace officers . In the Northwest Territories , justices may hear summary conviction matters, municipal by-laws, and certain criminal matters. However, in more populated provinces justices usually preside over bail hearings and provincial offences courts. When not in

730-463: A public listing of scheduled JP services to find when JPs are available at scheduled times and locations across the state. In the early years of the Colony of New South Wales , justices of the peace had far greater responsibilities and broader roles in the administration of justice than now. In South Australia, there are two types of justices: justice of the peace and special justices. A justice of

803-549: A result of the Gold Rush, many New York lawyers had migrated to California, including Field's brother, Stephen Johnson Field , who would ultimately serve as California's fifth Chief Justice before being appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court. The strong New York influence on early California law started with the California Practice Act of 1851 (drafted with the help of Stephen Field), which was directly based upon

SECTION 10

#1732772529018

876-469: A set in 1872. In lieu of an official set, unofficial annotated codes are widely available from private publishers. West publishes West's Annotated California Codes and LexisNexis publishes Deering's California Codes Annotated . Although Deering's is much older, West is the more popular of the two annotated codes. Libraries that lack sufficient shelf space to carry both codes—usually because they are small law libraries, public libraries serving

949-583: Is authorised to witness and sign statutory declarations and affidavits and to certify copies of original documents. [2] There are no Federal level JPs in Australia, as this power is devolved to the State and Territory Governments. Where a Federal Government document or task requires the services of a JP, the rules of each individual State or Territory government will dictate if they have the authority to assist. Criteria for appointment vary widely, depending on

1022-623: Is for life, unless a JP resigns, is suspended/dismissed from office, or resides outside of the ACT for a period of more than 12 consecutive months. JPs for the ACT also cover the Australian External Territory of Norfolk Island , and the Internal Jervis Bay Territory , subject to local law variations in those two jurisdictions. In the state of Queensland , a "justice of the peace (qualified)" has

1095-681: Is in a deplorable condition ... law writers and publishers unite in considering it the worst statutory law in the country." To staff the new permanent incarnation of the Code Commission, the state Legislature simply appointed the Legislative Counsel as the secretary of the Commission. Thus, as a practical matter, most of the real work was performed by the Legislative Counsel's deputies and then approved by

1168-669: Is no Code of Criminal Procedure. Instead, criminal procedure in California is codified in Part 2 of the Penal Code, while Part 1 is devoted to substantive criminal law. The Codes contain, or are supposed to only contain general statutory law, with the emphasis on the word "general". The legislature also regularly enacts a variety of other resolutions which are not laws of general application, such as annual budget bills, appropriation bills for specific periods of time, acts authorizing

1241-492: Is similar to the difference between the federal CM/ECF and PACER systems. The Court has nearly 4,800 employees, operates nearly 600 courtrooms throughout the county, and has an annual budget of $ 1 billion. The Court has 2.7 million new cases each year: Pursuant to California Government Code and the California Rules of Court , the Los Angeles County Superior Court has adopted Local Rules for its government and

1314-810: The post-nominals JP and BJ respectively after their names. The primary role of a bail justice is to hear bail applications, including after-hours bail, (under the Bail Act 1977 (Vic) ) and to hear applications for Interim Accommodation Orders for children (under the Children, Youth and Families Act 2005 (Vic) ) within Victoria. Bail justices can also witness Victorian statutory declarations and affidavits. Bail justices are appointed for terms of four years and may be re-appointed repeatedly until they attain 70 years of age. They are often required to attend call outs and rule on bail applications or protection applications for children in danger on weekends and late at night when

1387-760: The 16th century, although the word had been in use centuries earlier to describe some legal officials of Roman times. In the centuries from the Tudor period until the onset of the Industrial Revolution , the JPs constituted a major element of the English (later British) governmental system, which in modern times has sometimes been termed a squirearchy (i.e., dominance of the land-owning gentry ). For example, historian Tim Blanning notes that while in Britain

