# The Justices of the Peace (Size and Chairmanship of Bench) (Amendment) Rules 1991, Note: Explanatory note


(This note is not part of the Rules)
These Rules amend the Justices of the Peace (Size and Chairmanship of Bench) Rules 1990 principally so as extend to the election of one or more deputy chairmen the optional procedure for drawing up a short list of candidates in advance of an election meeting which presently applies in respect of the election of a chairman. Amendments made by these Rules provide that the decision to adopt such a procedure in respect of the three subsequent election meetings may only be made where the justices have decided that no more than five deputy chairmen shall be elected at each of those meetings. Where the justices have decided to adopt the short list procedure for the election of one or more deputy chairmen, the number of deputy chairmen to be elected in respect of an election meeting at which the procedure applies is, in general, to be decided at the previous election meeting.
These Rules additionally provide that where no chairman or deputy chairman is present at a court sitting to deal with any case, the justices shall not appoint one of their number to preside unless satisfied that he is suitable for this purpose and that he has completed an appropriate course of instruction provided by a magistrates' courts committee, unless by reason of illness or emergency, no such justice is present.

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Source: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1991/1966/note (the official version)
Page: https://openlegislation.uk/justices-of-the-peace-size-and-chairmanship-of-bench-amendment-rules-1991/note
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives.