What country? What time period?
Without further specification, we cannot answer this question accurately. "Were" can be interpreted in many ways.
What I can account for is that, currently, in the United States, the powers of a Magistrate are limited. A Magistrate in the U.S is similar to a judge; however, the magistrate does not have the power to convict or hold a standard trial.
The reasoning behind this is that a traditional judge is required to possess a Juris Doctorate, and have a high understanding of law, while a magistrate can be an ordinary citizen.
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they have all the powers they want hence unlimited
limited. The people of Greece invented democracy
limited
Unlimited governments will inherently be corrupt governments.
power to vote themselves raises, as well as the right to serve unlimited terms