Only around one in a thousand judicial office holders were sanctioned by the Office for Judicial Complaints (OJC) in the last year, according to the complaints-handling body's first annual report.


But though only two judges saw complaints upheld, 28 magistrates were hauled up, 15 of whom were removed from office. Two tribunal members were also sanctioned.



The greatest number of complaints against the judiciary was for 'general rudeness', with 'inappropriate behaviour' a close second (99 and 97 respectively). Six judicial office holders were removed for these kinds of misdemeanours.



The two members of what the report called the mainstream judiciary were reprimanded - despite receiving almost three times the number of complaints as magistrates.



The total number of judicial office holders in England and Wales is around 40,000, according to the Judicial Communications Office.



The Lord Chief Justice, Lord Phillips, said he takes complaints about the judiciary very seriously, adding that he was pleased the number of complaints upheld was very low.



One magistrate and chairman of a bench, who wished to remain anonymous, told the Gazette that the number of complaints reflected high standards on the bench. The amount of complaints on rudeness may be a reflection on recent pressure on lay benches to be more robust but, he said, 'one man's rudeness is another man's robust stewardship'.



'In my bench, I've got 110 magistrates and I've only had six or eight instances in 25 years of inappropriate behaviour,' he said. 'We did have one man go to sleep once, but by and large, it's not a problem.'



Other reasons for dismissal were failure to report a potential disciplinary matter, failure to fulfil judicial duty, criminal proceedings or convictions, misuse of judicial status, motoring-related offences and professional misconduct.



The report also revealed that the OJC failed to meet its target to keep complainants updated due to poor IT, a situation it said it has remedied.



Rupert White