In the United States, the title “magistrate judge” usually indicates a low-level jurist in a federal district court, someone who does not officially hold the office of a judge by appointment by the president. A magistrate judge is usually a civil servant (similar to an “administrative law judge” or a “hearing examiner”) who has been appointed to his post by an actual judge and is treated as a kind of “assistant judge.” I think that most magistrate judge’s decisions must be ratified or adopted by a real judge before they are enforcible.
However, from years of reading English literature, I get the impression that the office of “magistrate” in England is a pretty lofty and respected post.
What’s the situation? Is a magistrate a powerful and feared jurist or a lowly civil servant?
One of my clients is a magistrate, and a friend audits the Magistrates Courts.
The term magistrate has two uses: a specific use for a lay citizen who presides (usually as a group of three) over a court which tries lesser offences and a generic term, less used now, for someone in charge of a law court, from the most junior magistrates’ court to the most senior law lord.
U.S. magistrate judge is a judicial officer of the district court and is appointed by majority vote of the active district judges of the court to exercise jurisdiction over matters assigned by statute as well as those delegated by the district judges. The number of magistrate judge positions is determined by the Judicial Conference of the United States, based on recommendations of the respective district courts, the judicial councils of the circuits, and the Director of the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts. A full-time magistrate judge serves a term of eight years. Duties assigned to magistrate judges by district court judges may vary considerably from court to court.
United States Magistrate Judges are not Article III Judges and lack lifetime tenure. They typically manage pretrial proceedings in civil and criminal cases. Their decisions are subject to review by District Judges.
There are also stipendiary magistrates who are qualified lawyers and (as the name implies) are paid. They act on their own in court , not on a panel of three and are most commonly found in London.
As has been noted, the term in the U.S. district court’s is “magistrate judge” rather than just “magistrate.” Would this sound redundant or otherwise strange in Britain?
Yes , they are just called magistrates and magistrate’s courts. The term Judge is always reserved for the courts where there is trial by Jury and the person presiding is a fully qualified lawyer. Judges are appointed from the ranks of professional barristers.
I’d be interested in knowing the uses beyond the U.S. Federal courts and the U.K. (I presume that’s referencing England/Wales; does Scotland have magistrates?)
Are there magistrates in Australia or its states or New Zealand? Canada or provinces? Which states have magistrates and what do they do there?
New York does not use the term magistrate except as a loose informal synonym for judge or justice. In North Carolina, a magistrate is the “judge on call” who handles arraignments and the setting of bail, but AFAIK can never take a case to terminer. As with the Federal system, he acts as an adjunct to the trial judges, relieving them of procedural work.
Scotland does have magistrates , but they are called Justices of the Peace and sit in District Courts, but I think their role is the same. So they try petty crimes which are not considered serious enough to go to the* Sheriff’s Court* In Scotland the maximum punishment that a District court can impose is a fine of £2,500 or 60 days in custody.
In Georgia, the county Magistrate Court serves as the “small claims” court (disputes up to $15,000.00). Rulings of law and findings of fact are made by the Magistrate Judge, acting without a jury. Either party may appeal the decision of the Magistrate Judge to a higher court and seek a de novo trial.
Magistrates also handle dispossessory proceedings.
In the criminal law context, Magistrate Judges have replaced “Justices of the Peace.” They hear misdemeanor criminal cases (except where a jury trial has been demanded), violations of county ordinances, and applications for arrest warrants and search warrants.
Magistrate Court is often a training ground for young jurists. A farm system, as it were.
Another point that has to be made about Magistrate’s courts in the UK is that anyone can elect to be tried by jury in a higher court but , for minor crimes and offences, this just isn’t worth the waste time of expense on the part of the defendant. So most people will be happy for their case to be heard in the lower court.
In my experience, they may be referred to either as “magistrates” or as “magistrate court judges.” Georgia’s statutes use the terms interchangeably. In this code section both terms are used:
Older literary references will give an outdated impression of its status, as the nature of the position in England has changed over the centuries. Originally justices of the peace were selected from the leading landowners in a county. In time therefore it came to be seen as one indication, sometimes the indication, as to who formed that county’s social elite. As there was never any requirement for JPs to perform most of their duties, some sought the position simply to show that they were part of that elite. Having said that, there were always others who recognised that performing the unpaid duties did increase their local influence, not least because, until the local government reforms of the nineteenth century, they also carried out many of the main functions of county administration.
Since the nineteenth century there has been a gradual shift in the type of persons appointed. There is still a sort of sense that they include the most prominent local figures, as long-serving local government councillors are one of the groups most likely to get appointed, but the main criteria is really a willingness to volunteer. Few would now regard it as much of an honour, more as a form of public service.