JPs now using logbooks

President of the St Andrew Justices of the Peace Association (SAJP), Marigold Harding, says justices of the peace (JPs) are now using logbooks to document the execution of their legal duties.

"We have recently established what are called logbooks, where each JP is required to record all the documents they have witnessed and all the work they have done in communities that relate to the Justice of the Peace Act," Harding told the government news agency in a recent interview.

She noted that this has come about as JPs cannot recall all the documents they have signed, and if a matter comes up in court and the JP's name is there as a signatory, he would be able to refer to his logbook.

"You can't go to court and say, 'I can't recall' or 'I don't remember', and that is the purpose of the logbook," she explained.

Harding said that the custos rotulorum was responsible for the oversight of logbook usage among JPs and that the custos could at any time request to review a JP's logbook.

"All JPs are obliged to respond to the custos every year confirming their address, telephone number and email address, and the custos can call in any logbook at any time," she noted.

In 2018, five amendments were made to the Justice of the Peace Act of 1850. The amended 2018 act now stipulates the selection, appointment, discipline, directive, and code of conduct of JPs, as well as expands the geographical and monetary prerogatives of JPs.