Advanced Search

Chapter 005:07 - Justices Protection

Subscribe to a Global-Regulation Premium Membership Today!

Key Benefits:

Subscribe Now for only USD$40 per month.
L.R.O. 1/2012
LAWS OF GUYANA
JUSTICES PROTECTION ACT
CHAPTER 5:07
Act
2 of 1850
Amended by
25
6
of
of
1893
1997

Current Authorised Pages
Pages
(inclusive)
Authorised
by L.R.O.
1 – 8 ... 1/2012






LAWS OF GUYANA
2 Cap. 5:07 Justices Protection
L.R.O. 1/2012
Note
on
Subsidiary Legislation
This Chapter contains no subsidiary legislation.






LAWS OF GUYANA
Justices Protection Cap. 5:07 3
L.R.O. 1/2012
CHAPTER 5:07
JUSTICES PROTECTION ACT
ARRANGEMENT OF SECTIONS
SECTION
1. Short title.
2. Character of action to be brought against justice for act done in execution
of office.
3. Action for act done without, or in excess of, jurisdiction.
4. Where conviction or order made by one justice and warrant thereon
granted by another.
5. No action in respect of exercise of discretionary power.
6. No action on warrant where conviction or order confirmed on appeal.
7. Setting aside action brought against prohibition of the Act.
8. (1) Limitation of actions. (2) Notice of action.
9. Right of defendant to plead general issue, etc.
10. Tender and payment of money into court.
11. Cases in which plaintiff is to be non-suited.
12. Rule as to damages where plaintiff is entitled to recover.
13. Rules as to costs.
14. Extension to other officers of protection of the Act.
__________________________ 1929 Ed.
c. 254
1953 Ed.
c. 18 _______________________________________________________
2 of 1850 An Act to protect Justices of the Peace and other Persons
from Vexatious Actions for Acts done by them in
Execution of their Office.
[1st FEBRUARY, 1850]
Short title.
1. This Act may be cited as the Justices Protection Act.

LAWS OF GUYANA
4 Cap. 5:07 Justices Protection
L.R.O. 1/2012
Character of
action to be
brought against
justice for act
done in
execution of
office.
Action for act
done without,
or in excess of,
jurisdiction.
2. Every action hereafter to be brought against any
justice of the peace for any act done by him in the execution of
his duty as justice, with respect to any matter within his
jurisdiction as justice, shall be an action as for a tort; and in
the claim it shall be expressly alleged that the act was done
maliciously and without reasonable or probable cause; and if,
at the trial of the action, upon the general issue being pleaded,
the plaintiff fails to prove that allegation, he shall be non-
suited, or judgment shall be given for the defendant.
3. For any act done by a justice in a matter of which by
law he has no jurisdiction, or in which he has exceeded his
jurisdiction, anyone injured thereby, or by any act done under
any conviction or order made or warrant issued by the justice
in that matter, may maintain an action against the justice in
the same form and in the same case as he might have done
before the commencement of this Act, without making any
allegation in his claim that the act complained of was done
maliciously and without reasonable and probable cause:
Provided that the action shall not be brought for
anything done—
(a) under the conviction or order until after it
has been quashed; or
(b) under any warrant issued by the justice to
procure the appearance of the party, and
followed by a conviction or order in the
same matter, until after that conviction or
order has been quashed; or
(c) under the last-mentioned warrant, where it
has not been followed by a conviction or
order in the same matter; or is a warrant
upon an information for an alleged
indictable offence, if a summons was issued
previously to the warrant and served upon
the party, either personally or by leaving the
LAWS OF GUYANA
Justices Protection Cap. 5:07 5
L.R.O. 1/2012
Where
conviction or
order made by
one justice and
warrant
thereon granted
by another.
No action in
respect of
exercise of
discretionary
power.
No action on
warrant where
conviction or
order con-
firmed on
appeal.

Setting aside
action brought
against
prohibition of
the Act.
Limitation of
actions.

same for him with some person at his last or
usual place of abode, and he did not appear
according to the exigency thereof.
4. Where a conviction or order is made by one or more
justices, and a warrant of distress or commitment is granted
thereon by some other justice in good faith and without
collusion, no action shall be brought against the justice who
so granted that warrant by reason of any defect in the
conviction or order, or for any want of jurisdiction in the
justice or justices who made it, but the action, if any, shall be
brought against the justice or justices who made it.

5. Wherever a discretionary power is given to a justice
by any Act, no action shall be brought against that justice by
reason of the manner in which he has exercised his discretion
in the execution of that power.
6. Wherever a warrant of distress or warrant of
commitment is granted by a justice upon any conviction or
order which, either before or after the granting of the warrant,
has been or is confirmed upon appeal, no action shall be
brought against the justice who so granted the warrant for
anything done under it by reason of any defect in the
conviction or order.
7. Wherever it is hereby enacted that no action shall be
brought in particular circumstances, if an action is brought a
judge of the court in which it is brought, may, on the
application of the defendant and on an affidavit of the facts,
set aside the proceedings therein, with or without costs, as to
him seems meet.
8. (1) No action shall be brought against a justice for
anything done by him in the execution of his office unless the
action is commenced within six calendar months next after
the act complained of has been committed.

