District Judge in United Kingdom

Definition of District Judge

In accordance with the work A Dictionary of Law, this is a description of District Judge : In the county courts, a judicial officer appointed by the Lord Chancellor from solicitors of not less than seven years’ standing. The district judge supervises interim (interlocutory) and post-judgment stages of the case, but can also try cases within a financial limit defined by statute. District judges were formerly known as district registrars.

district judge (magistrates’ court) A barrister or solicitor of not less than seven years’ standing, appointed by the Lord Chancellor to sit in a magistrates’ court on a full-time salaried basis: formerly (before August 2000) called a stipendiary magistrate. Metropolitan district judges (magistrates’ court) sit in magistrates’ courts for Inner London; other magistrates sit in large provincial centres. They have power to perform any act and to exercise alone any jurisdiction that can be performed or exercised by two justices of the peace, except the grant or transfer of any licence. In other respects their powers are the same as other justices.

Definition of District Judges (Magistrates’ Courts)

They hear criminal cases, youth cases and some civil cases in the magistrates’ court.

District Judge in relation with the Courts and Tribunals in England

A District Judge’s work involves a wide spectrum of civil and family law cases, e.g. claims for damages and injunctions, possession proceedings against mortgage borrowers and property tenants, divorces, child proceedings, domestic violence injunctions and insolvency proceedings. District judges are full-time judges who deal with the majority of cases in the county courts. They are assigned on appointment to a particular circuit and may sit at any of the county courts or district registries of the High Court on that circuit.

District Judge (Magistrates’ Courts) in North Ireland

Formerly known as resident magistrates but in June 2008 they were renamed as District Judges (Magistrates’ Courts).

District Judges (Magistrates’ Courts) deal with both criminal and civil cases. All criminal cases, even the most serious, are heard in the first instance in the magistrates’ court (see committal proceedings).

District Judges (Magistrates’ Courts) also exercise a wide range of civil jurisdiction including the recovery of debt, ejectments, domestic/affiliation proceedings and Public Health legislation, certain planning appeals, applications under the Education and Library Orders and Electoral Law matters.