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10 Appointment of lay justices etc. | |
(1) Lay justices are to be appointed for England and Wales by the Lord Chancellor | |
by instrument on behalf and in the name of Her Majesty. | |
(2) The Lord Chancellor— | |
(a) must assign each lay justice to one or more local justice areas, and | 5 |
(b) may change an assignment so as to assign the lay justice to a different | |
local justice area or to different local justice areas. | |
(3) Every lay justice is, by virtue of his office, capable of acting as such in any local | |
justice area (whether or not he is assigned to it); but he may do so only in | |
accordance with arrangements made by or on behalf of the Lord Chancellor. | 10 |
11 Retirement and removal of lay justices | |
(1) A lay justice ceases to hold office as a justice of the peace on the day on which | |
he reaches 70. | |
(2) A lay justice who, immediately before that day, is chairman of the lay justices | |
assigned to a local justice area does not cease to hold office as a justice of the | 15 |
peace until the end, or earlier determination, of the term for which he is serving | |
as chairman on that date. | |
(3) The Lord Chancellor, or a person acting on his behalf, may authorise a lay | |
justice to continue to hold office (despite subsection (1)) for the purposes of | |
specified proceedings. | 20 |
(4) The proceedings which may be specified under subsection (3) are any— | |
(a) which are, or are expected to be, in progress on the day on which the | |
lay justice reaches 70, and | |
(b) in which the lay justice has been exercising functions as a justice of the | |
peace. | 25 |
(5) A lay justice may resign his office at any time. | |
(6) The Lord Chancellor may remove a lay justice from his office by an instrument | |
on behalf and in the name of Her Majesty— | |
(a) on the ground of incapacity or misbehaviour, or | |
(b) if he is satisfied that the lay justice is declining or neglecting to take a | 30 |
proper part in the exercise of his functions as a justice of the peace. | |
12 Lay justices’ allowances | |
(1) A lay justice is entitled to payments by way of— | |
(a) travelling allowance, | |
(b) subsistence allowance, and | 35 |
(c) financial loss allowance. | |
(2) Allowances under this section are to be paid by the Lord Chancellor at rates | |
determined by him. | |
(3) A lay justice’s travelling allowance is an allowance in respect of expenditure— | |
(a) which is incurred by him on travelling, and | 40 |
(b) which is necessarily incurred for the purpose of enabling him to | |
perform his duties. | |
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(4) A lay justice’s subsistence allowance is an allowance in respect of | |
expenditure— | |
(a) which is incurred by him on subsistence, and | |
(b) which is necessarily incurred for the purpose of enabling him to | |
perform his duties. | 5 |
(5) A lay justice’s financial loss allowance is an allowance in respect of— | |
(a) any other expenditure incurred by reason of the performance of his | |
duties, and | |
(b) any loss of earnings or social security benefits suffered by reason of the | |
performance of his duties. | 10 |
(6) A lay justice is not entitled to a payment under this section in respect of the | |
performance of his duties if— | |
(a) a payment of a similar kind in respect of those duties may be made to | |
him apart from this section, or | |
(b) entitlement to the payment is excluded by regulations made by the | 15 |
Lord Chancellor. | |
(7) For the purposes of this section the performance of a lay justice’s duties | |
includes taking a training course provided by or on behalf of the Lord | |
Chancellor. | |
(8) The Lord Chancellor may by regulations make provision about the way in | 20 |
which this section is to be administered and may in particular make | |
provision— | |
(a) prescribing sums (including tax credits) that are to be treated as social | |
security benefits for the purposes of financial loss allowances, | |
(b) prescribing the particulars to be provided for claiming payment of | 25 |
allowances, and | |
(c) for avoiding duplication between payments under this section and | |
under other arrangements where expenditure is incurred for more than | |
one purpose. | |
13 Records of lay justices | 30 |
(1) The Lord Chancellor— | |
(a) must appoint a person to be keeper of the rolls for each local justice | |
area, and | |
(b) may appoint the same person to be keeper of the rolls for more than one | |
local justice area. | 35 |
(2) The keeper of the rolls for a local justice area must be notified, in such manner | |
as the Lord Chancellor may direct, of— | |
(a) any assignment of a lay justice to the area, | |
(b) any change in an assignment of a lay justice as a result of which he | |
ceases to be assigned to the area, and | 40 |
(c) the resignation or death of a lay justice for the time being assigned to | |
the area. | |
(3) The keeper of the rolls for a local justice area must ensure that an accurate | |
record is maintained of all lay justices for the time being assigned to the area. | |
