Discuss the role of magistrate and jurors in the legal decision-making Essay

Discuss the role of magistrate and jurors in the legal decision-making process - Essay Example Consider the disadvantages of the services that the magistrates and jurors provide in the legal decision-making. The contribution of magistrates and jurors to the legal decision-making will be assessed based on the consideration of the advantages and disadvantages of the services they provide in the legal decision-making. Courts and Legal Services Act 1990- includes provisions on appointments of District Judges and the courts’ procedure, specifically in respect to distribution of civil business between the County Courts and High Court. The Contempt of Court Act 1981- states that disclosure of anything that took place in the jury room amounts to a contempt of court and is therefore a criminal offence. Juries Act 1974- consolidates particular enactments relating to jury service, jurors, and juries with improvements and corrections made under the Consolidation of Enactments Act 1949. The Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Act 2007- contains fundamental legal procedures and courtsà ¢â‚¬â„¢ structure Condron v UK (2001) 31 EHRR 1- provides an example of how magistrates and jurors legal decision-making process can lead to breach of human rights. ... Summary of the arguments that point out that, indeed, the magistrates and jurors play a very critical role in the legal decision-making process. Question 2 Introduction The magistrates and jurors play a very important role in the resolution of both criminal and civil cases (Elliott and Frances, 2008, p. 12). For over 1000 years, jurors have formed a fundamental part of the English Legal System and have played very important role in the legal matters’ resolution for many centuries (Slapper and David, 2001, p. 35). Similarly, magistrates have also been playing a very instrumental role in resolving criminal and civil cases and have in recent years become extensively important in many of the cases in the English Legal System. The jurors form a jury an arrangement that is made up of a specific number of ordinary individuals who are called for service on any legal matter (Forsterlee & Horowitz, 1997, p. 307). Jurors’ main role is to bring their perspective to a case as lay pe rson with no knowledge of law. Jurors combine their common sense, wisdom, and experience to decide the facts relating to a particular case in order to reach a verdict (Cownie et al, 2007, p. 51). It is worth noting that jurors simply decide the verdict and not the law; the jury decides the question of the defendant guilt while the judge decides on the point of law. In respect to magistrates, they are local people volunteering their services. Magistrates do not have formal legal qualifications and are chosen based on their local knowledge. They sit in the magistrates’ court as a bench of two or three magistrates (Sanders and Young, 2004, p. 97). The court trial involves several processes. The initial process within