Court of Summary Jurisdiction (Northern Territory of Australia)

Last updated

The Court of Summary Jurisdiction is a court in the Northern Territory of Australia. It has jurisdiction to deal with criminal offences which occur in the territory. It is one of the courts that is usually referred to as a magistrates court.

Contents

History

The court was established under the Justices Act (NT) in 1974 [1] and replaced the courts of petty sessions commonly established in Australia since British settlement in 1788 to deal with less serious crime. Those courts followed the English tradition of justices of the peace sitting in and out of sessions in England.

Constitution

The court can be constituted by a stipendiary magistrate or two justices of the peace. In some situations, a single justice of the peace can hear a case if the maximum fine that can be imposed is no more than A$100 and the prosecution and the accused agree to the case being heard in this matter. Stipendiary magistrates are appointed by the Administrator of the Northern Territory under the Magistrates Act (NT).

Commencement of cases

Criminal cases are commenced by way of complaint, [2] although prior to 1992 they were commenced by way of information. A complaint is made to a justice of the peace. The complaint can be in writing or it can be made orally. Generally, a complaint must be made within six months of the crime occurring. [3]

The justice of the peace can issue a summons directing the offender to attend court or can issue a warrant for his or her arrest. [4]

The hearing

Following an offender’s arrest or appearance at court, the offender is given an opportunity to plead guilty or not guilty. If there is a guilty plea, the court can sentence the person straight away or may adjourn the case to another day. If there is a not guilty plea, the case is usually adjourned to another day so that witnesses can be subpoenaed to attend and give evidence.

The presiding magistrate sits as judge and jury and determines all issues of fact and all questions of law. In serious cases, the magistrate may commit the offender to the Supreme Court of the Northern Territory to stand trial. In less serious cases, the magistrate can punish the offender directly.

Punishment

The court has a range of options to punish offenders who plead or are found guilty. The court may simply fine the offender or in more serious situations, the court may imprison the offender.

Related Research Articles

Life imprisonment is any sentence of imprisonment for a crime under which convicted persons are to remain in prison either for the rest of their natural life or until pardoned, paroled or otherwise commuted to a fixed term. Crimes for which, in some countries, a person could receive this sentence include murder, attempted murder, conspiracy to commit murder, blasphemy, apostasy, terrorism, severe child abuse, rape, child rape, espionage, treason, high treason, drug dealing, drug trafficking, drug possession, human trafficking, severe cases of fraud, severe cases of financial crimes, aggravated criminal damage in English law, and aggravated cases of arson, kidnapping, burglary, or robbery which result in death or grievous bodily harm, piracy, aircraft hijacking, and in certain cases genocide, ethnic cleansing, crimes against humanity, certain war crimes or any three felonies in case of three-strikes law. Life imprisonment can also be imposed, in certain countries, for traffic offenses causing death. The life sentence does not exist in all countries: Portugal was the first to abolish life imprisonment, in 1884.

Justice of the peace Judicial officer elected or appointed to keep the peace and perform minor civic jobs

A justice of the peace (JP) is a judicial officer of a lower or puisne court, elected or appointed by means of a commission to keep the peace. In past centuries the term commissioner of the peace was often used with the same meaning. Depending on the jurisdiction, such justices dispense summary justice or merely deal with local administrative applications in common law jurisdictions. Justices of the peace are appointed or elected from the citizens of the jurisdiction in which they serve, and are usually not required to have any formal legal education in order to qualify for the office. Some jurisdictions have varying forms of training for JPs.

A hybrid offence, dual offence, Crown option offence, dual procedure offence, offence triable either way, or wobbler is one of the special class offences in the common law jurisdictions where the case may be prosecuted either summarily or as indictment. In the United States, an alternative misdemeanor/felony offense lists both county jail and state prison as possible punishment. Similarly, a wobblette is a crime that can be charged either as a misdemeanor or an infraction, for example, violating health protocols of COVID-19.

Magistrates court (England and Wales)

In England and Wales, a magistrates' court is a lower court which holds trials for summary offences and preliminary hearings for more serious ones. Some civil matters are also decided here, notably family proceedings. In 2015, there were roughly 330 magistrates' courts in England and Wales, though the government was considering closing up to 57 of these. The jurisdiction of magistrates' courts and rules governing them are set out in the Magistrates' Courts Act 1980.

