Under the new system the magistrate used his administrative powers, which were always considerable, for the purpose of settling disputes.
When the magistrate used the phase "premeditated murder" the athlete slumped forward as if trying to bend over double, his head bowed, sobbing and shaking uncontrollably.
To make the difference between the real and the pretending sick cases, the magistrate uses the supposed experts' knowledge.
After years of scraping past magistrates using what he calls the "public-schoolboy-gone-wrong routine", and, with a pile of probation orders and suspended sentences to his name, he spent 15 months in Wandsworth prison for robbery, burglary and theft.
The main flaw in the system, Mr. Mantovano suggested, is that magistrates use the informers as a crutch to avoid more labor-intensive and costly investigations, but "one cannot do without them," he said.
To prevent this, magistrates used a principle of alteration, assigned responsibilities by lot or seniority, or gave certain magistrates control over certain functions.
On several known occasions, presiding magistrates used the claim of unfavorable omens as an excuse to suspend a session that was not going the way they wanted.
In June 1984, Brons was convicted by Leeds magistrates of using insulting words and behaviour likely to cause a breach of the peace.
Last week, The Independent revealed that magistrates are using a little known legal convention called "absolute discharge" where a guilty verdict is technically recorded but the court hands out no punishment.
The Texas Organizing Project says the video is proof that Harris County magistrates are using the pretrial process to punish poor defendants long before they're ever actually found guilty.
