MAGISTRATES` COMPLAINTS//A SIMPLE BINARY PROCESS

 

Date: 25 January 2022

STATEMENT FROM THE JUDICIAL CONDUCT

INVESTIGATIONS OFFICE

Lindsay Dalby JP

A spokesperson for the Judicial Conduct Investigations Office said:

"Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb DBE, on behalf of the Lord Chief Justice and with the agreement of the Lord Chancellor, has issued Lindsay Dalby JP of the Coventry and Warwickshire Bench with formal advice after she was issued a fixed penalty notice for breaching coronavirus restrictions. In making their decision, they took into consideration that the breach while dining in a restaurant was accidental, that she had reported the matter to her bench chair promptly and that she had apologised for her actions."

ENDS

Fact

Following on from my post of February 15th the above named magistrate was just one of those this year who has fallen foul of the scandalous inquisition of the Judicial Conduct Investigations Office. 

Fact

The Ministry of Justice has recently announced that it is inviting recently retired magistrates aged 70-75 who may wish re-apply to the active list of serving magistrates.

Fact 

Retired magistrates are usually by default placed on the Supplemental List of Magistrates upon retirement.

Fact 

Magistrates on the above list are subject to the same disciplinary processes as are applied to those in office. 

Fact

Official guidance on supplemental list is copied below:-

Most magistrates will join the supplemental list when they retire or leave the service before the

age of 70. There is sometimes confusion around what this entails and the powers it allows.

This guide explains the key features.

February 2012

The Magistrates’ Association Guide to The Supplemental List 

Returning to the active list

Being on the supplemental list (and under the age of 70) gives no automatic right to return to the active list. However, depending on the time away from the magistracy and any exceptional

circumstances, an individual could return to sitting without going through the full application and recruitment process. He/she will be interviewed informally by the advisory committee

to assess any training needs and other circumstances. Providing there are no exceptional factors the magistrate could return to sittings.The individual will not need to provide external referees but the magistrate’s previous bench advisory committee will need to provide a reference from the bench chairman.In the end, the decision whether to allow the magistrate back to the active list remains with the advisory committee to which he/she is applying. Obviously this may depend on vacancies on the particular bench.

Retiring magistrates

On reaching the age of 70 a magistrate will normally have their name entered in the supplemental list automatically or be written to and invited to apply. They will usually be

informed in writing and sent details of the rights and duties of being a supplemental list magistrate.

Applying to join the supplemental

list before the age of 70

A magistrate may also apply to move from the active to the supplemental list at any time.This may be for a number of reasons, for instance when personal commitments mean they must take a sabbatical from sittings likely to last longer than leave of absence rules allow (about 18 months depending on circumstances). There is no minimum length of service to be entered in the supplemental list. As a general rule however, the magistrate will have been appraised as competent in the adult court; they should have met the minimum sittings requirement of 13 sitting-days within the past 12 months (except where good reasons apply); and they should not have been subject to disciplinary action for misconduct within the past five years.

All advisory committees have to consider such applications.In the unlikely event that a committee recommends to the Lord Chancellor not to enter a magistrate onto the supplemental list, they must write to the individual giving reasons for their

decision.

The purpose of the supplemental list is 

■

to commend magistrates for good service upon resignation from the active list or retirement; and 

■

to ease the process of return to the active list in situations where magistrates have had to leave the magistracy but wish to return at a later date

What you can do whilst on the supplemental list

If you are on the supplemental list you can still use the suffix JP under the same guidance for sitting magistrates. Essentially this is that the initials may be used on private and business letterheads etc in a similar way to academic or professional qualifications.You should always be alert, however, to how references to your status might reasonably be perceived by other people. Any attempt to misuse the status to gain personal benefit could be regarded 

as misconduct. Magistrates can still witness documents or sign passports, but only

in the same capacity as other members of the public.

What you may not do whilst on the supplemental list

■

sit in a magistrates’ court to adjudicate;

■

sit in a Crown Court on appeals cases;

■

be a member of any committee or any other body as a

magistrate;

■

take part in the election of chair or deputy chair of a bench;

■

attend any formal or business meeting of their former bench;

■

sign any documents in the capacity of JP – ie using the JP suffix.

This will include:

– summonses 

– warrants, including search warrants 

– shotgun licence applications (as a JP) 

– being referee for a rifle licence application (as a JP).

Duties on the supplemental list

Magistrates on the supplemental list must inform the advisory committee secretary for their existing area if they change address. Similarly, advisory committees are encouraged to keep in touch with magistrates on the list.

Complaints 

Supplemental list magistrates are still subject to complaints procedures. (my  bold underline) If a complaint is received about their conduct or behaviour, if appropriate, the advisory committee will investigate it in line with standard complaints rules.

When magistrates are considered to have erred they are subject to a complaints process outlined in perfect detail in a document twenty pages long with apparently every "i" dotted and every "t" crossed. If the matter is concluded that this process has indicated that the magistrate has indeed crossed the threshold of guilt s/he can apply to the Judicial Appointments and Conduct Ombudsman  who will investigate only the actual procedures undertaken.  Thus all the labyrinthine detail of a trade union rule book is applied; with nobody in earshot all the trees in the legal forest which are felled fall in silence. Finally the verdict is subject to the decision of the Judicial Conduct Investigation Office whether or not a sanction is applied such sanction ranging from "advice" to removal from the bench.  There are no published statistics or information on most of this whole process.  Indeed names of members of these organisations are secret.  To add grist to this metaphysical mill there are strict regulations on making public any comments from a local advisory committee.  Suppose a complaint is made to said committee re the behaviour or action of a magistrate: Nobody can make unauthorised disclosure of said complaint under pain of being pursued in the courts under s.139 of the Constitutional Reform Act 2005. 

The MOJ is currently undertaking a country wide advertising programme to persuade 4,000 citizens to become magistrates.  This previously unheard of action is a direct result of the self same MOJ under Tory Party governance since 2010 in failing to recruit annually from that year the appropriate number of magistrates required as the predicted retirement of an ageing cohort was well known to all in authority.  The judgement dealt out to the magistrate at the beginning of this post might or might not have been deserved. The lady in question might feel relieved at being able to continue in post or furious that her actions brought such ignominy.  She might or might not have freely admitted her remorse.  She might or might not have employed legal counsel to assist her.  We will never know. This is just a microcosm of what I term "secret Britain"; a country which loudly proclaims to the world and all who listen that it is a beacon of freedom.  Perhaps in some departments it is but in so many it certainly is not.  The line by line, sentence by sentence, paragraph by paragraph,  clause by clause to investigate the perceived wrong doing of a magistrate makes a trade union`s rule book for a member`s expulsion seem like a simple binary process.