Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- List of figures
- List of tables
- Preface
- Preface to the first edition of ‘The Machinery of Justice in England’
- Abbreviations
- I Historical introduction
- II Civil jurisdiction
- III Tribunals
- IV Criminal jurisdiction
- 19 Courts with original criminal jurisdiction
- 20 Coroners' Courts
- 21 Courts with appellate criminal jurisdiction
- 22 The process of prosecution
- 23 Criminal procedure
- 24 The process of sentencing (including probation)
- 25 Juvenile courts
- 26 The matrimonial jurisdiction of magistrates – the Domestic Court
- V The personnel of the law
- VI The European dimension
- VII The cost of the law
- VIII Law Reform
- Appendix A The Report of the Civil Justice Review
- Table of Cases cited
- Table of Statutes cited
- Table of Stationery Office publications cited
- Index
26 - The matrimonial jurisdiction of magistrates – the Domestic Court
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 10 January 2011
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- List of figures
- List of tables
- Preface
- Preface to the first edition of ‘The Machinery of Justice in England’
- Abbreviations
- I Historical introduction
- II Civil jurisdiction
- III Tribunals
- IV Criminal jurisdiction
- 19 Courts with original criminal jurisdiction
- 20 Coroners' Courts
- 21 Courts with appellate criminal jurisdiction
- 22 The process of prosecution
- 23 Criminal procedure
- 24 The process of sentencing (including probation)
- 25 Juvenile courts
- 26 The matrimonial jurisdiction of magistrates – the Domestic Court
- V The personnel of the law
- VI The European dimension
- VII The cost of the law
- VIII Law Reform
- Appendix A The Report of the Civil Justice Review
- Table of Cases cited
- Table of Statutes cited
- Table of Stationery Office publications cited
- Index
Summary
As was mentioned earlier (chapter 6(iii)), magistrates' courts have jurisdiction over a range of family law matters. This is obviously something which falls outside the general scope of a chapter on the criminal courts, but until day dawns for a unified Family Court (see chapter 6(iii)) it is necessary to deal with this in the general context of the magistrates' courts.
For those who are looking at the English legal system for the first time, it must seem distinctly odd that the magistrates' courts have any jurisdiction in family law matters. Magistrates' courts are primarily criminal courts, family law is primarily civil law and we would therefore expect family law to be a matter for the High Court and the county court, not for the magistrates' courts. The explanation for this jurisdiction is partly historical. As was mentioned earlier (chapter 19(ii)) the magistrates at one time had a large number of administrative functions, and these included the administration of the poor law. As part of this they had power to punish those who failed to maintain their dependants and who ended up a charge on the poor-rate as a result. A section of the poor were illegitimate children, and here the magistrates tried to identify the men responsible for their appearance in the world and make them pay for their upkeep.
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- Information
- Jackson's Machinery of Justice , pp. 317 - 324Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1989