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Chairman and deputy chairmen and the bench | |
14 Chairman and deputy chairmen: selection | |
(1) For each local justice area there is to be— | |
(a) a chairman of the lay justices assigned to the area, and | |
(b) one or more deputy chairmen of those lay justices, | 5 |
chosen by them from among their number. | |
(2) Rules may make provision— | |
(a) subject to subsection (3), as to the term of office of the chairman and | |
deputy chairmen, and | |
(b) as to the number of deputy chairmen to be elected for any area. | 10 |
(3) The Lord Chancellor, or a person acting on his behalf, may authorise a lay | |
justice to continue to hold office as chairman or deputy chairman for the | |
purposes of specified proceedings which are, or are expected to be, in progress | |
on the day on which the lay justice’s office would otherwise end. | |
(4) Any contested election for choosing the chairman or a deputy chairman is to be | 15 |
held by secret ballot. | |
(5) Rules may make provision for the purposes of this section and may in | |
particular make provision— | |
(a) about the procedure for nominating candidates for election as a | |
chairman or a deputy chairman; | 20 |
(b) about the procedure at such an election; | |
(c) in relation to a contested election, restricting the right of lay justices to | |
vote, with a view to securing that the election is made by those | |
experienced as lay justices in the local justice area for which the election | |
is held. | 25 |
15 Rights to preside and size of bench | |
(1) If the chairman for a local justice area is present at a sitting or other meeting of | |
lay justices assigned to or acting in the area, he must preside. | |
(2) If, in the absence of the chairman, one or more of the deputy chairmen for a | |
local justice area is present at a sitting or other meeting of lay justices assigned | 30 |
to or acting in that area he (or the most senior of them) must preside. | |
(3) Neither subsection (1) nor subsection (2) applies if, in accordance with rules, | |
the chairman or (as the case may be) the deputy chairman asks another of the | |
lay justices to preside. | |
(4) Subsections (1) and (2) do not confer on the chairman or deputy chairman a | 35 |
right to preside in court if, under rules, he is ineligible to do so. | |
(5) Subsections (1) and (2) do not confer on the chairman or a deputy chairman a | |
right to preside— | |
(a) in a youth court or family proceedings court, | |
(b) at meetings of a committee or other body of justices of the peace which | 40 |
has its own chairman, or | |
(c) at sittings when a District Judge (Magistrates’ Courts) is engaged as | |
such in administering justice. | |
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(6) Rules may make provision for the purposes of subsections (3) and (4) and may | |
in particular make provision— | |
(a) as to training courses to be completed by lay justices before they may | |
preside in court, | |
(b) as to— | 5 |
(i) the approval of lay justices, in accordance with the rules, before | |
they may preside in court, | |
(ii) the lay justices who may be so approved, and | |
(iii) the courts to which the approval relates, and | |
(c) as to circumstances in which a lay justice may preside in court even | 10 |
though requirements imposed under paragraph (a) or (b) are not met in | |
relation to him. | |
(7) Rules may also make provision— | |
(a) specifying the maximum number of lay justices who may sit to deal | |
with a case as a magistrates’ court, and | 15 |
(b) as to the arrangements to be made for securing the presence on the | |
bench of enough, but not more than enough, lay justices. | |
16 Rules about chairmen, deputy chairmen and the bench: supplementary | |
(1) In sections 14 and 15 “rules” means rules made by the Lord Chancellor. | |
(2) Before making any rules for the purposes of section 14 or 15 the Lord | 20 |
Chancellor must consult— | |
(a) the Criminal Procedure Rule Committee, | |
(b) the Family Procedure Rule Committee, and | |
(c) the Magistrates’ Courts Rule Committee. | |
District Judges (Magistrates’ Courts) | 25 |
17 Appointment etc. | |
(1) Her Majesty may, on the recommendation of the Lord Chancellor, appoint a | |
person who has a 7 year general qualification to be a District Judge | |
(Magistrates’ Courts). | |
(2) A District Judge (Magistrates’ Courts) must, before acting as such, take the | 30 |
oath of allegiance and judicial oath in accordance with the Promissory Oaths | |
Act 1868 (c. 72) and the Promissory Oaths Act 1871 (c. 48), except that the oaths | |
must be taken before someone other than a lay justice. | |
(3) The Lord Chancellor may pay to a District Judge (Magistrates’ Courts) such | |
allowances as he may determine. | 35 |
(4) Any such allowances are in addition to the salary charged on and paid out of | |
the Consolidated Fund under section 9 of the Administration of Justice Act | |
1973 (c. 15). | |
(5) The Lord Chancellor may remove a District Judge (Magistrates’ Courts) from | |
office on the ground of incapacity or misbehaviour. | 40 |
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