ABSTRACT
The ‘recognisance’ referred to in summary appeals statute is a bond to prosecute the appeal. In general, an appellant must enter into such a recognisance with or without securities within a specified time following filing of notice of appeal. Although bail pending appeal is alluded to in statute in some jurisdictions, it is provided in several Commonwealth Caribbean jurisdictions that an appellant who is in custody shall be ‘liberated’ once he signs the recognisance to prosecute the appeal.20 It appears that in such a case the recognisance is the bail bond. Interestingly, it is almost universally provided in the region that in lieu of a recognisance the appellant may give security by way of deposit of money to prosecute the appeal. The payment of specified security in such cases is sufficient to enable the release of an appellant who is in custody.
