A District Court was the least authoritative

Precedent

In common law legal systems, a precedent or authority is a principle or rule established in a legal case that a court or other judicial body may apply when deciding subsequent cases with similar issues or facts...

 type of criminal

Criminal justice

Criminal Justice is the system of practices and institutions of governments directed at upholding social control, deterring and mitigating crime, or sanctioning those who violate laws with criminal penalties and rehabilitation efforts...

 court in Scotland

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

. The court operated under summary procedure

Summary offence

A summary offence is a criminal act in some common law jurisdictions that can be proceeded with summarily, without the right to a jury trial and/or indictment .- United States :...

 and dealt primarily with minor criminal offences. District Courts have been replaced with Justice of the Peace Court

Justice of the Peace Court

A Justice of the Peace Court is the least authoritative type of criminal court in Scotland. The court operates under summary procedure and deals primarily with less serious criminal offences.-History:...

s.

History

District courts were introduced in 1975, as part of the local government reorganisation process as a replacement for Burgh Police Courts

Police burgh

A police burgh was a Scottish burgh which had adopted a “police system” for governing the town. They existed from 1833 to 1975.-The 1833 act:The first police burghs were created under the Burgh Police Act, 1833...

 and sat in each local authority area

Subdivisions of Scotland

For local government purposes, Scotland is divided into 32 areas designated as "council areas" which are all governed by unitary authorities designated as "councils"...

 under summary procedure

Summary offence

A summary offence is a criminal act in some common law jurisdictions that can be proceeded with summarily, without the right to a jury trial and/or indictment .- United States :...

 only. The courts were each run by the local authority within whose jurisdiction it operated. Each court comprised one or more Justices of the Peace

Justice of the Peace

A justice of the peace is a puisne judicial officer elected or appointed by means of a commission to keep the peace. Depending on the jurisdiction, they might dispense summary justice or merely deal with local administrative applications in common law jurisdictions...

 — lay magistrates appointed by Ministers — who sat singly or in threes; a qualified legal assessor acted as clerk of court.

Role

They handled many cases of breach of the peace

Breach of the peace

Breach of the peace is a legal term used in constitutional law in English-speaking countries, and in a wider public order sense in Britain.-Constitutional law:...

, minor assault

Assault

In law, assault is a crime causing a victim to fear violence. The term is often confused with battery, which involves physical contact. The specific meaning of assault varies between countries, but can refer to an act that causes another to apprehend immediate and personal violence, or in the more...

s, petty theft

Theft

In common usage, theft is the illegal taking of another person's property without that person's permission or consent. The word is also used as an informal shorthand term for some crimes against property, such as burglary, embezzlement, larceny, looting, robbery, shoplifting and fraud...

, and offences under the Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982

Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982

The Civic Government Act 1982 is an Act of the United Kingdom Parliament which makes provision for a wide range of civic government matters....

. However, they could handle any offence that could competently be dealt with under summary procedure. Their sentencing powers were limited to a fine in excess of £2,500 or imprisonment of up to 60 days. In practice, most offences were dealt with by a fine.

Stipendary Magistrates in Glasgow

In Glasgow

Glasgow

Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...

, the volume of business

Business

A business is an organization engaged in the trade of goods, services, or both to consumers. Businesses are predominant in capitalist economies, where most of them are privately owned and administered to earn profit to increase the wealth of their owners. Businesses may also be not-for-profit...

 required the employment of four solicitor

Solicitor

Solicitors are lawyers who traditionally deal with any legal matter including conducting proceedings in courts. In the United Kingdom, a few Australian states and the Republic of Ireland, the legal profession is split between solicitors and barristers , and a lawyer will usually only hold one title...

s as "stipendiary magistrate

Magistrate

A magistrate is an officer of the state; in modern usage the term usually refers to a judge or prosecutor. This was not always the case; in ancient Rome, a magistratus was one of the highest government officers and possessed both judicial and executive powers. Today, in common law systems, a...

s" who sit in place of the lay Justices. The Stipendiary Magistrates' court remains under the new JP court system, and has (and had) the same sentencing power as the summary Sheriff Court

Sheriff Court

Sheriff courts provide the local court service in Scotland, with each court serving a sheriff court district within a sheriffdom.Sheriff courts deal with a myriad of legal procedures which include:*Solemn and Summary Criminal cases...

.

Reform and abolition

The Scottish Government has now unified the management of the Sheriff and District courts in Scotland, but retained lay Justices. This was done by the Criminal Proceedings etc. (Reform) (Scotland) Act 2007, which enabled the Scottish Ministers to replace District Courts by "Justice of the Peace Courts".

The new Justice of the Peace Courts are managed by the Scottish Court Service

Scottish Court Service

The Scottish Court Service is the body which is responsible for the administration of the Court system in Scotland. The Service employs over 1000 staff members in Scotland's 49 Sheriff Courts, the Court of Session and the High Court of Justiciary, Justice of the Peace Courts and at the Service's HQ...

. Responsibility for the Courts was transferred from the local authorities in a rolling programme of court unification that concluded in February 2010. The District Courts were replaced by Justice of the Peace Courts as follows:

• Sheriffdom of Lothian and Borders, 10 March 2008
• Sheriffdom of Grampian, Highlands and Islands, 2 June 2008
• Sheriffdom of Glasgow and Strathkelvin, 8 December 2008
• Sheriffdom of Tayside, Central and Fife, 23 February 2009
• Sheriffdom of North Strathclyde, 14 December 2009
• Sheriffdom of South Strathclyde, Dumfries & Galloway, 22 February 2010