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District Courts of Scotland
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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A District Court is the lowest level of court in Scotland. It deals mainly with minor offences and they operate under summary procedure.
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They were introduced in 1975 as replacement for Burgh Police Courts (see Burgh); they deal with the most minor crimes. They are run by the local authorities. Each court comprises one or more Justices of the Peace (lay magistrates) who sit alone or in threes with a qualified legal assessor as convener or clerk of court.
They handle many cases of breach of the peace, drunkenness, minor assaults, petty theft, and offences under the Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982.
District Court operate under summary procedure and may not impose a fine in excess of £2,500 or sentence an offender to more than 60 days in prison. In practice, most offences are dealt with by a fine.
In Glasgow where the volume of business requires the employment of three solicitors as "stipendiary magistrates" who sit in place of the lay Justices. The Stipendiary Magistrates' court has the same sentencing power as the summary Sheriff Court.
The Scottish Executive has recently announced its intention to unify the management of the Sheriff and District courts in Scotland, but retaining lay Justices.
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