A decision by magistrates whether to issue a summons pursuant to information laid involves the exercise of a judicial function, and is not merely administrative.
A summons (or warrant) is merely machinery for giving a defendant notice of the proceedings and for getting him before the Court.
A magistrate who issues a summons or warrant without applying his mind to the information and completing this judicial exercise will be ‘guilty of dereliction of duty’.
Lord Justice Widgery
[1975] QB 455
England and Wales
Cited by:
Cited – Craik, Chief Constable of Northumbria Police, Regina (on The Application of) v Newcastle Upon Tyne Magistrates’ Court Admn 30-Apr-2010
The claimant a retired Chief Constable sought judicial review of a decision to commit him for trial on a charge of unlawful imprisonment. The suspect and now prosecutor had been arrested and held in custody, but without the necessary timely review . .
Cited – London Borough of Newham, Regina (on the Application of) v Stratford Magistrates’ Court Admn 12-Oct-2004
. .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Magistrates
Updated: 09 November 2021; Ref: scu.408853