Section Two: Jurisdiction

Introduction

Jurisdiction means the scope of a court's power (or authority).

Not all courts can deal with all offences. Courts have some degree of specialisation to help ensure fairness of both process and outcome. For example there are the Employment Court and the Family Court, as well as lower level courts such as the Disputes Tribunal.

The Justices of the Peace Act 1866 empowered Justices to close public houses during a riot but today you do not have that power. However there are many Acts that do give Justices power over some offences within them, and in this section of the module you will practise checking whether or not you have jurisdiction over an offence or can deal with a defendant in some way.

Always keep in mind that where the Criminal Procedure Act says 'a court' it means a court acting within its own jurisdiction.

When someone says "a Justice of the Peace has jurisdiction over this charge or over the matter appearing before them in court", this can mean different things.

JATs and sentencing

Sometimes when a Justice of the Peace is said to have jurisdiction over a charge, this means that they have full jurisdiction to deal with the case from beginning to end. This includes presiding over the trial (usually called a Judge Alone Trial or JAT), determining a verdict (guilty or not guilty) and imposing a sentence where necessary. When presiding over JATs and imposing sentenced, Justices of the Peace sit in pairs.

Remand decisions

While Justices of the Peace may not have jurisdiction to preside over a trial or impose sentences in relation to certain charges, they may still have jurisdiction to make remand decisions. For instance, where a defendant has been arrested and appears before a Justice of the Peace in an arrest court.

Case administration

Justices of the Peace may have not have jurisdiction to preside over JATs or sentence a matter but may have jurisdiction to make certain case administration decisions, such as entering pleas or withdrawing charges.

Reading

  • Judicial JP Manual chapter 3