3. Answer the following questions.

1. What were the oldest courts in Britain?

2. What is the difference between courts of first instance and courts of appeal?

3. Describe the respective roles of the superior and inferior courts.

House of Lords

(3-9 Law Lords)

Criminal	Civil
Court of Appeal Criminal, 3 judges	Court of Appeal Civil, 3 judges
Crown Court Judge, 2 magistrates, Jury (more serious crimes)	High Court 1-3 judges (big civil actions and legally difficult cases, for appeal more than one judge)
—	County Court Judge and Jury (minor civil actions)
Magistrates’ Court 3 Magistrates or Stipendiary Magistrate	Magistrates’ Court Minor actions (family and marriage)

Text 3

1. Words and expressions.

Magistrates’ clerk	делопроизводитель при мировых судьях
legal rigmarole (Br) / legalese (Am)	профессиональный (юридический) жаргон
Justice of the Peace (JP) / Magistrate	мировой судья
jurisdiction summary	упрощенное судопроизводство
poacher	браконьер
vagrant	бродяга
old-boy network	взаимопонимание и взаимовыручка выпускников престижных уебных заведений
juvenile courts	суд по делам несовершеннолетних
stipendiary magistrates	мировые судьи, получающие жалованье
in gaol (Br) / behind the bars (Am)	за решеткой

2. Read the text. What are magisters? What was the first English institution set up by the statute Magistrates’ Court

The average citizen is much more likely to appear before a magistrate than before a judge, and the great bulk of British justice is carried out not by professional lawyers but by the unpaid magistrates who sit on the bench only once a week or a fortnight. A magistrates’ court provides complete contrast to the pomp of a law court, with no wigs, no gowns and often no lawyers. The three justices sit below a modest lion-and-unicorn, only slightly removed from the courtroom, with the magistrates’ clerk below who can advise them on points of law. The courtroom is often full of mothers, friends or relations and is far less male than the higher courts. The exchanges are brisk and matter-of-fact and only when lawyers appear are they caught up in legal rigmarole.

The origins of the Justices of the Peace (JP) go deep into the Middle Ages. They were established in 1361 - the first English institution set up by the statute - to provide three or four people in each English county to keep the peace and punish offenders. For several centuries they ran the whole of local government as the instruments of the monarchy, many of them serving both as justices and members of the parliament. Arbitrary and eccentric JPs who controlled local constables and dealt ruthlessly with local poachers and vagrants, were a recurring subject for protest and comedy.

But the undemocratic institution remarkably survived Victorian reformers. Justices lost some duties to the police forces and the new county councils took over their local government powers but they were now used much more to give summary jurisdiction at their courts, and “Petty Sessions”, and their work was swelled by matrimonial cases and by the separate juvenile courts which were set up in 1908. Eventually a few “stipendiary” magistrates were set up in London and eleven other towns. They were professional lawyers who worked full-time.

For a long time magistrates represented the aristocratic elite. Most of them were Tories aged over seventy. Some were even over ninety. In the country many were large landowners, as they had been six hundred years earlier. In the towns mayors, ex-mayors and London aldermen automatically became magistrates. The Lord Chancellor selected magistrates through a secretive and elaborate old-boy network, and since magistrates dispensed licences for pubs and gaming and they could sometimes have corrupt motives.

In the seventies’ the Labour Government gradually changed the political balance. More labourists and liberals could become magistrates. Women made up about a third of all magistrates. The Government introduced compulsory retirement, first at seventy two and later at seventy. And they tried, with much less success, to broaden the class basis.

Magistrates are still predominantly middle-class, selected by secretive local advisory committees which often represent group interests. Many emerge through the party political network, others are co-opted by their elders. This ancient institution, even after the reforms, was not easy to defend or explain in a modern democracy. Yet it was not under serious attack. The chief complaint against magistrates is that they are too influenced by police evidence, and the style of the courts encourages the suspicions. On the other hand, many people are thankful for a legal system which includes so few lawyers.

Today, the Magistrates’ Court usually consists of three magistrates. At least one of them is a woman. The Magistrates’ Court can sentence you to not more than six months in gaol for one offence to a maximum of one year for two or more offences or a fine of L 400.