A Special Justice of the Peace was appointed at Whittlesea in the district of Queenstown on 1 September 1904 (Government Gazette No 8678 dated 26 August 1904, Proclamation No 267 dated 26 August 1904). According to the records he started hearing cases only in January 1932. On 12 September 1938 Whittlesea was named a place for holding a magistrate’s court in addition to Queenstown, the seat of the magistracy (Government Gazette No 2576 dated 7 October 1938, Proclamation No 217 dated 12 September 1938).

Although an Assistant Native Commissioner held court at Whittlesea since August 1929, he was officially appointed only on 1 April 1933 and on 25 August 1934 received criminal jurisdiction (Government Gazette No 2129 dated 14 July 1933, Government Notice No 970 dated 14 July 1933; Government Gazette No 2221 dated 7 September 1934, Proclamation No 161 dated 25 August 1934).

From 1968 the Magistrate of Whittlesea fell under the jurisdiction of the Ciskeian Government and on 1 October 1971 the district of Hewu, with Sada as the seat of the court, was established (Government Gazette No 3237 dated 27 August 1971, Government Notice No 1482 dated 27 August 1971).

A magistrate's court was established at Cathcart on 25 January 1877, nineteen years after the first plots were sold.

The resident magistrate also acted as native commissioner and held periodical courts at Whittlesea and Bacela. He acted as special justice of the peace for Fairford.