Magistrate

The term magistrate is used in a variety of systems of governments and laws to refer to a civilian officer who administers the law. In ancient Rome, a magistratus was one of the highest ranking government officers, and possessed both judicial and executive powers. In other parts of the world, such as China, a magistrate was responsible for administration over a particular geographic area. Today, in some jurisdictions, a magistrate is a judicial officer who hears cases in a lower court, and typically deals with more minor or preliminary matters. In other jurisdictions (e.g., England and Wales), magistrates may be volunteers without formal legal training who perform a judicial role with regard to minor matters. The term magistrate is used in a variety of systems of governments and laws to refer to a civilian officer who administers the law. In ancient Rome, a magistratus was one of the highest ranking government officers, and possessed both judicial and executive powers. In other parts of the world, such as China, a magistrate was responsible for administration over a particular geographic area. Today, in some jurisdictions, a magistrate is a judicial officer who hears cases in a lower court, and typically deals with more minor or preliminary matters. In other jurisdictions (e.g., England and Wales), magistrates may be volunteers without formal legal training who perform a judicial role with regard to minor matters. In ancient Rome, the word magistratus referred to one of the highest offices of state. Analogous offices in the local authorities, such as municipium, were subordinate only to the legislature of which they generally were members, ex officio, often a combination of judicial and executive power, constituting one jurisdiction. In Rome itself, the highest magistrates were members of the so-called cursus honorum -'career of honors'. They held both judicial and executive power within their sphere of responsibility (hence the modern use of the term 'magistrate' to denote both judicial and executive officers), and also had the power to issue ius honorarium, or magisterial law. The Consul was the highest Roman magistrate. The Praetor (the office was later divided into two, the Urban and Peregrine Praetors) was the highest judge in matters of private law between individual citizens, while the Curule Aediles, who supervised public works in the city, exercised a limited civil jurisdiction in relation to the market. Roman magistrates were not lawyers, but were advised by jurists who were experts in the law. The term was maintained in most feudal successor states to the western Roman Empire. However, it was used mainly in Germanic kingdoms, especially in city-states, where the term magistrate was also used as an abstract generic term denoting the highest office, regardless of the formal titles (e.g. Consul, Mayor, Doge), even when that was actually a council. The term 'chief magistrate' applied to the highest official, in sovereign entities the head of state and/or head of government. Under the 'civil law' systems of European countries, such as Belgium, France, Italy and the Netherlands, magistrat (French), magistrato (Italian) and magistraat (Dutch) are generic terms which comprise both prosecutors and judges, distinguished as the 'standing' versus 'sitting' magistrature, respectively. In Portugal, besides being used in the scope of the judiciary to designate prosecutors and judges, the term magistrado was also used to designate certain government officials, like the former civil governors of district. These were referred as 'administrative magistrates' to distinguish them from the judiciary magistrates. The President of Portugal is considered the Supreme Magistrate of the Nation. In Finland, maistraatti (the Finnish-language cognate of 'magistrate', officially translated as 'local register office') is a state-appointed local administrative office whose responsibilities include keeping population information and public registers, acting as a public notary and conducting civil marriages. In Mexico's Federal Law System, a magistrado (magistrate) is a superior judge (and the highest-ranking State judge), hierarchically beneath the Supreme Court Justices (Ministros de la Corte Suprema). The magistrado reviews the cases seen by a judge in a second term if any of the parties disputes the verdict. For special cases, there are magistrados superiores (superior magistrates) who review the verdicts of special court and tribunal magistrates. In the courts of England and Wales, magistrates—also known as justices of the peace (JPs)—are volunteers who hear prosecutions for and dispose of 'summary offences' and some 'triable-either-way offences' by making orders with regard to and placing additional requirements on offenders. Magistrates/JPs are limited to issuing sentences of no longer than twelve months. Magistrates/JPs have other limitations in their sentencing authority with powers extending to fines, community orders which can include curfews, electronic tagging, requirements to perform unpaid work up to 300 hours, and supervision for up to three years. In more serious cases, magistrates can send 'either-way' offenders to the Crown Court for sentencing when the magistrate feels a penalty should be imposed that is more severe than the magistrate is capable of sentencing.