1460-555: The 19th century, JPs, in quarter sessions , also administered the county at a local level. Their many roles included regulating wages and food supplies, managing roads, bridges, prisons and workhouses and they undertook to provide and supervise locally those services mandated by the Crown and Parliament for the welfare of the county. To this end they set the County Rate, where one was set at all. Women were not allowed to become JPs in

1533-585: The CLRC has been tasked with regularly reviewing the codes and proposing various amendments to the legislature. Most of these are simple maintenance amendments to ensure that statutory cross-references are properly updated to add new laws or omit laws which no longer exist. The newest code is the Family Code, which was split off from the Civil Code in 1994. Although there is a Code of Civil Procedure, there

SECTION 20

#1732772529018

1606-831: The California Gold Rush, the District Court system became ineffective and non-responsive to the needs of its constituency. In 1879 California adopted a new constitution and with it a revised court system. The District Courts became appeals courts below the State Supreme Court . To take over the District Courts original function, the county Superior Courts were created. The new Superior Court of Los Angeles County began with two judges: Ygnacio Sepulveda and Volney E. Howard . In 1905, juvenile delinquency and dependency hearings were put under

1679-476: The California Legislature authorized the first of many ad hoc Code Commissions to begin the process of codifying California law. Each Code Commission was a one- or two-year temporary agency which either closed at the end of the authorized period or was reauthorized and rolled over into the next period; thus, in some years there was no Code Commission. The first four codes enacted in 1872 were

1752-709: The California Penal Code, and on March 10, 1904, it enacted a Code of Civil Procedure modeled after the California Code of Civil Procedure. Thus, California case law interpreting those codes was treated as persuasive authority in Puerto Rico. In 1941, the Puerto Rican Legislative Assembly joined the nationwide movement towards transferring civil procedure and evidentiary law into a system of rules promulgated by

1825-593: The Civil Code, the Code of Civil Procedure, the Penal Code, and the Political Code. Statutes that did not fit these categories were simply left uncodified in the California Statutes . The four original California Codes were not drafted from scratch, but were mostly adapted by the Code Commission from codes prepared for the state of New York by the great law reformer David Dudley Field II . As

1898-682: The Code Commissioners. The Commission spent the next 24 years analyzing the massive body of uncodified law in the California Statutes and drafting almost all the other codes. By 1953, when the Code Commission completed its assigned task and issued its final report on September 1 of that year, 25 Codes were then in existence. That year, the legislature replaced the Code Commission with the California Law Revision Commission . Since then,

1971-599: The County Court and Judge Jonathan R. Scott of the Justice of the Peace Court were the first judges of these lower courts. Almost immediately the District Court system was burdened by the vast expanse of the district. District Judges were required to hold court proceedings where the cases were filed. Because of the distance District Court Judges had to travel to conduct trials and the sudden growth in population due to

2044-457: The County and by 1973 the Court had implemented a county wide system to process the payment of court appointed attorneys. The following year, 1974, all jury services in the county had been consolidated. In 1986 county-wide uniform criminal Local Court rules and uniform exhibit processing procedures were adopted to ensure consistency in how criminal cases were handled through the court system. By 1988

2117-640: The Judges of the Supreme Court are Justices of the Peace within and for of the whole of Bangladesh , Sessions Judges, Chief Judicial Magistrate and Metropolitan Magistrates are Justices of the Peace within their respective jurisdictions. (Justice of the peace for the mafassal ) 22. The Government may, by notification in the official Gazette, appoint such persons resident within Bangladesh and not being

2190-989: The Judges of the Municipal and Superior Courts voted to merge into the Superior Court of California, County of Los Angeles. In 2000, a pilot Complex Civil Litigation Program was established in the Los Angeles Superior Court, which has since been made permanent. The Court uses the California Court Case Management System (CCMS) v3, and exposes services to the public such as the Criminal Defendant Index , Civil Party Name Search , Civil Case Document Images , Traffic Ticket Online Services , e-File Small Claims , and Divorce Judgment Documents . The difference between CCMS and these other services

