Magistrates' Court
95% of all criminal cases are heard in a Magistrates' Court. The magistrates may be three local people who are lay people from the community, sometimes called justices of the peace, supported by a legally trained advisor. There may be just one magistrate, called a district judge, who is a lawyer. No-one in a Magistrates' Court wears a white wig and only the ushers wear black gowns. |
