# Courts Act 2003, Section 66: Judges having powers of District Judges (Magistrates' Courts)

Extent: E+W

(1) Every holder of a judicial office specified in subsection (2) has the powers of a justice of the peace who is a District Judge (Magistrates' Courts) in relation to—
(a) criminal causes and matters,...
(b) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
(2) The offices are—
(a) judge of the High Court;
(aa) Master of the Rolls;
(ab) ordinary judge of the Court of Appeal;
(ac) Senior President of Tribunals;
(b) deputy judge of the High Court;
(c) Circuit judge;
(d) deputy Circuit judge;
(e) recorder.
(f) Chamber President, or Deputy Chamber President, of a chamber of the Upper Tribunal or of a chamber of the First-tier Tribunal;
(g) judge of the Upper Tribunal by virtue of appointment under paragraph 1(1) of Schedule 3 to the Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Act 2007;
(h) transferred-in judge of the Upper Tribunal (see section 31(2) of that Act);
(i) deputy judge of the Upper Tribunal (whether under paragraph 7 of Schedule 3 to, or section 31(2) of, that Act);
(j) office listed—
(i) in the first column of the table in section 89(3C) of the Senior Courts Act 1981 (senior High Court Masters etc), or
(ii) in column 1 of Part 2 of Schedule 2 to that Act (High Court Masters etc);
(k) district judge (which, by virtue of section 8(1C) of the County Courts Act 1984, here includes deputy district judge appointed under section 8 of that Act);
(l) deputy district judge appointed under section 102 of the Senior Courts Act 1981;
(m) judge of the First-tier Tribunal by virtue of appointment under paragraph 1(1) of Schedule 2 to the Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Act 2007;
(n) transferred-in judge of the First-tier Tribunal (see section 31(2) of that Act);
(o) member of a panel of Employment Judges established for England and Wales or for Scotland.
(2A) A qualifying judge advocate has the powers of a justice of the peace who is a District Judge (Magistrates' Courts) in relation to criminal causes and matters.
(3) For the purposes of section 45 of the 1933 Act, every holder of a judicial office specified in subsection (2) is qualified to sit as a member of a youth court.
(4) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
(5) In this section “ qualifying judge advocate ” means—
(a) the Judge Advocate General; or
(b) a person appointed under section 30(1)(a) or (b) of the Courts-Martial (Appeals) Act 1951 (assistants to the Judge Advocate General).
(6) Subsection (2A) is without prejudice to the powers conferred by this section on a person within subsection (2) where that person is also a qualifying judge advocate.
(7) This section does not give a person any powers that a District Judge (Magistrates' Courts) may have to act in a court or tribunal that is not a magistrates' court.

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Source: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2003/39/section/66 (the official version)
Page: https://openlegislation.uk/courts-act-2003/section-66
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives.