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Section VII   Imprisonment

Revised Laws of Saint Lucia (2021)

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Section VII   Imprisonment

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    623.   Imprisonment cannot be carried into execution before 24 hours after the service of a copy of the judgment authorising the arrest of the party, unless such party absconds in order to avoid it.

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    624.   In all cases of resistance to the orders of the Court respecting the execution of the judgment by seizure and sale of the property of the debtor, as well as in all cases in which the defendant conveys away or secretes his or her effects, or uses violence or shuts his or her doors to prevent the seizure, the Judge may exercise all the powers of the Court, and order the defendant to be imprisoned until he or she satisfies the judgment.

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    625.   Imprisonment cannot be granted against tutors or curators for any balance of account due by them, until after the expiration of 4 months from the service upon them of the judgment establishing such balance.

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    626.   Imprisonment can only be effected in the time during which summonses may be served.

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    627.   The debtor cannot be arrested:

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      1.     on a legal holiday;

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      2.     in a place of public worship, during divine service;

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      3.     in a Court of justice when the Court is sitting, or before any privileged tribunal.

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    628.   Notwithstanding what is contained in the 2 preceding articles, the Court or Judge may order the arrest to be made on a holiday, or at any time, if it is established that the defendant is acting in such a manner as to escape it.

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    629.   Imprisonment can only be executed in virtue of a writ or order from the Court or Judge, which may be addressed to the same officer, and is clothed with the same formalities, and contains the same matters of recital as those required in writs of execution.

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    630.   Imprisonment is effected by arresting the debtor and placing him or her in custody of the keeper of the Royal gaol.

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    631.   Any person thus imprisoned, may, upon petition to the Court or Judge, previously served upon the creditor, and accompanied with an affidavit that he or she is not worth $24, obtain an order commanding the creditor to pay him or her, as an alimentary allowance, during the period of his or her imprisonment, a sum not less than 96¢ per week.

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    632.   If however the debtor afterwards becomes owner of property exceeding in value the amount above mentioned, the creditor may be relieved from paying the weekly allowance.

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    633.   The debtor may petition the Court or Judge and apply to be liberated upon grounds showing that he or she is unjustly imprisoned. The petition must be served upon the creditors.

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    634.   The debtor may obtain his or her discharge:

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      1.     by paying into the hands of the Sheriff or of the Registrar, the amount of the condemnation, in principal, interest, and costs upon a receivable order;

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      2.     with the consent of or a release from the creditor;

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      3.     upon the failure of the creditor to pay in advance into the hands of the gaoler the alimentary allowance granted to him or her;

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      4.     by the abandonment of his or her property, as mentioned in the preceding section;

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      5.     by means of the discharge from liability, obtained under the provisions of the Title concerning Bankruptcy in the Commercial Code;

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      6.     if he or she has completed his or her seventeenth year.

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    635.   Such discharge must, however, be ordered by the Judge upon application, of which notice has been given to the prosecuting creditor.

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    636.   When the debtor has been discharged by reason of default of payment of the alimentary allowance, he or she is no longer liable to imprisonment for the same debt.

BOOK FIRST
PROVISIONAL PROCEEDINGS WHICH ACCOMPANY SUMMONS IN CERTAIN CASES

GENERAL PROVISION

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    637.   A plaintiff may, in certain cases, simultaneously with the summons, or pending the suit and before judgment, have the person or the property of his or her debtor, or the object in dispute, placed in judicial custody, as explained in the following Chapter; subject to a right of action by the latter to recover damages, upon establishing by proof against the creditor a want of probable cause.

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