Officers of the Magistrates' Courts

• Author: George Belnavis
• Profession: Attorney-at-law of over 30 years practice at both the Public and Private Bar and is currently Senior Tutor II at the Norman Manley Law School, Kingston, where he has taught for nearly 20 years
• Pages: 36-53

36 / Criminal Practice and Procedure

Magistrates are creatures of statute and they derive their authority from

the particular statute relating to the Magistrates Courts in the various

jurisdictions. In most of the Commonwealth Caribbean, the Magistrates

are referred to as ‘Your Worship.’ In Jamaica and Belize they are referred to

as ‘Your Honour’. The Magistrates play a very important part in the

administration of Criminal Law. This is more so when it is taken into

account that all matters, whether indictable, summary or hybrid, must

first come before the Magistrates’ Court. Most, if not all Magistrates in the

Commonwealth Caribbean are qualified Attorneys at Law with at least five

years standing.

Magistrates

Appointment

Antigua & Barbuda

Section 5 of the Magistrate’s Code of Procedure Act CAP. 255 states: There

shall be such number of Magistrates in the public service as may be required

for the purposes of this Act. Section 8(1) goes on to appoint every District

Magistrate as Justice of the Peace for Antigua & Barbuda.

The Bahamas

The Bahamas Magistrates Act Ch. 54, by section 12(1) provides that the

Governor-General on the advice of the Judicial and Legal Services

Commission, may appoint stipendiary and circuit magistrates. The

Magistrate must be of at least five years standing and is ‘ex officio’ Magistrate

for New Providence and ‘ex officio’ Justice of the Peace for the whole of the

Bahamas.

3

Officers of the Magistrates’ Courts

36

Officers of the Magistrates’ Courts / 37

Barbados

Section 3(1) of the Magistrates’ Courts Act 1996 stipulates ‘There shall be

a Chief Magistrate and such number of other Magistrates as there shall be

offices established under the Civil Establishment Act.’

Belize

The appointment of Magistrates in Belize is governed by the Inferior Courts

Act CAP

. 94 which, by section 7(1), provides that the Public Service

Commission may appoint fit and proper persons as Magistrates to each

judicial district. Section 7(2) goes on to stipulate that a Magistrate shall be

a Barrister or a Solicitor of at least three years standing but also gives the

Public Service Commission power, ‘for good and sufficient reason, appoint

some fit and proper person not possessing either qualification as Magistrate.’

This means in effect that ‘unqualified’ individuals may be appointed.

However, the Belize Constitution (Fifth Amendment) Act 2005 states,

inter alia that ‘A magistrate shall be appointed by the Judicial and Legal

Services Commission and shall, subject to any law passed by the National

Assembly, be a qualified attorney at law.’

Jamaica

Section 4(1) of the Judicature (Resident Magistrates) Act stipulates that it

shall be lawful for the Governor General from time to time to appoint so

many Resident Magistrates…as he may think necessary to satisfactorily

discharge the business of such appointment, be capable of exercising and

administering the jurisdiction and duties of any Resident Magistrate’s Court

in the island.1

No person can be appointed as a Resident Magistrate unless he has at

least five years standing at the Bar. In addition, every Magistrate is ex

officio a Justice of the Peace for every parish in the Island.

Montserrat

The Magistrate’s Court Act provides by section 4 that the Governor in

consultation with the Chief Justice, may appoint Magistrates, upon such

terms and for such period as he thinks fit, to exercise the jurisdiction of the

Magistrate’s Court. The section goes on to stipulate that no person shall be

appointed unless he possesses qualifications such as are required under

section 69 of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court (Montserrat) Ordinance

1968, for admission as a Barrister or a Solicitor, and has been so qualified

for at least five years. In addition, by virtue of sections 6(1) and (2) of the