Courts of Summary Jurisdiction
| Date | 01 October 1956 |
| DOI | 10.1177/002201835602000401 |
| Published date | 01 October 1956 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
The
Journal
of
Criminal Law
VOL.
XX. No. 4OCTOBER-DECEMBER, 1956
Courts of Summary Jurisdiction
SIX HUNDRED YEARS ON
THE Justice of
the
Peace Act, 1361, is
not
the oldest statute
in force
but
we may safely say
that
it is certainly the oldest
which continues to have a real effect
upon
our
daily lives.
For
it is still
the
authority which allows magistrates to
bind
over potential lawbreakers
and
if necessary to compel
them
to
find sureties to keep the peace with a
term
of imprisonment in
default. Strangely enough, nearly six
hundred
years have
had to elapse before anyone so ordered to be
bound
could
appeal against
the
decision.
This
is now contained in
the
Magistrates' Courts (Appeals from Binding Over Orders) Act,
1956 which came into force last month.
The
right, belated as it is, will be a valuable one, for
the
powers entrusted to
the
justices
under
the
1361 Act are
not
only formidable
but
such as have not always been used with
impartial discretion. Benches have
pet
aversions
and
the
1361
Act
up
till now has allowed
them
to indulge
them
untrammelled.
One
Court
cannot abide prostitutes.
They
will be ordered to
find sureties in large sums. Another will suffer the advances
of
the
ladies with resignation
and
will reserve their strength
to attack the local betting fraternity. A
third
will leave
both
the
bookies and
the
prostitutes alone to make it hot for
the
persistent drunks.
Presumably appeals
under
the new Act will have two
objects-to
get the order quashed altogether and, failing this,
to get it modified.
The
amounts into which sureties are some-
times called to enter may be so high
that
the appellant can
not
possibly find anyone willing to take such risks. Quarter
Sessions, to which appeal lies, may fix lower sums, or may not
require sureties at all.
The
alternative for failing to find
sureties or
the
imprisonment imposed for breach may also be
3°5
l-eL
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