JPs now using logbooks
PRESIDENT of the St Andrew Justices of the Peace Association (SAJP) Marigold Harding says 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 JIS News 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 his/her name is there as a signatory, she will be able to refer to the 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 added that the custos rotulorum is responsible for the oversight of logbook usage among JPs, and that the custos can 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 numbers, and email addresses; 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.
