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Lay Magistrates (Abolition)

Volume 728: debated on Thursday 12 May 1966

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asked the Secretary of State for Scotland, in view of the disparity of sentences pronounced by lay magistrates on offenders who commit exactly similar offences, if he will seek to abolish such posts within the Scottish legal system.

Lay magistrates play a useful and necessary part in the summary criminal courts of Scotland today. I know of no sufficient reason for their abolition.