Can a magistrate talk about their cases?

[PudULike]

Is it ok for a magistrate to chat to their family members and friends about details of the cases so long as they don't include identifying characteristics, or is that against their confidentiality rules?

E.g. something like 'I had a woman before me today who was caught doing 42 in a 30 zone but she said she needed to speed because she had to collect her autistic 5 year old from school and then her 3 year old twins from nursery five miles away 10 minutes later'. (This is just a made up example, not real.)

So not naming anybody but providing lots of incidental details that the person being spoken to doesn't actually have any business knowing?

Yes. All our cases are heard in open court, so if you wanted you could come and see exactly the same case that the magistrate had, and get all the information the magistrate has.

I personally wouldn’t mention names outside of court, but I might share things that are publicly stated in open court in a non identifiable way.

Magistrate courts are mainly open to public
are reported on in local papers
so can’t see why a magistrate can’t talk about it, if what they are saying is publicly accessible??

Magistrates Courts are public. It would be unprofessional to express personal views but the facts are in the public domain.

Yes, though presumably they shouldn't be giving out the person's name, phone number, address etc.
I have a magistrate family member and they do talk about cases in a non identifying way.

Yep, anything heard in court is public information, as anyone who wanted to go to the court could have heard it.

Yes unless they’re working in family law as these hearings are not open to the general public..

Yes it's fine.

Why do you ask?