Federal Magistrates Service

The Federal Magistrates Service in Australia was established by the Federal Magistrates Act 1999 (Cth), although its first officers were not appointed until 2000. The court was created to deal with the increasing workload of the Federal Court of Australia and the Family Court of Australia, by hearing less complex cases for them and freeing them to deal only with more complex cases. It is also intended to replace (in part) the federal jurisdiction with which state courts have been invested under the Judiciary Act 1903.