Local justice area

Local justice areas are units in England and Wales established by the Courts Act 2003,[1] replacing[1] and directly based on the previous petty sessional divisions. They have been in existence since 2005.[2]

Local justice areas are used to determine which magistrates' courts may hear a particular case. Specifically, cases may only be heard in courts which are in:

  • a place in the local justice area in which the offence is alleged to have been committed,
  • a place in the local justice area in which the person charged with the offence resides,
  • a place in the local justice area in which the witnesses, or the majority of the witnesses, reside, or
  • a place where other cases raising similar issues are being dealt with.

The areas established were identical to the petty sessional divisions. They have since been amended by the merger of South Pembrokeshire and North Pembrokeshire to a single Pembrokeshire local justice area,[3] and the merger of De Maldwyn and Welshpool to a single Montgomeryshire local justice area[3] – this change came into force in 2006, although the magistrates already shared the same courtroom.

A further amendment occurred in 2006 when the areas of Shrewsbury, Oswestry and Drayton were combined to become a new area named Shrewsbury and North Shropshire.[4] The areas of Telford and Bridgnorth and South Shropshire were also combined to become a new area named Telford and South Shropshire.[4]

Each local justice area is part of a larger courts board area, which replaced the magistrates' courts committee areas with the inauguration of Her Majesty's Courts Service in 2005.[5]

England

Avon and Somerset

Bedfordshire

Cambridgeshire

Cheshire

Cleveland

Durham
  • North Durham
  • South Durham

Cumbria

Derbyshire
  • High Peak
  • North East Derbyshire and Dales
  • Southern Derbyshire

Devon and Cornwall
  • East Cornwall
  • Central Devon
  • North Devon
  • Plymouth District
  • West Cornwall
  • South Devon

Dorset

Bournemouth Poole Weymouth

Essex
  • Mid-North Essex
  • Mid-South Essex
  • North East Essex
  • North West Essex
  • South East Essex
  • South West Essex

Gloucestershire
  • Gloucestershire

Greater London

Greater Manchester

Hampshire (and the Isle of Wight)

Consolidated in 1993 - see

Hertfordshire
  • West & Central Hertfordshire
  • North & East Hertfordshire

Humberside

Kent
  • Central Kent
  • East Kent
  • North Kent

Lancashire

Leicestershire (and Rutland)

Lincolnshire

Merseyside

Norfolk

Northamptonshire

Northumbria (Northumberland and Tyne and Wear)
  • North Northumbria
  • South Northumbria

North Yorkshire

Nottinghamshire

South Yorkshire

Staffordshire

Source:

Suffolk
  • North East Suffolk
  • South East Suffolk
  • West Suffolk

Surrey
  • North Surrey - Staines Magistrates Court
  • North West Surrey - Woking Magistrates Court (now closed)
  • South East Surrey - Redhill Magistrates Court
  • South West Surrey - Guildford Magistrates Court

Proposal now to merge all Surrey Courts

Sussex
  • Sussex (Central) - Brighton and Lewes Magistrates Courts
  • Sussex (Eastern) - Eastbourne and Hastings Magistrates Courts
  • Sussex (Northern) - Crawley, Haywards Heath and Horsham Magistrates Courts
  • Sussex (Western)- Worthing and Chichester Magistrates Courts

Thames Valley (Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire)

Warwickshire
  • Warwickshire

West Mercia (Herefordshire, Shropshire, Worcestershire)

West Midlands

West Yorkshire

Wiltshire
  • North West Wiltshire
  • South East Wiltshire
  • Swindon

Wales

References
  1. "Courts Act 2003: Section 8", legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives, 2003 c. 39 (s. 8)
  2. "Local Justice Areas Order 2005", legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives, SI 2005/554
  3. "The Local Justice Areas (No.2) Order 2005", legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives, SI 2005/2949
  4. "The Local Justice Areas (No.1) Order 2006", legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives, SI 2006/1839
  5. "The Courts Boards Areas (Amendment) Order 2004", legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives, SI 2004/1303

See also
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