18. May. 2010. – 13:17:45
In order to be appointed as Justices of the Peace applicants have to jump through a fair number of hoops and that is as it should be. In order to sit in judgement of fellow citizens which is a great privilege and responsibility it would be a strange system which did not wish to appoint the best people for the job regardless of ethnic origins, position in society, marital status, social status, political affiliation. All that is required is good health, good character, the required referees and if there is a disability this will be considered on the individual merits of the applicant. The personal qualities necessary are in addition understanding and communication, social awareness, maturity & sound temperament, sound judgement, commitment & reliability.
As happens regularly in towns all over the country new magistrates were recently sworn in at York. At the ceremony Judge Ashurst said: “Every single case is different. Our communities require people with knowledge of the world and bags of common sense to do the justice which has traditionally been done in these courts.” [my italics]
When I was sworn in during the 1990s the appointee had to possess as a requirement "common sense". As the good Judge said above and as many would agree "common sense" as a necessary requirement seems to be....you guessed right.........common sense. But it`s not. Sometime in the last ten years that requirement was withdrawn. As I understand the reasons that were issued at the time it was asserted that what would be common sense to one person might not be common to another especially somebody whose origin was not of the UK where the word common [belonging to all] would not necessarily be applicable.
Perhaps the Judge was unaware of this. Perhaps he was well aware and chose his words deliberately. In any event in my opinion he did us all a favour and especially the new JPs in emphasising that whether or not it`s official or unofficial common sense is more than a worthy attribute of a magistrate; it is a necessity.
As happens regularly in towns all over the country new magistrates were recently sworn in at York. At the ceremony Judge Ashurst said: “Every single case is different. Our communities require people with knowledge of the world and bags of common sense to do the justice which has traditionally been done in these courts.” [my italics]
When I was sworn in during the 1990s the appointee had to possess as a requirement "common sense". As the good Judge said above and as many would agree "common sense" as a necessary requirement seems to be....you guessed right.........common sense. But it`s not. Sometime in the last ten years that requirement was withdrawn. As I understand the reasons that were issued at the time it was asserted that what would be common sense to one person might not be common to another especially somebody whose origin was not of the UK where the word common [belonging to all] would not necessarily be applicable.
Perhaps the Judge was unaware of this. Perhaps he was well aware and chose his words deliberately. In any event in my opinion he did us all a favour and especially the new JPs in emphasising that whether or not it`s official or unofficial common sense is more than a worthy attribute of a magistrate; it is a necessity.
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