Trevor Watkins Appellant v Commissioner of Police Respondent [ECSC]

• Jurisdiction: Antigua and Barbuda
• Judge: BYRON, J.A.,SATROHAN SINGH, J.A.,C.M. DENNIS BYRON,Justice of Appeal,SATROHAN SINGH,ALBERT MATTHEW,Justice of Appeal [Ag.]
• Judgment Date: 26 February 1996
• Judgment citation (vLex): [1996] ECSC J0226-1
• Court: Court of Appeal (Antigua and Barbuda)
• Docket Number: MAGISTERIAL CRIMINAL APPEAL NO.8 OF 1995
• Date: 26 February 1996

[1996] ECSC J0226-1

IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE

Before:

The Hon. Mr. C.M. Dennis Byron Justice of Appeal

The Hon. Mr. Satrohan Singh Justice of Appeal

The Hon. Mr. Albert Matthew Justice of Appeal [Ag.]

MAGISTERIAL CRIMINAL APPEAL NO.8 OF 1995

Between:

Trevor Watkins

Appellant

and

Commissioner of Police

Respondent

Appearances:

Mr. Ralph Francis for the Appellant

Ms. Carol Malcolm, [Ag] and Mr. Keith Thorn for the Respondent

BYRON, J.A.

1 When this appeal came on for hearing the record was amended by consent to show that the appellant had contendedin limine before the learned Chief Magistrate that there was no jurisdiction in District "A" to hear the informations laid against him since the alleged offences were committed in Magisterial District "B" and that he had ruled that it was within his competence as Chief Magistrate to try any matter regardless of its place of origin. We allowed the Notice of Appeal to be amended to include a challenge to this ruling. At counsels' request we agreed to deal with it as a separate preliminary issue on the ground that if the appellant succeeded it would become unnecessary to adjudicate on the substantive appeal.

2 The background was that two complaints without oath headed "In the Magistrate's Court Bolans District "B" were issued and signed by the Magistrate for District "B" alleging that the appellant had committed offences against the Misuse of Drugs Act on "30^th August 1994 at Paerns Point in the Parish of St.Mary in the Magisterial District "B" in Antigua." These matters were determined by His Worship Mr. Murio Ducille, Magistrate District "A" (the Chief Magistrate) in the St.John's Magistrate Court District "A" in the Parish of St.John sitting at Nevis Street in the City of St.John. The appellant was convicted and sentenced.

3 Adjudication involves answering two questions. First does the Chief Magistrate have a superior or different jurisdiction to that exercisable by any other Magistrate? And second can any Magistrate hear District "B" matters in District "A"?

4 The Magistrate's Code of Procedure Act (The Act) governs the powers and jurisdiction of magistrates in Antigua and Barbuda. It was originally enacted in 1892 and has been amended from time to time over the past 100 years. The source of their jurisdiction and powers is set out in section 7 as follows:

"7. A Magistrate shall have and possess all the powers and jurisdiction and shall perform all the duties which are now vested in or imposed upon Magistrates or Justices of the Peace either at common law or by virtue of any Act now in force, or which may hereafter be vested in or imposed upon such Magistrates by virtue of any such Act."

5 This section preserves the powers and jurisdiction derived from the ancient common law and conferred by statutes. Both counsel for the appellant and the Respondent have given us the assurance that they assiduously searched and could find no statutory provisions outside of The Act enabling the exercise of special jurisdiction by the Chief or any other Magistrate in the circumstances of this case. I think that it is likely to be instructive to look at the position in England for a historical perspective before examining The Act to determine the extent of the powers and jurisdiction conferred by statute.

The English Position

6 According to the learned editors of Halsbury's Laws of England the duty of keeping the peace, in ancient times, lay primarily on the holders of certain executive offices. It was in the fourteenth century that the process of conferring purely judicial powers on the keepers of the peace began to develop. In 1361 the title "justice of the peace" was first given to the office of magistrate by the Justice of Peace Act 1361. At the beginning of the twentieth century the law concerning justices of the peace was derived from a number of statutes, some centuries old. The effect of legislation in the middle of this century was to simplify and consolidate this branch of the law and subsequently to reform it, notably by extending the powers of magistrates sitting in magistrates courts. The legislation which principally effected these objectives were the Magistrates' Courts Act 1952, the Criminal Justice Act 1967, and the Criminal Law Act 1977 as these have been amended from timeto time.

7 In England the power and jurisdiction of a magistrate has always been limited to the specific geographical locality to which he has been assigned. In more recent times there have been statutory variations to facilitate the administrative desirability of enabling a magistrate to perform out of his assigned area when necessary. In dealing with the current position in England the 4th edition of Halsbury's Laws of England volume 29 paragraph 207 states:

"The commission of the peace is the authority under which justices exercise their jurisdiction. It is the commission which gives justices the ancient common law powers of conservators of the peace in addition to the statutory powers more recently conferred."

8 and paragraph 222 states:

"The local limit of a justices jurisdiction is in general the boundary of the county to the commission of the peace to which he is assigned. However, a justice of the peace for a county may act as a justice for that county in any adjoining county."

9 The territorial limitations on the jurisdiction exercised by magistrates in England and the exceptions thereto are clearly explained in para 225 and 226 which I reproduce in part as follows:

"225…A magistrates' court for a county has jurisdiction to try all summary offences committed within the county, and, where a person charged with a summary offence appears or is brought before the court under its extended jurisdiction in respect of joint trials, it has jurisdiction to try that offence also. A magistrates' court for any area before which a person is tried for an offence has jurisdiction to try him for any summary offence for which he could be tried by a magistrates court for any other area.

A magistrates' court for a county has jurisdiction as examining justices over any offence committed by a person who appears or is brought before the court, whether or not the offence was committed within the county…

226…In the following circumstances the jurisdiction of a magistrate's court may be extended beyond the county.

An offence committed on the boundary of two or more countries,…may be treated as having being wholly committed in either.

An offence committed …in or on a vehicle or vessel engaged in a journey or voyage through two or more counties,..may be treated as having been committed in any of those counties.

A person aiding and abetting..may be tried either in the area where the principal is convicted or in that in which he aided…

The jurisdiction of justices whose district is situate on the sea coast is extended to vessels lying or passing off that coast.."

Statutory Position in Antigua and Barbuda

District Magistrates have concurrent jurisdiction

Today, the position in Antigua and Barbuda is almost identical to that in England as their reforms and extensions, to a large extent, have been adopted locally. The Act provides for each magistrate to be a district—magistrate assigned to a specific geographical district. The sections of the act which accomplish this are as follows;

Statutory Position in Antigua and Barbuda

10 Section 2, the definition section, states:

"In this Act …

"Magistrate" means a District Magistrate and any justice of the peace authorized by this or any other Act to perform the duties of a District Magistrate."

11 Antigua and Barbuda is divided into three Magisterial Districts A, B, and C by virtue of sections 3 and 4 of The Act. The boundaries of several districts in Antigua were last defined by an Order of the Executive Council of the Leeward Islands made for the Presidency of Antigua (as it then was) on 3rd October 1924. Section 11 empowers the Minister to appoint the times and places when magistrate's courts shall be held in the several districts. By the Magistrate's Court (District...