Local justice areas are units in England and Wales established by the Courts Act 2003, replacing and directly based on the previous petty sessional divisions. They have been in existence since 2005. Local justice areas are used to determine which magistrates' courts may hear a particular case. Specifically, cases may only be heard in courts which are in: Each local justice area is part of a larger courts board area, which replaced the magistrates' courts committee areas with the inauguration of Her Majesty's Courts Service in 2005.