2263-462: The King in ensuring that the law was upheld and preserving the " King's peace ". Therefore, they were known as "keepers of the peace". An act of 1327 had referred to "good and lawful men" to be appointed in every county in the land to "guard the peace"; such individuals were first referred to as conservators of the peace , or wardens of the peace. The title justice of the peace derives from 1361, in

Los Angeles County Superior Court - Misplaced Pages Continue

2336-596: The Legislature's original intent in enacting Civil Code section 1714 to codify a contributory negligence scheme subject to the last clear chance doctrine, then held the legislature had not intended to freeze the common law in place and proceeded to judicially adopt comparative negligence . In contrast, other codes, such as the Probate Code and the Evidence Code, are considered to have fully displaced

2409-757: The Municipal and Superior Courts began to cross-assign cases to ease the county's judicial backlog. In 1993 the Superior Court adopted the Municipal Courts' automated criminal case processing system; known as the Municipal Court Information it was rebranded the Trial Court Information System. Also in 1993 the Superior Court was administratively unified with several of the Municipal Courts. And by 1999 17 more Municipal Courts had joined. Finally on January 22, 2000, in accordance with Proposition 220 passed in 1998,

2482-552: The New York Code of Civil Procedure of 1850 (the Field Code). In turn, it was the California Practice Act that served as the foundation of the California Code of Civil Procedure. New York never enacted Field's proposed civil or political codes, and belatedly enacted his proposed penal and criminal procedure codes only after California, but they were the basis of the codes enacted by California in 1872. As noted above,

2555-523: The Peace#United States A justice of the peace ( JP ) is a judicial officer of a lower court , elected or appointed by means of a commission ( letters patent ) to keep the peace. In past centuries the term commissioner of the peace was often used with the same meaning. Depending on the jurisdiction , such justices dispense summary justice or merely deal with local administrative applications in common law jurisdictions. Justices of

2628-476: The Penal Code of Puerto Rico underwent extensive recodification and renumbering in 1974, many of its sections still bear a strong resemblance to their California relatives. The Code of Guam , implemented in 1933 by Governor George A. Alexander , was modeled after the California Codes. Thus, Guam courts look to California case law to assist them with interpretation of the Code of Guam. In 1868,

2701-485: The Superior Court's jurisdiction, as were mental health hearings in 1914. Eventually the Superior Court's jurisdiction came to include all civil, felony criminal, family law, juvenile delinquency and dependency, and probate cases in the county. Throughout its history the Superior Court had had a close relation with the county's many Municipal Courts. By 1971 the Superior Court assumed responsibility for coordinating, providing and scheduling court interpreters for all courts in

2774-691: The United Kingdom until 1919, the first woman being Ada Summers , the Mayor of Stalybridge , who was a JP by virtue of her office. In October 1920 Summers was appointed a JP in her own right, alongside other pioneers including Edith Sutton and Miriam Lightowler OBE in Halifax. Emily Murphy of Edmonton, Canada, preceded her by some three and a half years. As at 2018 in England and Wales, about one-third of JPs are women. In special circumstances,

2847-603: The WA Police to sign search warrants and authorise the issuing of summonses. The administrative tasks include witnessing affidavits and documents such as wills and statutory declarations. "Visiting justices" are a special group of justices of the peace, appointed to preside over cases within the prison system. JPs for Western Australia also cover the Australian External Territories of Cocos (Keeling) Islands and Christmas Island . In Belgium ,

2920-403: The additional powers to issue search warrants and arrest warrants and, in conjunction with another justice of the peace (qualified) constitute a magistrates' court for exercising powers to remand defendants in custody, grant bail, and adjourn court hearings. Some justices are appointed as justice of the peace (magistrates' court), usually in remote Aboriginal communities, to perform many of

