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Background

Background information regarding the handling of complaints under the Honorary Justices Act 2014 (the Act)

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Background

  1. This Guideline relates to the handling of complaints under the Honorary Justices Act 2014 (the Act) against Bail Justices and Justices of the Peace (Honorary Justices), and persons granted permission to use the title JP (Retired) or BJ (Retired), as the case may be.
  2. Honorary Justices make a valuable contribution to the Victorian community. It is important that the persons holding appointment as an Honorary Justice have the appropriate skills and capacities for the role and understand the necessity of maintaining the integrity of the Victorian justice system.
  3. The Act provides that the Attorney-General, as the Minister responsible for this Act of Parliament has a role in the outcome of complaints against Honorary Justices concerning removal from office and the revoking of permission granted to persons to use the title JP (Retired) or BJ (Retired), and making recommendations to the Governor in Council, where necessary.
  4. The Secretary, Department of Justice and Regulation also has legal responsibility under the Act for making decisions in relation to complaints made against Honorary Justices and persons granted permission to use the title JP (Retired) or BJ (Retired).
  5. The Secretary may delegate some of those decisions to senior officers within the department through an Instrument of Delegation made under the Act.1

III-health of the Honorary Justice

  1. From time to time, the investigation of a complaint identifies that an Honorary Justice no longer has the capacity (mental or physical) to satisfactorily discharge the duties of office. This is more common in the case of a Justice of the Peace, who is appointed for life.2
  2. In these cases, the Honorary Justice may consider resigning. The Honorary Justice is referred to the Guideline on the Use of Titles by Retired Honorary Justices (October 2014) for guidance on the circumstances in which an Honorary Justice, may be granted permission to use the title BJ (Retired) or JP (Retired).

 

Footnotes

[1] See Section 47 of the Honorary Justices Act 2014 for the power to delegate.

[2] See Section 7 of the Honorary Justices Act 2014. This compares with a Bail Justice, who must be under the age of 70 years at the time of appointment, is appointed for a maximum period of five years and their term of appointment or re-appointment ends on attaining 75 years of age (s17).

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