CONSTITUTION AND ADMINISTRATION
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of the Colony and in the size and distribution of the population have necessitated the creation of additional courts. In 1965, the judiciary consisted of the Chief Justice and six puisne judges, seven district judges, 31 magistrates and the Tenancy Tribunal. District Judges sit in Hong Kong, Kowloon and the New Ter- ritories. Magistrates sit at Central, Causeway Bay and Western Magistracies on Hong Kong Island, and at South Kowloon, North Kowloon, Fanling, Tsuen Wan, Tsim Sha Tsui and Kwun Tong Magistracies on the mainland. In addition to the regular Magis- trates' Courts on either side of the harbour, there is also a Justice of the Peace Court each for the Island and the mainland which sit several afternoons a week. Whenever possible one of the two justices is a solicitor. The Tenancy Tribunal deals with matters arising under the Landlord and Tenant Ordinance and the Demol- ished Buildings Ordinance and their work is described in chapter 8.
Magistrates exercise criminal jurisdiction over a wide range of indictable offences as well as summary offences. In the case of indictable offences, however, their powers of punishment are re- stricted generally to a maximum of two years' imprisonment or a $2,000 fine for any one offence, unless the law in regard to any particular offence prescribes that they may award some-higher penalty. When trying two or three offences together, cumulative sentences of imprisonment imposed by them may not exceed three years. There was again a substantial increase in the number of cases dealt with by the magistrates during 1965.
Magistrates hold preliminary inquiries to decide whether persons accused of the most serious offences should be committed to trial at the criminal sessions of the Supreme Court. They also transfer various cases of a serious nature to the District Court on the appli- cation of the Attorney General. The civil jurisdiction of these courts is not extensive, but they exercise a limited jurisdiction in domestic matters chiefly under the Infants Custody Ordinance and Separation and Maintenance Orders Ordinance, and perform im- portant functions under a number of other ordinances, including the Magistrates (Coroners Powers) Ordinance.
The District Court, established in 1953, took over the summary jurisdiction previously exercised by the Supreme Court and gave to the public a simpler and shorter method of bringing to trial civil disputes in which the value of the subject matter was under