48 George E. Hozvard, 



As a judge the position of the magistrate is very important. 

 His court is always open ; here there are no long delays of 

 justice as in the ancient tourn or leet. The magistrate, in 

 his individual capacity, is always at his post. At an early 

 day he acquired the right, for a time co-ordinately with the 

 sheriff,! Qf conducting the preliminary examination of persons 

 charged with crimes and felonies. By subsequent legislation 

 this duty was imposed, sometimes upon one, sometimes on 

 two justices, as the cases varied.^ At present, however, the 

 first proceedings in criminal actions, except high treason, are 

 usually conducted in petty sessions, though the examination 

 may still be made by a single justice even when not sitting 

 in open court. ^ 



More interesting historically is the power of the justice to 

 hear and determine minor criminal causes without the aid 

 of a jury. His jurisdiction in such matters is wholly the 

 creation of statute. The only procedure known to the com- 

 mon law in criminal cases, however insignificant, was that 

 before judge and jury. And the right to such a trial was 

 confirmed by magna charta."^ But experience demonstrated 

 at an early day the impossibility of carrying out this principle 

 in all cases. The overburdening of the ordinary criminal 

 courts with petty actions, the necessity of prompt justice 

 through local magistrates, precisely in such minor cases, and 

 the early appearance of police ordinances relating to labor 

 and trade : these were the chief reasons for the institution of 

 justices of the peace.^ The early statutes conferred upon the 



1 Examinations were conducted by the sheriff in his tourn until i Edward VI, 

 when this power was taken away : Gneist, II, 170, 207. Justices first acquired the 

 right by statute, though they had long exercised it, by i and 2 followed by 2 and 

 3 Philip and Mary. Cf. Lambard, Eircnarcha, 212; Stephen, Hist, of Crim. 

 Law, I, 219. 



2 Gneist, II, 207-20; Stephen, Hist, of Crim. Law, I, 216-33, gives the his- 

 tory of the procedure in preliminary examinations. For the procedure in exam- 

 inations, see Maitland, Justice and Police, 129 ff. 



3 Maitland, Justice and Police, (j\; Wright, The Office of Magistrate, ^2. But 

 compare I\inblanque, How We Are Governed, 185, who states that the first pro- 

 ceedings always take place in petty sessions. 



* Gneist, II, 221. 5 Gneist, II, 221. 



282 



