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The Magistrate's Tale: A Front Line Report from a New JP
 
 
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The Magistrate's Tale: A Front Line Report from a New JP (Paperback)

by Trevor Grove (Author), Lord Justice Auld (Introduction)
5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)

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Product details

  • Paperback: 304 pages
  • Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC; New edition edition (1 Sep 2003)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0747561834
  • ISBN-13: 978-0747561835
  • Product Dimensions: 19.6 x 12.8 x 2.2 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 151,389 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in these categories:

    #8 in  Books > Business, Finance & Law > Law > Jurisdictions Other Than England & EU > Civil
    #22 in  Books > Biography > Medical, Legal & Social Sciences > Legal
    #35 in  Books > Business, Finance & Law > Law > Jurisdictions Other Than England & EU > Courts & Procedure

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Product Description

Daily Telegraph 17th August 2002
"Grove’s enjoyable book reveals what justices actually do, what they are like, who they are, what irritates and inspires them." --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Sunday Telegraph 18th August 2002
"gives a fresh, contemporary perspective on the work of the 30,000 lay magistrates" --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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43 of 46 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Fresh insight into the magistracy, 25 Feb 2003
By Alex Crawford (Aldershot, UK) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Magistrate's Tale: A Front Line Report from a New JP (Hardcover)
I was fortunate enough to receive this book as a Christmas present from my son - admittedly after a strong hint that I would like to have it. I was glad that I found time to read it before I first sat on the Bench in January 2003.

By describing his own thoughts and feelings as he applied, was interviewed and appointed, undertook his training and then gained his first two years' experience on the Bench in north London, Trevor Grove performs an excellent service. His lively accounts of each stage in his development, from initial application to completing his probation, very much accorded with my own journey over the last year, so they served to reinforce what I am learning. Here is someone who has recently lived through his own novitiate - and survived.

The Magistrate's Tale is exceptionally well written, as one might expect from a professional journalist, who worked for The Spectator, Evening Standard, The Observer and The Daily Telegraph, and was Editor of The Sunday Telegraph. This is his second book. His first, The Juryman's Tale, was published by Bloomsbury in 1998, after he had been inspired by serving as a juror at the Old Bailey in a 64-day trial that involved the kidnap of a Greek shipping magnate and a $3,000,000 ransom. So impressed was he with that experience of the criminal justice system that he responded positively to the suggestion of a JP friend that he should apply to become a magistrate.

His account of observing magistrates before he completed his application included one case that grabbed his attention - that of a man found to be drunk in charge of his car, although he had been in the back seat...
As it happened, one of the "structured observations" in my training - the trial of a 'Not Guilty' case - was very similar. The only differences were that the sleeping driver was found at the wheel and the engine was running. That case was particularly interesting because the standard of proof was not "beyond reasonable doubt" but "the balance of probabilities". The burden of proof therefore shifted to the Defence, which sought to employ the statutory defence that, at the material time, there was no likelihood of the defendant driving or attempting to drive whilst in excess of the legal limit.

The Aldershot Bench took some 20 minutes to decide that, on the balance of probabilities, it was more likely than not that the defendant would have driven whilst unfit. Even so, although he had his clean driving licence endorsed with 10 penalty points, he must have been happy to get away with a £300 fine and £300 costs, rather than the disqualification that Grove claimed to be mandatory.

Grove's feelings on being sworn in also struck a chord because, like me, he was particularly impressed by the last part of the oath: "I will do right to all manner of people after the laws and usages of this Realm without fear or favour, affection or ill-will."
...The Magistrate's Tale is a fascinating mixture of history, endorsement of the magistracy in the 2001 review by Lord Justice Auld (who provides the foreword to Grove's book), visits to courts throughout the country, and revealing interviews, such as that with Sue Baring, chair of the British Institute of Human Rights, who started her 21 years as JP on the Winchester Bench in 1965.

Happily for a novice like myself, The Magistrate's Tale ends on an optimistic note. After all, no one wants to be joining a failing institution in its final throes...
I therefore recommend The Magistrate's Tale as a worthwhile addition to the bookshelves of candidate, new and even experienced JPs who want a fresh insight into the magistracy.
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