Latest update November 21st, 2024 1:00 AM
The High Court of Guyana: a unique institution
By Sunita Samaroo
The court system is intricately designed and sometimes can prove confusing, simply because
it’s one that has developed over hundreds of years. In Guyana today, each court has specific features and it’s often a mindboggling thing to know just what happens where.
A point to note is that there are several courts in Guyana: the Court of Appeal, Full Court, High Court, Magistrates’ Court and Land Court. While they are all a part of one body called the ‘Judiciary,’ there are specific distinctions.
My last feature focused on the realities of the Magistrates’ Court but this week I’ve endeavoured to offer a glimpse of just what happens inside the walls of the High Court.
Despite its name, the High Court is the third-highest court in the country and it stands, in power and responsibility, right above the Magistrates’ courts. There is one High Court but cases are heard by judges in each county at High Court buildings in Georgetown, Demerara; New Amsterdam, Berbice and Suddie, Essequibo.
Most proceedings in the High Court are held before a single judge and these judicial officers are assigned to both criminal and civil cases. While there is provision for twelve judges of the High Court, the overall responsibility lies with the Chief Justice.
What types of cases are brought before the High Court? Dressed in austere black and red robes and sitting in an organised courtroom, Judges preside over serious criminal matters such as murder, attempted murder and rape among other things.
These cases are first called in the lower court where the Magistrates would have been tasked with determining the merits of charges for indictable offences by conducting preliminary inquiries/committal proceedings. If enough is established, the case is sent for High Court trial.
Magistrates cannot rule in these cases. Passing judgment for these serious charges is the responsibility of a High Court Judge.
A feature very unique to the High Court is that criminal cases also engage the attention of a Jury – a body of people (typically twelve in number) sworn to give a verdict on the basis of evidence submitted to them in court. These civilians selected are said to be free of prejudice.
They are the ones who return a verdict; often times after hours and hours of deliberation.
In the last feature, I explained that a matter being discharged should not be confused for an acquittal. The reality is that a Judge has the power to dismiss a serious charge (attempted murder, murder).
All criminal proceedings in the High Court are brought by the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP). The DPP has at all times the discretion to withdraw or reinstitute a charge. If reinstituted, it will have to start over from the Magistrates’ Court then proceed before a Judge.
Law suits are also filed in the High Court. If persons, companies or institutions feel they have been wronged and wish to make compensatory claims exceeding $50,000 – the matter is heard by a Judge.
This Court is also tasked with handling custody and adoption of children, divorce, injunctions, applications for probate (first step in the legal process of administering the estate of a deceased person, resolving all claims and distributing the deceased person’s property under a will) and letters of administration as well as the passing of transports to land and mortgages.
To claim the “big dollars” for slander, trespass or injuries received in a car accident, a writ of summons must be filed in the Registry of the Supreme Court. It is then served by a Court Marshal on the person the claim is made against.
Section 20 of ‘The Law and You,’ a leaflet published by the Guyana Association of Women Lawyers in 2003 says that it is advisable to have an attorney-at-law represent you in the High Court where rules of evidence and procedure have to be followed strictly.
The booklet was edited by Attorneys-at-Law Rosemary Benjamin, Rose Cadogan, Sandra Bart and sitting Madam Justice Roxanne George-Wiltshire.
During court proceedings, a Judge is respectfully addressed as “Your Honour” while the Prosecutor (the legal party responsible for presenting the case in a criminal trial against an individual accused of breaking the law) as “Sir” or “Miss.”
Prosecutors in the High Court for criminal cases are normally Attorney-at-Laws attached to the DPP Chambers.
An important point to remember is that the rule of dress in any Court is “decency.” The court is a serious place and your style of dress should always exhibit your respect for it.
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