I retired from the magistracy in 2015 after 17 years mainly as a presiding justice

United Kingdom
My current blog can be accessed at https://thejusticeofthepeaceblog.blogspot.com/

ELECTION DAY BUT NOT FOR MAGISTRATES

 06. May. 2010. – 12:23:58 

I have just cast my votes for the general and local election. Nothing unusual in that of course. At this late stage I must admit to voting at the age of eighteen when the voting age was set at twenty one. What was a politically aware teenager to do? I had received a voting card and when I presented it at the local polling station there it was written less on tablets of stone; more New Roman typescript, on the electoral role of a solid Tory seat populated 80% by solid working class people who valued their MP and his efforts for his constituency more than the political label around his neck. Anyway back to today`s crosses that we are marking and for the first time I can recollect and I`ve lived in the same house for over twenty years there was a queue at the polling station. It will be interesting to discover whether the turn out nationally is higher than expected.

The whole process of voting set me thinking about the procedures under which judges and magistrates arrive in their positions. It is well known that many judicial positions in the United States are elective. My colleagues and I are appointed until the age of seventy when we are put out to grass. Being an enthusiastic carnivore I can`t say I`m looking forward to that day.

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