The Chief Metropolitan Stipendiary Magistrate, known as Chief Metropolitan Police Magistrate until 1949, and also known as the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate and Chief Magistrate of the Police Courts of the Metropolis, was a senior British magistrate based in London. The most senior metropolitan stipendiary magistrate (full-time magistrates appointed for London and the surrounding counties), the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate had responsibilities for the administration of the London

magistrates' court A magistrates' court is a lower court where, in several jurisdictions, all criminal proceedings start. Also some civil matters may be dealt with here, such as family proceedings. Courts * Magistrates' court (England and Wales) * Magistrate's Cou ...

s as well as the appointment of metropolitan stipendiary magistrates. He also had special responsibilities in relation to

extradition Extradition is an action wherein one jurisdiction delivers a person accused or convicted of committing a crime in another jurisdiction, over to the other's law enforcement. It is a cooperative law enforcement procedure between the two jurisdi ...

proceedings. The Chief Metropolitan Magistrate was based at

Bow Street Magistrates' Court Bow Street Magistrates' Court became one of the most famous magistrates' court in England. Over its 266-year existence it occupied various buildings on Bow Street in Central London, immediately north-east of Covent Garden. It closed in 2006 a ...

. The position was abolished on 31 August 2000 by the

Access to Justice Act 1999 The Access to Justice Act 1999 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It replaced the legal aid system in England and Wales. It created the Legal Services Commission, replacing the Legal Aid Board, and two new schemes: Community Legal ...

, which unified the stipendiary bench of England and Wales and renamed stipendiary magistrates to District Judge (Magistrates’ Courts). The position of Chief Metropolitan Magistrate, which had no equivalent outside of London, was replaced with that of Senior District Judge (Chief Magistrate), also known as Chief Magistrate, who has leadership responsibility for all District Judges (Magistrates’ Courts) in England and Wales. The most famous Chief Metropolitan Magistrate was the novelist

Henry Fielding Henry Fielding (22 April 1707 – 8 October 1754) was an English novelist, irony writer, and dramatist known for earthy humour and satire. His comic novel ''Tom Jones'' is still widely appreciated. He and Samuel Richardson are seen as founders ...

, who founded the

Bow Street Runners The Bow Street Runners were the law enforcement officers of the Bow Street Magistrates' Court in the City of Westminster. They have been called London's first professional police force. The force originally numbered six men and was founded in ...

, London's first intermittently funded, full-time police force.

List of Chief Metropolitan Stipendiary Magistrates

* 1739/1740–1746: Sir Thomas de Veil * 1748–1754:

* 1754–1780: Sir John Fielding * 1780–1793: Sir Sampson Wright * 1793–1800: Sir William Addington * 1800–1806: Sir Richard Ford * 1806–1813: James Read * 1813–1820: Sir Nathaniel Conant * 1820–1821: Sir Robert Baker * 1821–1832: Sir Richard Birnie * 1832–1839: Sir Frederick Adair Roe * 1839–1864: Thomas James Hall * 1864–1876: Sir Thomas Henry * 1876–1890: Sir James Ingham * 1890–1899: Sir John Bridge * 1899–1901: Sir Franklin Lushington * 1901–1913: Sir Albert de Rutzen * 1913: Sir Henry Curtis Bennett * 1913–1920: Sir John Dickinson * 1920–1933: Sir Henry Chartres Biron * 1933–1940: Sir Rollo Frederick Graham-Campbell * 1940–1941: Sir Robert Ernest Dummett * 1941–1948: Sir Bertrand Watson * 1948–1960: Sir Laurence Rivers Dunne * 1960–1967: Sir Robert Henderson Blundell * 1967–1975: Sir Frank Milton * 1975–1978: Sir Kenneth James Priestley Barraclough * 1978–1982: Sir Evelyn Charles Sackville Russell * 1982–1992: Sir David Armand Hopkin * 1992–1997: Sir Peter Gilmour Noto Badge * 1997–2000: Graham Edward Parkinson

References

* David J. Cox, ''A Certain Share of Low Cunning: A History of the Bow Street Runners, 1792-1839'' (2010) * Frank Milton, ''The English Magistracy'' (1967) * https://www.judiciary.uk/about-the-judiciary/who-are-the-judiciary/judicial-roles/judges/chief-magistrate/ Judiciary of England and Wales 18th-century establishments in England 2000 disestablishments in England