... is enforced not to make magistrates proficient in the law, but give them an understanding of their duties, which they have to maintain. (b). "Lay magistrates are the workhorses of the English legal system." Despite being unqualified and unpaid they deal with a great deal of cases in the legal system. Lay magistrates tend to be middle-class, middle-aged and middle-minded and will have little in common with the young working-class defendants, who make up the majority of the defendants. While it is argued that they do not hear cases on their own, their workload is over whelming. They sit on as a bench of two or three magistrates, and their main function is to try minor criminal cases, as well as some civil function. The criminal cases they trial include: * Trying all summary offences. * Trying either way offences, which are suitable for magistrates. * Deciding issues such as whether ...

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