2993-579: The approval of the Chief Justice of the Ontario Court of Justice . In Quebec, there are two type of justices of the peace, administrative justice of the peace and presiding justice of the peace. Administrative justice of the peace are court officers appointed by the Minister of Justice , and perform duties such as receiving criminal informations and issuing warrants. Presiding justice of

Los Angeles County Superior Court - Misplaced Pages Continue

3066-527: The approval of the Executive Committee and the Presiding Judge. There are several officers of the court , including judges, jurors, commissioners, prosecutors, defense attorneys, clerks, bailiffs, and court reporters. The state Administrative Office of the Courts maintains an official roster of all superior court judges, including the 431 judges of the L.A. Superior Court. Median spending for

3139-506: The common law, meaning that cases interpreting their provisions always try to give effect whenever possible to the Legislature's intent. As noted above, the Legislative Counsel maintains an online website with the official text of the Codes. The original four codes were printed as separate state documents in 1872 (but not as part of the California Statutes ), and were also published by commercial publishers in various versions, including as

3212-416: The courtrooms and other clerical courtroom activities, interacting with the attorneys and the public, administering oaths, assisting with the impaneling juries, and are responsible for the inventory and safe-keeping of the exhibits. The current Clerk is David W. Slayton. The functions of the bailiff are carried out by Los Angeles County Sheriff , currently Robert Luna , under contract. Justice of

3285-404: The courts are closed. Candidates must successfully complete a three-day training course run by the Department of Justice. Bail justices, also have some limited powers under federal legislation, including the power to conduct interstate extradition hearings and extending question time for federal police. The most common functions performed by a justice of the peace in New South Wales are to witness

3358-427: The courts, then abolished the judicial power to promulgate rules in 1946, then reinstated it in 1952 (subject to the right of the legislature to amend court rules before they went into effect). Eventually, after much of its content was superseded by the Rules of Civil Procedure and the Rules of Evidence, most of the Code of Civil Procedure of Puerto Rico was rendered obsolete and was therefore repealed. However, although

3431-405: The drawing of the Mark Six to ensure fairness. California Government Code The California Codes are 29 legal codes enacted by the California State Legislature , which, alongside uncodified acts, form the general statutory law of California . The official codes are maintained by the California Office of Legislative Counsel for the legislature. The Legislative Counsel also publishes

3504-425: The federal and state constitutions, federal and state case law, and the California Code of Regulations, in order to understand how they are actually interpreted and enforced in court. The Civil Code is particularly difficult to understand since the Supreme Court of California has treated parts of the Code as a mere restatement of the common law . For example, in Li v. Yellow Cab Co. , the Supreme Court acknowledged

3577-460: The functions that might otherwise fall to a stipendiary magistrate . In Queensland, a lawyer may be appointed as a Justice of the Peace without further education or qualification and has the full powers of a JP (Magistrate's Court). A commissioner for declarations (C.dec) has powers limited to witnessing documents, witnessing statutory declarations, witnessing affidavits, witnessing and administering oaths and affirmations. The first woman to become

3650-439: The general public (as distinguished from public law libraries), or out-of-state libraries—usually carry only West and omit Deering's . There are also a handful of relatively minor statutes which were never codified and are not included in the Legislative Counsel's online copy, but probably should have been codified as they are laws of general application. For example, certain initiative acts could not be codified by an act of

3723-403: The government of its officers. The Presiding Judge assigns cases to departments and judges to departments. Nominations and election of the Presiding and Assistant Presiding Judge are made by all judges and take place between September and October of each year. All departments are divided into several principal divisions under the policy and procedures established by its supervising judge, subject to

SECTION 50

#1732772529018

3796-462: The ground. Being an unpaid office, undertaken voluntarily and sometimes more for the sake of renown or to confirm the justice's standing within the community, the justice was typically a member of the gentry . The justices of the peace conducted arraignments in all criminal cases, and tried misdemeanours and infractions of local ordinances and bylaws . Towns and boroughs with enough burdensome judicial business that could not find volunteers for

