Anthony & Berryman's Magistrates Court Guide 2022

The updated edition of this annual title remains the essential publication that no court practitioner can afford to be without. It includes straightforward coverage of new case law, current court procedure, criminal offences, sentencing and more to ensure you have a complete picture of the law. Practical commentary and excellent value for money puts this title ahead of the competition as the single most important guide to the activities of the Magistrates Court.

The 2022 edition includes the following updates:

• The Sentencing Act 2020
• The Magistrates’ Court Sentencing Guidelines
• The Domestic Abuse Act 2021

The new edition reflects the latest cases on:

• Assaults on emergency workers – meaning of ‘acting in the exercise of the functions’
• Breach of a restraining order – ‘without reasonable excuse’ sufficient to ensure a blameless person will not be convicted
• Obstructing the police – no obligation for an individual to give name and address – the Covid regulations did not create such an obligation or require one to be implied
• Deliberate physically obstructive conduct by protesters is capable of constituting a lawful excuse for the purposes of section 137 of the Highways Act 1980, even where the impact of the deliberate obstruction on other highway users is more than de minimis
• Prosecution costs – recovery of pre-commencement costs
• Sentence reduced by 25% on account of unjustified delay between arrest and notice of prosecution
• Causation in causing death offences
• Sending indictable only cases to the Crown Court in the absence of the defendant
• Time limits – when a written charge is issued
• Circumstances in which a defendant will be allowed to vacate his or her plea of guilty in the magistrates’ court