The court was set up like a magistrate's court, with a barrister presiding as a judge and another barrister acting as a permanent prosecutor. The judge would hold temporary military rank, and would normally act as the sole decider of both fact and sentence; if the potential sentence was more than two years, up to five other officers would also sit as judges. The defendant could be represented by any legal counsel, British or German, and the court could work in both the English and German languages.[2] The court heard 4,295 cases between 1919 and 1925, with possible sentences for minor offences including fines and prison sentences of between seven and fourteen days, normally served in a standard German prison.[3] Most cases were about possessing weapons illegally, straying onto British property, occupying carriages in trains reserved for British officers, reckless driving and possessing British Government property.