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152 pages

English

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A rare insight and celebration of the magistracy, Our Magistracy sets out its core role and values and identifies mistakes by politicians, administrators, bureaucrats and others. By a former chairman of the Magistrates Association of England and Wales.

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Droit et juridique

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Publié par	Waterside Press
Date de parution	18 mars 2020
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781910979914
Langue	English

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0998€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

Extrait

Our Magistracy
A Democratic Jewel Beyond Price
John Hosking CBE
Copyright and publication details
Our Magistracy: A Democratic Jewel Beyond Price
John Hosking
ISBN 978-1-909976-75-7 (Hardback)
ISBN 978-1-909976-74-0 (Paperback)
ISBN 978-1-910979-91-4 (Epub E-book)
ISBN 978-1-910979-92-1 (Adobe E-book)
Copyright © 2020 This work is the copyright of John Hosking. All intellectual property and associated rights are hereby asserted and reserved by the author in full compliance with UK, European and international law. No part of this book may be copied, reproduced, stored in any retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, including in hard copy or via the internet, without the prior written permission of the publishers to whom all such rights have been assigned worldwide.
Cover design © 2020 Waterside Press by www.gibgob.com Front cover photograph by kind permission of the Magistrates Association. Photographer Philip Wolmuth: www.philipwolmuth.com
Main UK distributor Gardners Books, 1 Whittle Drive, Eastbourne, East Sussex, BN23 6QH Tel: +44 (0)1323 521777; sales@gardners.com ; www.gardners.com
North American distribution Ingram Book Company, One Ingram Blvd, La Vergne, TN 37086, USA. Tel: (+1) 615 793 5000; inquiry@ingramcontent.com
Cataloguing-In-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book can be obtained from the British Library.
Printed by Severn, Gloucester, UK.
e-book Our Magistracy is available as an ebook and also to subscribers of Ebrary, Ebsco, Myilibrary and Dawsonera.
Published 2020 by
Waterside Press Ltd
Sherfield Gables
Sherfield on Loddon, Hook
Hampshire RG27 0JG.
Telephone +44(0)1256 882250
Online catalogue WatersidePress.co.uk
Email enquiries@watersidepress.co.uk
Table of Contents
About the author vi
Dedication vii
Introduction 9 Winds of Change 11
A torrent of new laws and reviews 12
Illusions of progress 15
Centralisation and diversion 19
Transformation of courts and benches 21 JPs in Recession 27
Independence under threat 28
Reduced power, influence and status 32
Local justice abandoned 38 Justice in a Moral Vacuum 43
Freedom, democracy and justice 44
Changed attitudes and standards 55
Reduced respect for law and honesty 60 National Dilemma 67
Failure of prevention and deterrence 69
Discordant public opinion 70
Confinement versus freedom 76
No perfect answers 82 Lawyers: Allies or Rivals? 87
Justices’ clerks and their successors 88
Lawyer justice is not peer justice 90
District judges are not lay justices 97
Threat to the lay magistracy 110 Fallible Juries 115
Them and us 115
Weaknesses of the jury system 121
Miscarriages of justice 126 Trustworthy Justices 129
Good and lawful citizens 129
Merit and selection 133
Recruitment, employment and appointment 141
Training 151 Public and Personal 153
Standards and public service 153
On and off duty 160
Diversity and representation 166 Bouquets and Brickbats 175
A jewel beyond price, or a bunch of amateurs? 176
The cornerstone of our society 179
Undeserved criticism 185
Amateur, unrepresentative and ‘out of touch’ 191
White, too old, too middle-class … 195
‘Muddled’ magistrates and ‘repellent’ lawyers 198 A Great National Institution 201
Independent authority 202
Respect and appreciation 208
The people’s court 212
Good value for the nation 215 Whither Lay Justice? 217
Missing the point 220
Safeguarding the lay magistracy 225
Stop dismantling; start rebuilding 228
Questions for the future 231 Voice of the Magistracy 235
Pioneer of training and guidelines 235
Influence and reputation 243
Appendix to Chapter 12 : Chairmen of the Magistrates Association (1962–2020) 248
Some Key Sources 249
Index 250
About the author
John Hosking combined a lifetime in business with service as a justice of the peace. Chairman of the Magistrates Association 1 from 1987 to 1990, he is life vice-president of the Kent branch of the association (where he served on the Ashford bench). He has acted as a Deputy Lord Lieutenant and was awarded the CBE in 1990 for services to the magistracy.
Curriculum vitae magistratus
1962–99 Member: Ashford, Channel and East Kent Bench (Chairman 1975–84). 1964–99 Member: Executive Committee, Kent Magistrates Association (KMA) (Chairman 1973–78). 1970–74 Member: Kent Police Authority. 1971–90 Member: Council, Magistrates Association (MA) of England and Wales (Chairman 1987–90, Vice-president 1990–date). 1974–88 Member: Kent Magistrates’ Courts Committee (KMCC) (Chairman 1984–88). 1977–89 Member: Lord Chancellor’s Advisory Committee on Appointment of JPs. 1980–83 Member: Central Council of MCCs. 1982–88 Member: Home Office Committee on Recording of Police Interviews. 1983–86 Member: Senate of Inns of Court and Bar Disciplinary Tribunal, and of Bar Council’s Professional Conduct Committee. 1989–92 Member: Council of Commonwealth Magistrates’ and Judges’ Association. 1989 Member: Lord Chief Justice’s Working Party on Mode of Trial Guidelines. 1991–94 Member: Lord Chancellor’s Advisory Committee on Legal Education and Conduct. 1999–2004 Kent Lieutenancy: Liaison with the magistracy. 2001–12 President KMA. 2012-date Life Vice-president KMA.

