ARTICLE 31.

BOROUGH MAGISTRATES.

1The Mayor, and in boroughs, under 45 & 46 Vict. c. 50, where there is a recorder, the Recorder for the time being of every borough, is a Justice of the Peace in and for such borough, and the mayor continues to be such Justice of the Peace during the next succeeding year after he ceases to be mayor.

Every person elected to be mayor must declare, in the form specified in 45 & 46 Vict. c. 50, Schedule 8, form A, that he is seised or possessed of real or personal estate, or both, to the amount of £1000 over and above what will satisfy his just debts.

2 Her Majesty may from time to time assign to any persons her commission to act as Justices of the Peace in and for each borough 3 having a separate commission of the peace, except the county of the City of London, provided that every person so assigned resides within the borough for which he is so assigned, or within seven miles of it or of some part of it, or occupies a house, warehouse, or other property in it during such time as he acts as a Justice of the Peace in and for such borough.

ARTICLE 32.

METROPOLITAN STIPENDIARY MAGISTRATES.

4 Her Majesty has power to appoint any number of persons not exceeding twenty-seven to be magistrates of the Police Courts existing or to be established in the Metropolitan Police District.

Every such magistrate is by virtue of his appointment a Justice of the Peace for the counties of Middlesex, Surrey, Kent, Essex, and Hertfordshire, the city and liberty of Westminster and the liberty of the Tower of London.

145 & 46 Vict. c. 50, ss. 155, 163; 1 Hist. Cr. Law, 116.

2 45 & 46 Vict. c. 50, s. 157.

3 5 & 6 Will. 4, c. 76, Schedule A. This Act, the Municipal Corporations Act, 1835, is repealed by 45 & 46 Vict. c. 50, which applies (s. 6) to those places to which the repealed Act applied. The new Act comes into operation on January 1, 1883. 1 Hist. Cr. Law, 229-33.

1

1 The Chief Magistrate of the Metropolitan Police Court at Bow Street for the time being is also a Justice of the Peace for the county of Berks if his name is inserted in the Commission of the Peace for that county.

Every person so appointed must at the time of his appointment have practised as a barrister during at least seven years then last past, or as a barrister for four years then last past, having previously practised as a certificated special pleader for three years below the bar.

2 Or must be a stipendiary magistrate acting for some city, town, liberty, borough, or place in England and Wales under Article 33.

ARTICLE 33.

OTHER STIPENDIARY MAGISTRATES.

5

3 Her Majesty may appoint a person, being a barrister-atlaw of seven years' standing, to be a police magistrate and a Justice of the Peace for any borough, or a barrister of five years' standing to be such a magistrate for any city or place with 25,000 inhabitants not included in any district for which a stipendiary magistrate is acting under any Act of Parliament, upon such by-laws and such provision as to his salary being made as are provided for by 45 & 46 Vict. c. 50, s. 161, and 26 & 27 Vict. c. 97, respectively.

ARTICLE 34.

PERSONS DISQUALIFIED FROM ACTING AS JUSTICES.

"No person is capable of becoming or being a Justice of

111 & 12 Vict. c. 42, s. 31.

221 & 22 Vict. c. 74, s. 13.

3 5 & 6 Will. 4, c. 76, s. 99; 26 & 27 Vict. c. 97.

i.e., any place named in Schedule A or B of the Municipal Corporations Act, 5 & 6 Will. 4, c. 76, or under 45 & 46 Vict. c. 50.

5 These words mean any city or place not a municipal corporation, wherein the Public Health Act, Local Government Act, or Local Improvement Act is in operation, and comprise the whole area to which such Acts extend. 26 & 27 Vict. c. 97, s. 2. 634 Vict. c. 18, s. 1. The exclusion was formerly larger; see 6 & 7 Vict. c. 73, s. 33, and 5 Geo. 2, c. 18, s. 2. "County" means and includes a riding or division of a county having a separate commission of the peace. I have omitted some special disqualifications as to particular classes of cases, e.g., a mine-owner cannot sit in mining cases. 35 & 36 Vict. c. 76, s. 76.

the Peace for any county in England and Wales (not being a county of a city or county of a town) in which he practises and carries on the profession or business of a solicitor or proctor; and where any person practises and carries on such profession or business in any city or town being a county of itself, he is for the purpose of this Article deemed to carry on the same in the county within which such county or town or any part thereof is situate.

1 No person exercising the office of Sheriff in any county may act as a Justice of the Peace in the county in which he is Sheriff and whilst he is Sheriff.

2 If any person assigned by her Majesty's Commission to act as a Justice of the Peace is adjudged bankrupt, or makes any arrangement or composition with his creditors under the Bankruptcy Act, 1869, he becomes and remains incapable of acting as a Justice of the Peace until he has been newly assigned by her Majesty in that behalf.

