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Comment Critically On the Use of Lay People As Decision Makers In the English Legal System.
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COMMENT CRITICALLY ON THE USE OF LAY PEOPLE AS DECISION MAKERS IN THE ENGLISH LEGAL SYSTEM A lay person is the term used to describe someone who has no formal legal qualifications. One use of lay lay people in deciding cases is Magistrates who deal with criminal cases in the Magistrate's court. This is the criminal court, which deals with relatively minor offences (summary). In this court Magistrates perform the functions of both judge and jury. Juries are not used here. Therefore Magistrates decide on guilt and on the appropriate sentence. The use of lay people in the legal system is not confined to Magistrates. Juries and usually the members of tribunal panels are lay persons. Magistrates are appointed by the Lord Chancellor after they are recommended by other Magistrates. Therefore we can distinguish a clear tendency to appoint the same type of people as themselves. Since Magistrates are...
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