... each year and they are sitting in a bench as a group of three. But thought sometimes a shortage of magistrate means they are just two, however it is not lawful to have just one. The lay magistrates preside over criminal trials in the magistrates' court, which deal with the vast majority of criminal cases. To be qualified in lay magistrate you must be between 18 and 65 when you are appointed. Also, you have to live within 15 miles of the area for which they are commissioned. However, they have to fill out an application form to become a Lay magistrate. They have to get this form from the Department for Constitutional Affairs. This diagram of the set up in the Magistrates Court and where everybody are sitting. About District Judges (magistrates' courts) Until August 2000 these District judges were known as Stipendiary Magistrates, but were renamed in order to ...

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