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In the English and Welsh legal system, magistrates hear prosecutions for and dispose of summary offences, by making orders in regard to and placing addition requirements on offenders. Sentencing powers at the disposal of magistrates are limited, but extend to shorter periods of custody, fines, probation and community service orders, and a miscellany of other disposals. Magistrates hear committal proceedings for indictable offences; they establish whether sufficient evidence exists to pass the case to a higher court for trial and sentencing. Magistrates have powers to pass summary offenders to higher courts for sentencing where in the opinion of the magistrates, a disposal greater than can be given in a magistrates court is warranted. A range of other legal matters are within the remit of magistrates, such as certain licensing matters. In the past, magistrates have been responsible for granting licences to sell alcohol, but this function is currently being shifted to local councils.
There are two types of magistrate in England, lay magistrate and legal professionals permanently employed by the Department for Constitutional Affairs.
The first group, known as Justices of the Peace, sit voluntarily on local benches (a colloquial and legal term for the local court), hearing lesser matters, and are provided with advice, especially on sentencing, by a legally qualified Court Clerk.
The second group, professional magistrates, are nowadays known as District Judges, though hitherto they were known as Stipendiary Magistrates (which is to say, magistrates who receive a stipend or payment). District Judges have the authority to sit at any magistrates court (or, in the parlance, on any Bench). Under European legislation with force in England (by Act of Parliament), certain sentences may be made only by paid magistrates and not by their lay colleagues.
In Scotland the lowest level of law-court is presided over by a Sheriff.
Magistrates are a little less common in the United States than in Europe, but the position does exists in some jurisdictions. In the United States federal court system, magistrates are appointed by life-term federal District Judges, to serve a term of eight years. Magistrate judges are concerned with lesser criminal cases and certain classes of civil cases. Felonies are handled by the District Judges, as are civil jury trials unless all of the parties to the case agree that the Magistrate can preside over the case. Magistrates didn't exist in U.S. federal courts until 1968, when the position was created to allow District Judges to focus on major cases, allowing lesser matters to be handled by the magistrate. The system has worked well in the last 30 years, shifting the caseload to the desired balance. This system was modeled after European systems, and most other countries have similar duties for magistrates. There are other, more specific types of magistrates, but this term is used to broadly describe this level of authority.
In many state judicial systems of the United States, magistrate's courts are the successor to justice of the peace courts, and frequently have authority to handle the trial of civil cases up to a certain amount, applications for bail, arrest and search warrants, and the adjudication of petty criminal offenses.
"Magistrate," is also used as a generic term for an independent judge who is capable of issuing warrants, reviewing arrests, etc. When used in that way it does not denote a judge with a particular office, instead, it denotes (somewhat circularly) a judge or officer of the court who is capable of hearing a particular matter. That capability is defined by statuteA statute is a formal, written law of a country or state, written and enacted by its legislative authority, perhaps to then be ratified by the highest executive in the government, and finally published. It is sometimes informally referred to as "black let or by common lawThis article concerns the common-law legal system, as contrasted with the civil law legal system; for other meanings of the term, within the field of law, see common law (disambiguation). The common-law legal system forms a major part of the law of many c.