Court personal in CIVIL JS JUDGE/MAGISTRATE

Question 1

Roles of the judge and magistrate

Answer 1

Act impartially
Case management (before trial or hearing)
Determine liability and the remedy
Decide on costs

Question 2

Act impartial

Answer 2

The judge or magistrate in a civil case must be a impartial. This means the judge or magistrate must ensure that they oversee the case and make decision on liability without any bias toward or against either party. Judges and magistrates are also independent of government and the parliament

Question 3

Case management

Answer 3

*Active involvement to ensure the case is ready for trial
*Aim to ensure just, efficient, timely and cost effective resolution of the real issues in dispute
*overseeing jury (6 jury members maximum of 8)

Encourages one of the parties to back out and do a out of court settlement

Trying to organise things and know what points are going to be argued (filtering what is going to be heard) . Another example is ordering the parties to mediation

Question 4

Determine liability and remedy

Answer 4

*If not jury, judge decides liability and remedy (if any)

If there is no jury in the civil trial, the judge must decide whether the plaintiff has established their claim against the defendant, and if so, what remedy should be awarded. This means that the judge, not a jury, is the decider of facts. In

Question 5

Decide on costs

Answer 5

*Decide which party bears the costs
*Usually worked out at the end
After each hearing in a civil case the judge or magistrate will decide which party should bear the costs. The general rule is that working out the costs is left to then end, and the successful party is entitles to costs, but that is not always the case

Question 6

Strengths of roles of a judge and magistrate

Answer 6

*impartial umpire
*experts in law, legal processes and civil dispute
*Ensures both parties have opportunities to present case and participate
*Assist self represented parties

Question 7

Weaknesses of roles of judge and magistrate

Answer 7

*Risks of actual or apprehended bias
*Lack of diversity
*Extent to which case is managed depends on case and who is managing it
*Cannot overly interfere or assist self represented party