ARTICLE 35.

MAGISTRATES IN THE CITY OF LONDON.

3 The Lord Mayor of London, the Recorder of London, and all the Aldermen are Justices of the Peace for the City of London by virtue of charters granted to the City of London.

The Lord Mayor of London, the Recorder of London, and all the Aldermen who have passed the chair are Justices of the Peace for the borough of Southwark.

ARTICLE 36.

MAGISTRATES BY CHARTER.

4 There are magistrates by charter in places which were municipal corporations before the Municipal Corporations Act of 1835 and are not within that Act.

11 Ma. st. 2, c. 8.

2 32 & 33 Vict. c. 62, s. 22. The disqualification of borough magistrates follows on their disqualification as mayors, aldermen, town-councillors, &c. See 32 & 33 Vict. c. 62, s. 21, applying to that Act 5 & 6 Will. 4, c. 76, ss. 52, 53. 3 Municipal Corporation Commissioners' Report, pp. 77, 80. There is also a "Justice of the Bridge Yard," as to whom see p. 93.

4 See 1. Hist. Crim. Law, 116-21.

CHAPTER VI.

OF COURTS OF QUARTER SESSION.

ARTICLE 37.

GENERAL QUARTER SESSIONS AND GENERAL SESSIONS.

1IT is the duty of the county magistrates named in any Commission of the Peace for any county, or part of a county, to hold Courts called the General Quarter Sessions of the Peace in the first week after the 11th day of October, the first week after the 28th day of December, the first week after the 31st day of March, and the first week after the 24th day of June.

2 Provided that, in order to prevent the holding of the Spring Sessions from interfering with the holding of the Spring Assizes, the justices assembled in the Quarter Sessions next after the 28th December may (if there be occasion to do so) name two Justices of the Peace, and empower them, as soon as may be after the time for holding the Spring Assizes is appointed, to fix a day for holding the next General Quarter Sessions of the Peace not earlier than the 7th of March nor later than the 22nd of April.

Such Courts are hereinafter called County Quarter Sessions.

ARTICLE 38.

BOROUGH QUARTER SESSIONS.

3 Her Majesty may grant a separate Court of Quarter

1 11 Geo. 4 & 1 Will. 4, c. 70, s. 35.

2 4 & 5 Will. 4, c. 47. When this Act was passed, the Spring Assizes were held in the spring. The present Spring Assizes are held much later than the old ones; but the old Spring Assizes correspond to the present Winter Assizes.

345 & 46 Vict. c. 50, ss. 162, 163, embodying 5 & 6 Will. 4, c. 76, s. 103, and 7 Will. 4 & 1 Vict. c. 78, ss. 49, 50; and see Rutter v. Chapman, 8 M. & W. 1, on the construction of the latter Act. For history of Court see Hist. Cr: Law, 116.

Sessions to any of the boroughs named in Schedule A or B of the 5 & 6 Will. 4, c. 76, or to any borough incorporated under 7 Will. 4 & 1 Vict. c. 78, upon such provision being made for the payment of the salary of a Recorder as is in the said Acts mentioned. If such a grant is made, her Majesty may appoint a barrister of five years' standing to be Recorder of the borough, and to hold that office during good behaviour.

The Courts of Quarter Session held under and by virtue of any such grant are hereinafter called Borough Quarter Sessions.

ARTICLE 39.

THE JURISDICTION OF COURTS OF QUARTER SESSION IN

CRIMINAL CASES.

The Courts of Quarter Session may try any person for any offence mentioned in the Commission of the Peace, or referred to by the general words contained in it [1 but not, it is said, offences newly created by a statute, unless an authority be given to them by express words].

2 They may not try treason, murder, any capital felony, any felony for which a person not previously convicted of felony is punishable by penal servitude for life, or

1. Misprision of treason.

2. Offences against the Queen's title, person, prerogative, or government, or against either House of Parliament. 3. Offences subject to the penalties of præmunire. 4. Blasphemy and offences against religion.

5. Administering or taking unlawful oaths.

6. Perjury and subornation of perjury.

7. Making or suborning any other person to make a false

1 2 Hawk. P. C. 47, quoting R. v. James, 2 Str. 1256; and see 1 Chitty, 139; 4 Steph. Com. 312. If this is the law, it seems to have fallen into disuse or neglect, for the Quarter Sessions in practice try all cases except those which they are forbidden to try either by 5 & 6 Vict. c. 38, s. 1, or by express words in the statute creating the offence. See the latter part of this Article. The Consolidation Acts of 1861 contain no express words authorizing the Quarter Sessions to try the large number of cases contained in them. The general words of the Commission are wide enough to cover anything.

25 & 6 Vict. c. 38, s. 1.