ACTS OF PARLIAMENT (APPLICATION) (POWERS OF COURT OF MAGISTRATES) ORDINANCE

ACTS OF PARLIAMENT (APPLICATION)

CHAPTER 11

ACTS OF PARLIAMENT (APPLICATION) (POWERS

OF COURT OF MAGISTRATES) ORDINANCE

To make provision relating to the competence of the Court of

Magistrates (Malta) to perform the duties assigned to Justices of the Peace

by Acts of Parliament being in force in Malta and for establishing rules of

procedure in the application of such Acts of Parliament.

(18th October, 1854) *

Enacted by ORDINANCE III of 1854 incorporating also Section 1 of

Ordinance I of 1878, as amended by Act VIII of 1990.

This Ordinance may be cited as the Acts of Parliament

(Application) (Powers of Court of Magistrates) Ordinance.

(1) The Court of Magistrates (Malta) is vested with the

powers of Justices of the Peace for the exercise of the duties

assigned to such Justices of the Peace, in pursuance of an Act of

Parliament of the tenth and eleventh years of the Reign of Her

Majesty Queen Victoria, Chapter 62, or in pursuance of any other

Act of Parliament which has been passed or which shall henceforth

be passed, whensoever the provisions of any such Act shall be in

force in Malta.

(2) The said court shall also hear and determine all cases of

offences, which, according to such Acts of Parliament, are to be

tried summarily.

(1) The said court, in the exercise of the duties assigned to

Justices of the Peace, as provided in the last preceding section,

shall be composed of more magistrates than one, whensoever the

Act of Parliament, under which such powers are exercised, requires

the presence of more Justices of the Peace than one, and the said

court shall observe such mode of procedure as shall be expressly

prescribed by such Act of Parliament.

(2) In the absence of any express provision in the Act of

Parliament as to the mode of procedure, the aforesaid court shall

observe the mode of procedure prescribed for the said court

according to the laws enacted and in force in Malta.

(3) Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (1) of this

section, where, according to the Act of Parliament under which the

said duties are exercised, the proceedings may, in England, be

carried out by two or m ore Justices of the Peace or by one

m a g i s t r a t e ca l l e d i n E n g l a n d St i p e n d i a r y M a g i s t r a t e , s u c h

proceedings may in Malta be carried out by one magistrate only.

*See Proclamation No IV of 1854.

ACTS OF PARLIAMENT (APPLICATION)

In the case of offences liable to punishment under the

provisions of any Act of Parliament whatsoever being in force in

Malta, whensoever such offences are not declared in such Act to be

triable by Justices of the Peace or summarily, the parties charged

with such offences shall be brought before the Court of Magistrates

(Malta), and the said court shall, observing the same mode of

procedure prescribed for it, try such parties or commit them for

trial by the Criminal Court according as the case requires, in the

same manner at the said court tries or commits for trial in cases of

offences liable to punishment under any law enacted and in force in

Malta.

The Court of Magistrates (Malta) shall, for the purposes of

this Ordinance, have jurisdiction in Malta.

The Criminal Court shall try and determine, with the

procedure prescribed for such court, all cases of offences liable to

punishment under the provisions of any Act of Parliament as

aforesaid, and referred to it by the Court of Magistrates.