Catalogue description Home Office: Magistrates' Courts (MAG Symbol Series) Files

Search within or browse this series to find specific records of interest.

Date range

Details of HO 293
Reference: HO 293
Title: Home Office: Magistrates' Courts (MAG Symbol Series) Files
Description:

Files from the Home Office MAG (Magistrates' Courts) symbol series dealing with the administration, jurisdiction, appointment and control of magistrates' courts in England and Wales, the appointment and conditions of service of justices and justices' clerks, the functions of Magistrates' Courts Committees and the reorganisation of petty sessional divisions or areas.

The papers in this series relate mainly to particular issues giving rise to changes in policy or legislation, as well as to the preparation and passage of the legislation itself. Among the latter are the Criminal Justice Administration Act 1956, the Metropolitan Magistrates' Courts Act 1959 and the Justices of the Peace Act 1965.

Date: 1950-1988
Arrangement:

The papers in this series are arranged in numerical order by departmental file number. The inclusion of a date preceding a file number (as in (1959) 6/8/1) indicates that the year in which the file was created was included in the file reference number. Thus the full departmental reference of a file listed as (1959) 6/8/1 would be MAG/59 6/8/1.

Held by: The National Archives, Kew
Former reference in its original department: MAG Symbol file series
Legal status: Public Record(s)
Language: English
Physical description: 108 file(s)
Access conditions: Open
Immediate source of acquisition:

From 1988 Home Office

Administrative / biographical background:

Since these matters were and are the joint responsibility of the Home Secretary and the Lord Chancellor's Department, the Home Office role in this area, apart from instituting legislation and major changes in policy, is mainly as a consultative body, providing guidance and advice for magistrates' courts and Magistrates' Courts Committees when necessary. Much of the work therefore, involves liaison with the Lord Chancellor's Department, local authorities, trades unions and professional bodies such as the Magistrates' Association and the Justices' Clerks Society.

Have you found an error with this catalogue description?

Help with your research