1 . The opinions expressed in this book are entirely those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect those of the Magistrates Association.
Dedication
This book is dedicated to the memory of
Joan Cecily Whitaker BSc (Hort) (1930–2017)
who gave me love, home, children, flowers, music and companionship for 64 years.
Introduction
‘The history of insidious encroachment of convenient centralisation shows how politicians and an attendant bureaucracy can enslave and devitalise a nation in the name of efficient administration. Rationalisation is not necessarily improvement. We must restore our national institutions, for it is they that have made us free; removing them leads to national decay’
Benjamin Disraeli (1804–81)
Because our democracy is built on widespread public participation, what happens to the magistracy of England and Wales — one of our greatest institutions — is of immense importance to our nation. In particular, if the lay magistracy’s image and role are weakened, so is the structure of our whole democracy. Thus many far-reaching developments, and the manner of their introduction in recent years, should not only cause profound concern among those who cherish our way of life, our tradition of public service, and the institutions that have made us the envy of the civilised world, but should also provide useful lessons for policy-makers of the future.
In the light of subsequent upheavals, it can be said that most of the second half of the twentieth century was relatively a stable and prosperous period for the magistracy. Justices of the peace then controlled much of their own domain and were well-connected with ancillary organizations, such as the Probation Service; new courthouses were built, training and sentencing guidelines were introduced, the number of JPs increased, and a good working relationship existed between benches and their clerks; delays and adjournments were the exception, not the rule.
The wheels started to come off in the 1990s. Following publication of the Le Vay Scrutiny of Magistrates’ Courts , the magistracy gradually lost powers and influence to civil servants and lawyers, budgets were cut, numerous courthouses closed and benches amalgamated, workloads decreased and JP numbers halved; the symbiosis between magistrates and clerks was broken, delays and adjournments increased, and the concept of local justice was destroyed.
It must be admitted that some of the reforms were justified or inevitable, but many were unnecessary, costly and damaging to the magistracy’s status and confidence. As a result, not only has the institution been severely weakened but, unbelievably, its future is being called into question. If the magistracy is to survive as the preferred custodian of our summary jurisdiction, new and secure measures must be adopted to make it less vulnerable to the ravages of ambitious politicians, bonus-driven administrators and invasive lawyers. More must be done to raise the profile of JPs, not as servants of the state, but as free, respected and trusted members of the public; and to provide for more generous recognition and representation, vigorous recruitment, proofing and impact analysis, increased technical support, and extended powers.
The magistracy has proved itself to be a competent, flexible and loyal member of the judicial family, eminently capable of wider responsibilities within the justice system, and should be given the opportunity and encouragement to exercise these. There is evidence of goodwill towards the magistracy, and widespread agreement with many of the views expressed in this book, but government does not yet seem to recognise the urgency which now exists for its future to be given more attention.
This is not a plea for return to an out-dated past; it is an exhortation to safeguard the future of a priceless national asset under modern conditions. The nature of our democratic heritage suggests that it would be foolish to continue under-valuing an institution that has played, and must surely continue to play, a key role in ‘making us who we are’. However, there are too many people trying to control the lay magistracy at the moment. It needs to be firmly strengthened and represented in its own right, not condemned to inferior status conditioned only by others.
What more appropriate time can there be for its revitalisation than now, when the nation is debating the abuses and changing nature of our democracy, the law is infiltrating every corner of our lives, control of the magistracy is at issue, and the Magistrates Association is celebrating its centenary?
Chapter 1
Winds of Change
‘History is not what you thought; it is what you remember’
W C Sellar and R J Yeatman A torrent of