Page 38 - Keeping the Peace

32 Keeping the Peace – A History of Honorary Justices in Victoria
1970s and 1980s: professionalisation of the Magistrates’ Court
In 1969, the 200 courts of petty sessions, now known as Magistrates’ Courts, continued
to have a high volume of cases, but only one in five criminal cases was heard by a JP. The
64 remainder were heard by the state’s 63 Stipendiary Magistrates. The decision as to which
JPs were to regularly sit on the bench was arranged at the local level by consultation between the JPs and the Stipendiary Magistrates, with those with experience tending to be preferred.65
Efforts were made to improve the training of JPs. A symposium held in 1972 at the Southern Cross Hotel offered JPs ‘a full day program of instructional addresses from eminent and capable speakers’.
In 1975, the Truth newspaper ran an article entitled ‘JPs in Giant Rip-off ’ in which allegations were made concerning misconduct by some JPs who were reported to be charging European migrants $20 to witness their documents. This article was raised in Parliament and the Attorney-General, the Honorable Mr Wilcox, welcomed receiving the full particulars, pointing out that his government had been ‘at pains’ to improve the general standards of JPs.66
By 1977, there were 5,238 Justices, of whom 216 were women. Training was provided by the Monash University Law School. As had been the case since their inception, the JP numbers were not evenly spread across the state and availability varied. For example, Mr Jones, the Labour member for Melbourne, reported to parliament that of the 22 JPs listed in North Melbourne, 11 were unavailable on request or had left the area.67 They were sometimes difficult to find and the records were not easy to keep up-to-date. Yet when needed for extreme emergencies, they could be found.
64 La Trobe University, ‘Guilty, your worship. A study of Victoria’s Magistrates’ Courts’, 1980, p. 17. 65 Ibid, p. 20. 66 Victoria Parliamentary Debates, Legislative Assembly, 23 October 1975, Government Printer, p. 7891. 67 Victorian Parliamentary Debates, Legislative Assembly, 1 October 1975, Government Printer, p. 7033.
This symposium was held in the Southern Cross hotel, since demolished and now the site of the Department of Justice. ‘The Justice of the Peace’, October 1972