ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the law in relation to appeals from trials in the magistrates’ court. Such appeals are, in general, in respect of trials of summary offences. In certain specifi ed cases and circumstances, however, a magistrate may have statutory power to try some indictable offences. 1 When this occurs, appeals in respect of such trials are usually dealt with in the same manner as appeals in purely summary matters. In exceptional instances they may be treated differently in some particular way. In Jamaica, for example, appeals in matters tried on indictment, or by this special statutory summary jurisdiction by a resident magistrate, lie to the Court of Appeal. 2 Other appeals from summary trials in the magistrates’ court lie to the Circuit Court (High Court) of the particular parish.
