JPs call for speedy passage of Lay Magistrates Bill

Dec 22, 2008 News

President of the Guyana Justices of the Peace and Commissioners of Oaths to Affidavits Association, Hermon Bholaisingh, has said that Justices of the Peace can play an integral role in helping to reduce the backlog that exists in the court system.

One of the ways in which this can happen, he added, is if the Lay Magistrates Bill comes into being.
According to Bholaisingh, there are many intelligent Justices of the Peace who will be able to take up the post.

Reports state that the Lay Magistrates Bill came up in Parliament in 1999 and was referred to a select committee.

Bholaisingh noted that, since 1999, nothing has come out of the proposal for lay magistrates in Guyana.
The idea behind lay magistrates is to relieve congestion in the courts by providing additional personnel to hear cases of a limited jurisdiction.

With the bill, a person is qualified if he/she is a fit and proper person with at least seven years experience in a senior position in a public or private sector field of activity.

Each court will have a clerk who, at the time of appointment, must have a Bachelor of Laws degree from any Commonwealth country, or any equivalent qualification; or who, in the opinion of the Chancellor of the Judiciary, is a fit and proper person to be employed as a clerk.

The scheme of the bill is that the clerk, when required by the magistrate, will give advice within his competence about the law, practice or procedure on questions arising in connection with the discharge of his function.

The lay magistrate’s criminal jurisdiction will cover offences, the punishment for which does not exceed a fine of $15,000, which includes a number of minor offences, such as indecent language, disorderly behaviour, minor traffic matters, public health offences, cruelty to animals and other offences that attract small fines.

Section 14 of the bill provides that, in all cases, a lay magistrate shall promote reconciliation and encourage and facilitate the settlement, in an amicable way, of proceedings for common assaults or for any other offence of a personal or private nature not amounting to felony and not aggravated in degree, in terms of payment of compensation or other terms approved by the court.

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JPs call for speedy passage of Lay Magistrates Bill

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