ABSTRACT
The position of the clerk to the justices is key to the functioning of the court and it was thus seen as of critical importance to the research to discover how non-CPS prosecutions were seen and experienced by those who legally managed the court. Clerks to the justices give legal advice to the lay magistrates both inside and out of the court, and cultivate a relationship with magistrates to ensure that their advice is respected. The Crime and Disorder Act 1998 extends the range of functions that may be delegated from magistrates to clerks. These powers were intended to allow better case management, so that delays in magistrates' courts can be kept to a minimum. The experience of magistrates' justices' clerks is clearly that the systems in which investigative and prosecutorial functions are discharged by a single agency works satisfactorily.