3869-404: The initial four codes were not fully comprehensive. As a result, California statutory law became disorganized as uncodified statutes continued to pile up in the California Statutes. After many years of on-and-off Code Commissions, the California Code Commission was finally established as a permanent government agency in 1929. In its first report, the Commission stated: "The California statutory law

3942-407: The justices of the peace ( Dutch : vredegerecht , French : justice de paix , German : Friedensgericht ) function as the small claims courts in the country's judicial system ; they stand at the bottom of the Belgian judicial hierarchy and only handle civil cases. There is a justice of the peace in each judicial canton of Belgium , of which there are 187 in total as of 2017. The justices of

4015-504: The legislature because they were originally enacted by popular vote of the electorate. The final Code Commission report of September 1, 1953 recommended that such statutes should be published in an appendix to whichever code they are most relevant and not grouped into a separate volume. The unofficial annotated codes include those statutes either as appendixes to the codes in which they probably should have been codified, or within annotations to particular code sections; Deering's also prints

4088-406: The official text of the Codes publicly at leginfo.legislature.ca.gov . The 29 California Codes currently in effect are as follows: The following codes have been repealed: The California Codes have been influential in a number of other U.S. jurisdictions, especially Puerto Rico. For example, on March 1, 1901, Puerto Rico enacted a Penal Code and Code of Criminal Procedure which were modeled after

4161-431: The peace also have original jurisdiction in certain aspects of family law , most notably legal guardianships for incapacitated seniors, and the involuntary commitment of the mentally ill to psychiatric facilities . The judgments made by the justices of the peace can, with some exceptions, be appealed to the tribunals of first instance . In Canada, justices of the peace play a role in the administration of justice at

4234-562: The peace are appointed by commission under the Great Seal , and can try some criminal matters and issue warrants. They are appointed from advocates of at least ten years' standing and serve full-time until the age of 70. In Yukon, justices of the peace are lay officers of the court. They sit in the Justice of the Peace Court, which is part of the Territorial Court of Yukon . The Code of Criminal Procedure, 1898 ( ACT NO. V OF 1898 ) [3] Chapter II OF THE CONSTITUTION OF CRIMINAL COURTS AND OFFICES [4] 25. In virtue of their respective offices,

4307-444: The peace are appointed or elected from the citizens of the jurisdiction in which they serve, and are (or were) usually not required to have any formal legal education in order to qualify for the office. Some jurisdictions have varying forms of training for JPs. In 1195, Richard I ("the Lionheart") of England and his Minister Hubert Walter commissioned certain knights to preserve the peace in unruly areas. They were responsible to

4380-526: The peace have original jurisdiction over cases in which the disputed amount does not exceed 5,000 euro (as of September 2018), except for the matters over which another court or tribunal has exclusive jurisdiction . In addition, the justices of the peace have original jurisdiction over a number of matters irrespective of the disputed amount, such as cases involving the renting or leasing of real estate , evictions , easement , land consolidation , consumer credit or unpaid utility bills . The justices of

4453-405: The peace in South Australia is typically someone of good stature in the community who is authorised to witness and sign statutory declarations , affidavits , waiver rights , search warrants , drug warrants, divorce documents, and to certify copies of original documents and to witness the signing of power of attorney and guardianship documents, providing the JP is satisfied with the capability of

SECTION 60

#1732772529018

4526-399: The peace in residence at nominated times. South Australia's first women justices were appointed in July 1915. Justices of the peace in Western Australia are appointed by the Governor who authorises them to carry out a wide range of official administrative and judicial duties in the community. As well as presiding in the Magistrates Court, justices of the peace are regularly called upon by

