# Magistrate or magistrate judge **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 25, 2005, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/magistrate-or-magistrate-judge/296242 "2005-03-25T19:41:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 2\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2005, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/magistrate-or-magistrate-judge/296242/21 "2005-03-29T19:08:46Z")
> [@Polycarp](#): > > Are there magistrates in Australia or its states or New Zealand? Canada or provinces? Which states have magistrates and what do they do there? The Canadian provinces used to have magistrates. They had jurisdiction over some Criminal Code matters (i.e. - federal crimes) and all provincial offences. They ranked between Justices of the Peace and District Courts. They were derived from the English model, with non-lawyers being appointed, but with the increased complexity in the criminal law, increasingly were drawn solely from the bar. In the 70s, the provinces all created “Provincial Courts” which absorbed the magistrates. The District Courts were merged with the superior courts in each province, which have different names, such as the Queen’s Bench or Supreme Court. Being a lawyer is now a pre-requisite for being appointed to the Provincial Court. The Provincial Courts now handle the great majority of all Criminal Code offences, with only the most serious (murder, manslaughter, sexual assaults, etc.) going to the superior court. Justices of the peace still exist. They issue warrants, remand persons who have been arrested by the police, and in some provinces try some provincial offences, such as highway traffic matters. There’s no equivalent to either the justice of the peace or magistrates in the Federal Court system of Canada. ---
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2005, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/magistrate-or-magistrate-judge/296242/22 "2005-03-30T03:04:28Z")
> [@Polycarp](#): > > Are there magistrates in Australia or its states or New Zealand? Canada or provinces? Which states have magistrates and what do they do there? Australia has a dual system of federal and state courts. At the federal level there is a court called the _Federal Magistrates Court_, whose jurisdiction includes family law and child support, administrative law, bankruptcy law and consumer protection law. It shares these jurisdictional areas with other courts in the federal court structure, namely the \*Family Court of Australia \* and the _Federal Court of Australia_. The presiding officers of the \*Federal Magistrates Court \* are known as magistrates, although for all intents and purposes, they are judges. At the state level in New South Wales the basic hierarchy of the court structure is the _Supreme Court_, followed by the _District Court_, followed by the _Local Courts_. This lowest level of court, the _Local Courts_, is staffed by magistrates. Their role is to: - hear criminal cases that do not need a judge and jury i.e. summary offences such as traffic matters, minor stealing and offensive behaviour and some types of assault; - hear applications for apprehended violence orders where one person is seeking a restraining order against another; - conduct committal proceedings to decide if there is sufficient evidence on a serious matter, such as armed robbery or attempted murder, to go before the \*District Court \* or the \*Supreme Court \* as appropriate. Broadly similar court structures exist in the other states too (although the names of the courts and the titles of the presiding officers may differ somewhat). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/magistrate-or-magistrate-judge/296242.md?page=1)