Point 1: Judges are simply barristers seeking to change from being self employed to being state employees with commensurate pensions. Not for nothing is becoming a judge known to barristers as "Catching the Purple Lifeboat" (Judges wear purple robes) So my point is that Judges are nothing special .. simply lawyers in another costume. They know no more nor no less than any other half way competent Barrister.
Point 2: Magistrates are appointed lay people. Anyone on this forum could be a magistrate. They receive some basic training and semi regular updates from Judges. They are guided in court by Magistrates Clerks who are mostly Barristers or Solicitors who couldn't cut the mustard. Their job is to advise magistrates on points of law, what sentences they are permitted to pass down etc.
Point 3: Laws are interpreted by Judges.
Point 4: Laws are made by Politicians ...... often badly written so that various interpretations can be drawn from them.
Point 5: A great many politicians currently in Government are Lawyers .... Geoff Hoon, Tony Blair, Jack Straw etc ...... and you would expect them to know how to write a good law but clearly they do not
Point 6: There is a law known as the Law of Unexpected Consequences that says "Any intervention in a complex system may or may not have the intended result, but will inevitably create unanticipated and often undesirable outcomes" In other words "If it can be cocked up in the interpretation it will be"
Point 7: Bad laws lead to bad decisions and eventually those being governed will realise this and stop obeying all laws.
I believe that the mass of opinion in the UK is coming very close to Point 7
