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9 Canadian J. Corrections 105 (1966-1967)
The Training of Justices of the Peace in England and Wales

handle is hein.journals/cjccj9 and id is 103 raw text is: The Training of Justices of the Peace in England and Wales A. M. F. WEBB, C.M.G., J.P., Q.C. (Kenya), M.A. (Oxon)* Assistant Secretary of Commissions Lord Chancellor's Office House of Lords London, England Although justices of the peace have administered justice in England for more than six centuries, and in Wales for more than four hundred years, yet it is only within the last fifty years that consideration has been given to any form of training. These justices of the peace have been appointed by the Crown from amongst the ordinary men and women of this country. To the onerous and responsible task of sitting in judgment on their fellow citizens, they have brought common sense, sympathy, and a wide experience of life and of affairs; but only a very tiny proportion of them have ever been, or are, lawyers. In days gone by, the legal and penal systems were very much more simple than they have since become. Two other factors tended to ensure that justice was administered properly: first, until 1753, the law required that a legally qualified justice (the quorum justice) should sit when the Bench was trying the more difficult cases; and secondly, the lay justices were themselves drawn from the more educated part of the community. As the legal and judicial systems became more sophisticated, it became the practice for the lay justices to seek the advice of their own lawyers in regard to any matters of law which they had to decide. This unofficial system of obtaining legal advice for the Bench has developed into the modern practice, by which every Bench has to have a professionnally qualified or experienced clerk to advise it (Justices of the Peace Act, 1949 s.20). The justice of the peace today has to administer a legal system which is at once far more sophisticated and far more detailed than any- thing with which is predecessors had to deal. In recent years, moreover, a growing interest is being taken in the treatment of offenders and new ideas and theories of how best this can be achieved abound. * Mr. Webb is also Training Officer (Commissions of the Peace); Secretary of the National Advisory Council on the Training of Magistrates; and was formerly Attorney-General of Kenya.

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