Revised Laws of Saint Lucia (2022)

31.   Protection from proceedings

In addition to the protection conferred upon magistrates in the performance of their duty by the Code of Civil Procedure or any other statute, the following provisions shall have effect—

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   (a)     An action against a magistrate for an act purporting to have been done by him or her in the execution of his or her office shall be brought in the High Court, and shall be commenced within 3 months after the act complained of;

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   (b)     The action shall be an action for a wrong, and in the declaration it shall be expressly alleged that such act was done maliciously and without reasonable and probable cause; and if, on the trial of any such action, the plaintiff fails to prove such allegation, he or she shall be nonsuit or judgment shall be given for the defendant;

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   (c)     A magistrate is not liable to pay nor is he or she liable in damages for or in respect of any proceeding taken, act done, or judgment, decree, or sentence pronounced by him or her in the execution of his or her duty unless the person suing has suffered imprisonment in consequence, and the proceeding, act, judgment, decree, or sentence has been quashed by the High Court;

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   (d)     This liability shall not be incurred or found where the magistrate establishes that the person suing was guilty of the offence in respect of which he or she had been convicted or on account of which he or she had been apprehended or had otherwise suffered, and that he or she had undergone no greater punishment than was assigned by law to such offence;

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   (e)     An action shall not in any case be brought against any magistrate for anything done under any warrant which shall not have been followed by a conviction or order, or if, being a warrant upon an information for an alleged indictable offence, a summons was issued previously thereto and served upon such person personally, or by its being left for him or her with some person at his or her usual or last known place of abode, and he or she shall not have appeared in obedience thereto;

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   (f)     At any time after the receipt of the notice of action and before the hearing of the action, the defendant may pay into court a sum of money as amends for the injury done, and if, on the hearing the court is of opinion that the sum so paid was full compensation for the injury and for costs incurred up to the time of the payment, the defendant shall not be liable to any further damages or costs, and shall be entitled to receive out of the sum such reasonable costs as he or she may have subsequently incurred, or, if such sum is insufficient for the purpose, he or she shall have judgment in his or her favour for any balance;

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   (g)     Where a conviction or order is made by one magistrate, and a warrant of commitment is granted thereon by some other magistrate bona fide and without collusion, an action shall not be brought against the magistrate who granted such warrant by reason of any defect in such conviction or order, or for any want of jurisdiction in the magistrate who made the same, but the action, if any, shall be brought against the magistrate who made the conviction or order;

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   (h)     In all cases where a discretionary power is given to a magistrate by any statute or in any other manner an action shall not be brought against the magistrate for or by reason of the manner in which he or she has exercised his or her discretion in the execution of any such power;

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   (i)     In all cases where a magistrate refuses to do any act relating to the duties of his or her office as magistrate, it shall be lawful for the party requiring the act to be done to apply to the High Court, upon an affidavit of the facts, for a rule calling upon the magistrate, and also upon the party to be affected by the act, to show cause why the act should not be done; and if, after due service of the rule, good cause is not shown against it, the High Court may make the same absolute, with or without or upon payment of costs, as it may seem just; and the said magistrate, upon being served with the rule absolute, shall obey the same and shall do the act required; and an action or other proceeding shall not be commenced or prosecuted against the magistrate for having obeyed the rule and done the act thereby required;

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   (j)     In all cases where a warrant of commitment is granted by a magistrate upon any conviction or order which, either before or after the granting of the warrant, has been confirmed upon appeal or application to the High Court, an action shall not be brought against the magistrate who granted the warrant for any thing which may have been done under the same by reason of any defect in such conviction or order; and

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   (k)     In all cases where by this section it is enacted that no action shall be brought under particular circumstances, if any such action is brought it shall be lawful for the High Court, upon the application of the defendant and upon an affidavit of the facts, to set aside the proceedings in such action, with or without costs, as to it may seem just.