Tvoz a magistrate is not judge. If you look at the organizational chart for Virginia courts  on page 7 of http://www.courts.state.va.us/courts/gd/gdinfo.pdf you will see that the magistrate system is separate and unique from all other Virginia court systems. http://www.courts.state.va.us/courts/gd/gdinfo.pdf68.3.103.157  AndyB