4599-476: The preliminary hearing stage. There are 140 commissioners. The Los Angeles County District Attorney , currently George Gascón , prosecutes crimes before the court on behalf of California, Los Angeles County, and all cities and special districts within Los Angeles County. The Los Angeles County Public Defender , currently Ricardo Garcia, is the public defender . https://pubdef.lacounty.gov/ The court clerks, or Judicial Assistants, are responsible for managing

4672-405: The provincial level. Justices are generally appointed by the lieutenant governors of Canada's provinces , and by the commissioners of Canada's territories , on the advice of their relevant premier or Attorney General . Canada made the second (first was in South Australia a year earlier) appointment in the then British Empire of a woman as a magistrate, namely Emily Murphy , who was sworn in as

4745-475: The purchase or disposition of land by the state government, and acts authorizing the issuance of bonds which terminate automatically upon repayment of the bonds. The legislature also regularly approves resolutions honoring the accomplishments of various distinguished persons. Because of their limited application, all such matters are not incorporated into the Codes. The Codes form an important part of California law . However, they must be read in combination with

4818-493: The reign of Edward III . The "peace" to be guarded is the sovereign's, the maintenance of which is the duty of the Crown under the royal prerogative . Justices of the peace still use the power conferred or re-conferred on them since 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. The justices' alternative title of " magistrate " dates from

4891-448: The royal prerogative was decisively curbed by the Bill of Rights 1689 , in practice the central government in London had a greater ability to get its policies implemented in the rural outlying regions than could contemporary absolute monarchies such as France – a paradox due especially to JPs belonging to the same social class as the Members of Parliament and thus having a direct interest in getting laws actually enforced and implemented on

4964-409: The signatory. A Special Justice (SJ) is a higher level of justice of the peace in South Australia; they sit on the bench of the magistrates' court hearing cases in the petty sessions division. The South Australian Attorney-General has set up a web site to locate justices of the peace. The majority of metropolitan and many regional Councils (Local Government authorities) have a rotational justice of

5037-404: The signing of a statutory declaration, witness the signing of an affidavit and certify that a copy of an original document is a true copy. JPs are appointed by the Governor of New South Wales for five-year terms. They are volunteers, who come from all walks of life and all sections of the community. JPs are people who are trusted to be honest, careful and impartial when performing the functions of

5110-419: The state attorney-general and appointed by the governor-in-council, and it is their job to authorise and witness statutory declarations and affidavits within the state of Victoria. As of August 2022, there are currently around 3500 JPs and bail justices in Victoria, who collectively sign more than 1.5 million documents and assist more than 350,000 people each year. Justices of the Peace and Bail Justices may use

5183-452: The state. In the Australian Capital Territory (Colloquially, "The ACT"), there is only the single level of 'Justice of the Peace'. They are appointed on an as-needed basis, and a potential appointee must be an Australian Citizen, and both a resident of, and enrolled on the electoral roll, of the territory. They must also not be an undischarged bankrupt, and consent to criminal history checks being undertaken prior to appointment. Appointment

5256-829: The subjects of any foreign State as it thinks fit to be Justices of the Peace within and for the local area mentioned in such notification. In Hong Kong, the historical functions of justices of the peace have been replaced by full-time, legally qualified magistrates . Nowadays, justices of the peace are essentially titles of honour given by the Government to community leaders, and to certain officials while they are in their terms of offices. They have no judicial functions, and their main duties include visiting prisons, institutions for young offenders and drug addicts, psychiatric hospitals, remand homes, places of refuge, reception and detention centres, administering statutory declarations, and serving as members of advisory panels. They also monitor

5329-561: The unpaid role of justice of the peace had to petition the Crown for authority to hire a paid stipendiary magistrate . The Municipal Corporations Act 1835 stripped the power to appoint normal JPs from those municipal corporations that had it. This was replaced by the present system, where the Lord Chancellor nominates candidates with local advice, for appointment by the Crown . Until the introduction of elected county councils in

#17982