Metropolitan stipendiary magistrates shall be appointed by Her Majesty, and Her Majesty shall from time to time appoint such number of persons as is necessary; but the number of metropolitan stipendiary magistrates shall not at any time exceed sixty or such larger number as Her Majesty may from time to time by Order in Council specify.

A person shall not be qualified to be appointed a metropolitan stipendiary magistrate unless he F2has a 7 year general qualification, within the meaning of section 71 of the Courts and Legal Services Act 1990.

The Lord Chancellor shall designate one of the metropolitan stipendiary magistrates to be the chief metropolitan stipendiary magistrate.

A metropolitan stipendiary magistrate who is by virtue of his office a justice of the peace for any area mentioned in subsection (4) above shall not, by reason only of his being a justice of the peace for that area by virtue of that office, be qualified to be chosen under section 17(1) of this Act as chairman or deputy chairman of the justices for a petty sessional division of that area or to vote under that subsection at the election of any such chairman or deputy chairman.

Section 14 of this Act shall apply to metropolitan stipendiary magistrates as well as to other stipendiary magistrates in England or Wales.

Her Majesty shall not be recommended to make an Order in Council under subsection (1) above unless a draft of the Order has been laid before Parliament and approved by resolution of each House.

The Lord Chancellor may assign metropolitan stipendiary magistrates to petty sessional divisions F4of the inner London area and may alter any assignment under this subsection; but the assignment of a magistrate to a particular division shall not preclude him from exercising jurisdiction for any other division of the inner London area.

Metropolitan stipendiary magistrates shall sit at such courthouses provided for the inner London area under the following provisions of this Act, on such days and at such times as may be determined by, or in accordance with, directions given by the Lord Chancellor from time to time.

The chief metropolitan stipendiary magistrate shall cause to be held, at least once in every quarter of a year, a meeting of all the metropolitan stipendiary magistrates, or such of them as are able to attend, and, if present, shall preside over the meeting.

In the inner London area the jurisdiction conferred on justices of the peace by any enactment, by their commission or by the common law shall be exercisable both by metropolitan stipendiary magistrates and by justices of the peace for that area who are not metropolitan stipendiary magistrates (hereafter in this Part of this Act referred to as “lay justices”).

Metropolitan stipendiary magistrates shall continue to exercise the jurisdiction conferred on them as such by any enactment; and the inner London area (having taken the place of the metropolitan stipendiary courts area) shall continue to be the area for which magistrates’ courts are to be held by metropolitan stipendiary magistrates.

Without prejudice to subsection (1) above, subsections (3) to (5) of section 16 of this Act shall have effect in relation to a metropolitan stipendiary magistrate as they have effect in relation to a stipendiary magistrate appointed under section 13 of this Act.

If it appears to the Lord Chancellor that it is expedient to do so in order to avoid delays in the administration of justice in the inner London area, he may authorise any person, who F6has a 7 year general qualification, within the meaning of section 71 of the Courts and Legal Services Act 1990, to act as a metropolitan stipendiary magistrate during such period (not exceeding three months at any one time) as the Lord Chancellor thinks fit.

All things required or authorised by law to be done by, to or before a metropolitan stipendiary magistrate may be done by, to or before any person acting as such in pursuance of this section.

Sections 44, 45 and 53 of this Act shall apply to a person acting as a metropolitan stipendiary magistrate under subsection (1) as they apply to a metropolitan stipendiary magistrate.

The Lord Chancellor may, out of moneys provided by Parliament, pay to any person authorised to act under this section such remuneration as he may, with the approval of the Minister for the Civil Service, determine.

The lay justices eligible for appointment under paragraph (b) of subsection (1) above include any of the chairmen referred to in that paragraph.

The members of the committee shall hold office for a period of twelve months, but shall be eligible for re-appointment.

The chief metropolitan stipendiary magistrate shall be the chairman of the committee.

The inner London magistrates’ courts committee shall appoint one or more justices’ clerks for the youth courts and family proceedings courts for the metropolitan area.

Subsections (2) to (4), (5)(b), (6) and (7) of section 25 of this Act have effect in relation to any justices’ clerk appointed under subsection (1) above as they have effect in relation to a justices’ clerk for a petty sessions area, but with the substitution for any reference to the magistrates for a petty sessions area of a reference to the justices of the peace who are members of the youth court panel for the metropolitan area or (as the case may be) of a family panel for that area, other than any such justice whose name is for the time being entered on the supplemental list.

In this section—

• “the inner London magistrates’ courts committee” means the magistrates’ courts committee for an area consisting of or including the whole of the inner London area or, if there is no such committee, all the magistrates courts’ committees for areas which consist of or include any part of the inner London area acting jointly; and

• “the metropolitan area” means the inner London area and the City of London.