Death or Retirement of a Magistrate: Practical Effects
| Published date | 01 July 1947 |
| DOI | 10.1177/002201834701100313 |
| Date | 01 July 1947 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
Death or Retirement of a Magistrate:
Practical Effects
ON
retirement
a
magistrate
will, as far as possible,
wish
to
leave
matters
at
his
court
in apple-pie order.
The
sequel
to
some,
but
not
all, of his official
acts
can
be
at-
tended
to
by
his successor in office. Difficulties
are
more
likely
to
arise
in
the
event
of
sudden
death,
but
even
a
retiring
magistrate
cannot
make
provision for all
contin-
gencies,
and
the
effects are more noticeable
at
courts
where
there
is only a
stipendiary
magistrate.
In
the
first place,
statutory
sanction
has
sometimes
been
given for a magis-
trate
to exercise
the
powers
and
jurisdiction of his pre-
decessor. Secondly,
certain
High
Court decisions
have
exposed
important
gaps in criminal
law
procedure
and
made
reform a
matter
of urgency. Finally, difficulties arise
because of
the
inherent
time-lag between
the
determin-
ation
of a case
and
apossible appeal.
A
warrant
of
arrest
or
summons
issued
by
ajustice of
the
peace is
not
avoided
by
reason of
the
justice who signed
the
same
dying
or ceasing
to
hold
office-so
37
Summary
Jurisdiction
Act
1879. A
warrant
of
commitment
or
distress
warrant
need
not
be signed
by
the
convicting
justice, or one of
them.
If
it
is signed
by
one justice
having
the
same jurisdiction,
it
is
sufficient-so
29
Summary
Jurisdiction
Act
1848.
Convictions
and
orders should be signed
by
the
magis-
trate
who
determined
the
case.
Formerly
all convictions
had
to be
drawn
up
and
filed
with
the
clerk
of
the
peace;
but
the
Summary
Jurisdiction
Rules 1915, as
amended
by
the
Summary
Jurisdiction
Rules 1933,
No.5,
put
an
end
to
this
practice. R.53
states:
"Formal
convictions
and
orders giving
the
decisions of
courts
of
summary
juris-
diction shall
not
be
drawn
up
unless required for
an
appeal
or some
other
legal
purpose
...
..
In
any
case
it
shall be
sufficient for
any
conviction or
order
to
be signed
and
sealed
by
one justice". A
stipendiary
magistrate
might
die
immediately
after
the
hearing
and
before notice of
appeal
is given,
that
is before
the
formal conviction is
330
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