LAWS OF GUYANA
6 Cap. 5:07 Justices Protection
L.R.O. 1/2012
Notice of
action.
Right of
defendant to
plead general
issue, etc.

Tender and
payment of
money into
court.
(2) The action shall not be commenced against the
justice until one calendar month at least after notice in writing
of the intended action has been delivered to him, or left for
him at his usual place of abode, by the party intending to
commence the action, or by that party’s attorney or agent,
wherein the cause of action and the court in which the action
is to be brought shall be clearly and explicitly stated; and
upon the back thereof shall be endorsed the name and place
of abode of that party, and also the name and place of abode
or of business of his attorney or agent, if the notice has been
served by the attorney or agent.
9. In the action the defendant shall be allowed to
plead the general issue, and to give any special matter of
defence, excuse, or justification in evidence under that plea at
the trial.
10. (1) In every such case, after notice of action is so
given as aforesaid, and before the action is commenced, the
justice to whom the notice is given may tender to the party
complaining or to his attorney or agent, any sum of money
the justice thinks fit as amends for the injury complained of
in the notice; and after the action has been commenced, and at
any time before issue joined therein, the defendant, if the
tender has not been made, or in addition to the tender, shall
be at liberty to pay into court any sum of money he thinks fit.
(2) The tender and payment of money into court,
or either of them, may afterwards be given in evidence by the
defendant at the trial under the general issue; and if the Court
at the trial is of opinion that the plaintiff is not entitled to
damages beyond the sum so tendered and paid into court,
judgment shall be given for the defendant, and the plaintiff
shall not be at liberty to elect to be non-suited, and the sum of
money, if any, so paid into court, or so much thereof as may
be sufficient to pay or satisfy the defendant’s costs in that
behalf, shall thereupon be paid out of court to him, and the
residue, if any, shall be paid to the plaintiff.

LAWS OF GUYANA
Justices Protection Cap. 5:07 7
L.R.O. 1/2012

Cases in which
plaintiff is to
be non-suited.
Rule as to
damages
where plaintiff.
is entitled to
recover.
[6 of 1997]

Rules as to
costs.
(3) If where money is so paid into court in the
action the plaintiff elects to accept it in satisfaction of his
damages in the action, he may obtain from a judge of the
court in which the action is brought an order that that money
shall be paid out of court to him, and that the defendant shall
pay him his costs to be taxed, and thereupon the action shall
be determined, and that order shall be a bar to any other
action for the same cause.
11. If, on the trial of the action, the plaintiff does not
prove that it was brought within the time hereinbefore
limited in that behalf, or if he does not prove that the notice
aforesaid was given one calendar month before the action was
commenced, or if he does not prove the cause of action stated
in the notice, or that the cause of action arose in the place laid
in the claim, the plaintiff shall be nonsuited, or judgment shall
be given for the defendant.
12. Wherever the plaintiff in the action is entitled to
recover, and he proves the levying or payment of any penalty
or sum of money under any conviction or order as parcel of
the damages which he seeks to recover, or proves that he was
imprisoned under the conviction or order, and seeks to
recover damages for that imprisonment, he shall not be
entitled to recover the amount of that penalty or sum, or any
sum beyond the sum of sixty-five dollars as damages for the
imprisonment, or any costs of suit whatsoever, if it is proved
that he was actually guilty of the offence of which he was so
convicted, or that he was liable by law to pay the sum he was
ordered to pay, and, with respect to the imprisonment, that he
had undergone no greater punishment than that assigned by
law for the offence of which he was so convicted, or for non-
payment of the sum he was so ordered to pay.
13. If the plaintiff in the action obtained judgment, or
the defendant allows judgment to go against him by default,
the plaintiff shall be entitled to costs in such manner as if this
Act had not been passed; or if in that case it is stated in the
claim that the act complained of was done maliciously and
LAWS OF GUYANA
8 Cap. 5:07 Justices Protection
L.R.O. 1/2012
Extension to
other officers of
protection of
the Act.
without reasonable and probable cause, the plaintiff, if he
obtained judgment for any damages, or if the defendant
allows judgment to go against him by default, shall be
entitled to his full costs of suit, to be taxed as between
solicitor and client; and the defendant, if he obtained
judgment, shall in all cases be entitled to his full costs in that
behalf, to be taxed as between solicitor and client.
14. This Act shall apply for the protection of all
members of the police force, all constables, all district
commissioners, and all other persons for anything done in the
execution of their office under and by virtue of any Act; and
in all other cases whatsoever, and whether protection is given
or not to the members of the police force, constables, and
district commissioners, or any of them, or any other person,
by any Act, they, in each and every action brought against
them, or any of them, for anything done by them, or any of
them, in the execution of their or his office, shall be entitled
to the protection afforded by this Act.
___________