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Magistrates told to keep records
and give reasons
Magistrates should always give reasons for their decisions
and keep proper records of evidence in trials in their
courts, says the Law Society in a report yesterday they
sent to the Home Secretary and the Lord Chancellor.
Failure to keep proper records of a trial, or to give
reasons for a decision, often led to considerable difficulty
for those wanting to appeal.
"A man who has protested his innocence often
leaves court without any idea why the magistrates
found him guilty," said Mr. David Napley, chairman
of the Law Society's criminal law committee, at a
Press conference.
Despite exhortations from some judges, such as Lord
Denning, that they should give reasons for their
decisions, magistrates were generally advised not to do
so, he claimed.
Near Farce
In its memorandum, the Law Society urges that in
all cases when an appeal might result, a record of the
case should be kept by the Clerk of the Court dictating
a summary of the proceedings into a recording machine.
In only those cases where an appeal was lodged
would it be necessary for the court to go to the trouble
of providing a transcript.
The present procedure for appealing from magis-
trates to the divisional court on a point of law was
"little short of farcical," said Mr. Napley.
Lawyers often had to draw up a case for appeal
based on what they thought were the grounds for the
magistrates' decision. "There should be some record of
the Court's reasons given at the time of the decision
and not thought up afterwards."
Rules "too legalistic"
It was constantly the experience of advocates, says
the memorandum, that it was impossible to determine
whether a decision adverse to their client was based
on law, fact or both.
Existing rules for appeal were also too legalistic. A
court of the status of the divisional court should be
able to exercise a powerful all-embracing jurisdiction
over magistrates courts, with minimum regard for pro-
cedural technicalities.
The society goes on to criticise severely the conduct
of conunital proceedings in magistrates courts which
it described as "very important protection for the
liberty of the subject."
In committal proceedings, magistrates have to con-
sider whether the prosecution has made out a prima
facie case to justify them committing the defendant for
trial.
"It is fair to say that apart from the stipendiary
magistrates the whole of committal proceedings in this
country for many years have been conducted in a
wholly perfunctory manner," said Mr. Napley.
Too many lay magistrates regarded them merely as
a procedure that had to be gone through and got
over. Apart from the protection of the public, if a case
was sent for trial expenses to the legal aid fund, which
the public had to pay for, were much greater.
In its memorandum the society proposes that both
prosecution and the defence should be able to appeal
to the Grown Court of the divisional court against the
decision of justices on committal for trial.
On costs in magistrates court cases, the Society
urges that a successful defendant should always recover
his costs from public funds unless "he has been the
author of his own misfortunes," for example by failing
to co-operate with or deliberately obstructing the
police.
{Daily Telegraph,
15th November 1971)
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