Summary jurisdiction, in the widest sense of the phrase, in English law includes the power asserted by courts of record to deal brevi manu with contempts of court without the intervention of a jury. Probably the power was originally exercisable only when the fact was notorious, i.e. done in presence of the court. But it has long been exercised as to extra curial contempts.

The Magistrates Court of Western Australia is the first tier court in Western Australia, a state of Australia. It has jurisdiction in respect of criminal and civil matters, as well as a range of administrative matters. The court came into existence in May 2005 and was the result of the amalgamation of the Court of Petty Sessions of Western Australia, Small Claims Tribunal of Western Australia, and the Local Court of Western Australia.

The name of "Coroners Court" is the generic name given to proceedings in which a Coroner holds an inquest in Victoria.

The Coroners Court of Tasmania is the generic name given to the Coronial Division of the Magistrates Court of Tasmania. It is a court which has exclusive jurisdiction over the remains of a person and the power to make findings in respect of the cause of death of a person, a fire or an explosion in Tasmania.

Coroners Court of the Australian Capital Territory

The Coroner's Court of the Australian Capital Territory is a court which has exclusive jurisdiction over the remains of a person and the power to make findings in respect of the cause of death of a person or fire in Australian Capital Territory.

The title of Coroners Court is the name given to proceedings in which a coroner holds an inquest or an inquiry in the Northern Territory.

The Youth Justice Court of the Northern Territory is an Australian court which hears and determines cases concerning crimes committed by children under the age of 18 years in the Northern Territory.

The Local Court of the Northern Territory is a court in the Northern Territory which has jurisdiction in civil disputes up to A$250,000, and criminal jurisdiction in the trial of summary offences and deal with preliminary matters for indictable offences which are then heard by the Supreme Court of the Northern Territory.

The Mental Health Review Tribunal is a specialist tribunal established in the Northern Territory of Australia, a territory of Australia which has jurisdiction to deal with mental health issues within its boundaries. It has exclusive jurisdiction in terms of most mental health issues, although it may share jurisdiction on some issue with other courts, such as the Supreme Court of the Northern Territory. The tribunal came into existence in 1998 and it is located on Level 3, 9–11 Cavenagh Street, Darwin.

In the United States and several other countries, including the United Kingdom, Canada, and South Africa, a community court is a neighborhood-focused problem-solving court that applies a problem-solving approach to local crime and safety concerns. Community courts can take many forms, but all strive to create new relationships, both within the justice system and with outside stakeholders such as residents, merchants, churches and schools. Community courts emphasize collaboration, crime prevention, and improved outcomes, including lower recidivism and safer communities. Community courts are also sometimes referred to as community or neighborhood justice centers.

The Aboriginal Community Court is the name given to the specialised courts dealing with indigenous offenders in the Australian State of Western Australia. The proceedings are conducted in the Magistrates Court of Western Australia. The court is not an actual court, but it is the commonly referred to designation of the court when dealing with indigenous offenders accused of crime. This is to show its distinctiveness from the usual procedures involved in that criminal court, but also to demonstrate that the same court structure deals with both indigenous and non-indigenous offenders.

Maguire v SOCOG 1999 was a decision of the Australian Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission, which ruled on 18 October 1999 that a blind man had been directly discriminated against by the failure of a government agency to provide ticketing materials for the Sydney Olympic Games in braille.

Maguire v SOCOG 2000 was a legal case in Australia about making a website accessible to a visually impaired person.

The Physiotherapists Tribunal is a former tribunal established in the Australian state of New South Wales which dealt with appeals and complaints of professional misconduct by physiotherapists.

Life imprisonment in Australia is the most severe punishment handed down in the country. It is handed down for serious criminal offences by the State and Territory Supreme Courts in Australia. The vast majority of convictions punished by life imprisonment are for murder. It is also imposed, albeit rarely, for sexual assault, manufacturing and trafficking commercial quantities of illicit drugs, and offences against the justice system and government security, among others.

Code of Criminal Procedure (India) Act of the Parliament of India, dealing with the procedure of investigation and mechanism of punishment of an offence

The Code of Criminal Procedure commonly called Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) is the main legislation on procedure for administration of substantive criminal law in India. It was enacted in 1973 and came into force on 1 April 1974. It provides the machinery for the investigation of crime, apprehension of suspected criminals, collection of evidence, determination of guilt or innocence of the accused person and the determination of punishment of the guilty. It also deals with public nuisance, prevention of offences and maintenance of wife, child and parents.

References

  1. Justices Ordinance 1974 (NT)
  2. section 49
  3. section 52
  4. sections 57 & 58

Sources