{
  "url": "https://openlegislation.uk/courts-act-2003/section-26",
  "json_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/courts-act-2003/section-26.json",
  "legislation": "ukpga/2003/39",
  "legislation_title": "Courts Act 2003",
  "legislation_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/courts-act-2003",
  "path": "section/26",
  "kind": "section",
  "number": "26",
  "heading": "District Judges (Magistrates' Courts) able to act alone",
  "text": "(1) Nothing in the 1980 Act—\n(a) requiring a magistrates' court to be composed of two or more justices, or\n(b) limiting the powers of a magistrates' court when composed of a single justice,\napplies to a District Judge (Magistrates' Courts).\n(2) A District Judge (Magistrates' Courts) may—\n(a) do any act, and\n(b) exercise alone any jurisdiction,\nwhich can be done or exercised by two justices, apart from granting or transferring a licence.\n(3) Any enactment making provision ancillary to the jurisdiction exercisable by two justices of the peace also applies to the jurisdiction of a District Judge (Magistrates' Courts), unless the provision relates to granting or transferring a licence.\n(4) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .\n(5) “The 1980 Act” means the Magistrates' Courts Act 1980 (c. 43).",
  "extent": "E+W",
  "status": null,
  "version": "current",
  "annotations": [
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F1",
      "text": "S. 26(4) repealed (22.4.2014) by Crime and Courts Act 2013 (c. 22), s. 61(3), Sch. 10 para. 99 Table; S.I. 2014/954, art. 2(d) (with art. 3) (with transitional provisions and savings in S.I. 2014/956, arts. 3-11)"
    }
  ],
  "outstanding_effects": [],
  "provenance": {
    "source": "legislation.gov.uk",
    "source_url": "https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2003/39/section/26",
    "retrieved_at": "2026-10-28T17:08:39.708950+00:00",
    "licence": "OGL-UK-3.0",
    "licence_url": "https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/",
    "attribution": "Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives."
  }
}