Officer of the court

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

In

judicial assistants
.

Officers of the court have legal and

ethical
obligations. They are tasked to participate to the best of their ability in the functioning of the judicial system to forge justice out of the application of the law and the simultaneous pursuit of the legitimate interests of all parties and the general good of society.

Court proper

Foremost those who make the decisions that determine the course of justice and its outcome:

  • arbitrators
    .
  • prosecutors and crime victim advocates.
  • barristers are not officers of the court,[4] whereas in other jurisdictions, such as Ontario, Canada, advocates like paralegals are recognized as officers of the court (though with a more limited scope of practice than lawyers).[5]

Investigation and expertise

These are people who may appear in court and testify or offer opinions due to their expertise or experience in a given subject. Their opinions sometimes rise to the level of scientific evidence and are evaluated by judges and juries to reach conclusions or verdicts. Another term for persons consulted by a court is

amici curiae
.

  • Coroners, medical examiners, mental health professionals, and other medical experts.
  • Other experts in various fields, such as state-certified
    handwriting analysis
    experts, and other professionally licensed or certified persons retained by the parties to give expert advice, the testimony and exhibits of which is admitted by the Court.
  • peace officers

Services to the parties

These are people whose professional duties are important to the functioning of the court system.

See also

Sources and references

  1. ^ BAUMANN, Serge BRAUDO-Alexis. "Auxiliaire de justice - Définition". Dictionnaire Juridique (in French). Retrieved 2023-04-26.
  2. ^ "Fiche du terme : Auxiliaire de justice - Thésaurus de l'activité gouvernementale". www.thesaurus.gouv.qc.ca (in French). Retrieved 2023-04-26.
  3. ^ Ex parte Garland, 71 U. S. 333 (1866)
  4. ^ Bar Council (September 2020). "Undertakings" (PDF). p. 5. Retrieved 25 January 2022. Barristers are not officers of the court (unlike solicitors), so it is not thought that you would, ordinarily, be subject to the court's inherent jurisdiction over its own officers, even if you are conducting litigation (see Assaubayev v Michael Wilson & Partners [2014] EWCA Civ 1491), but you would need to consider for yourself whether this might be possible.
  5. ^ "Law Society endorses paralegals as officers of the court", Law Society of Ontario Gazette, 12/01/2017