Daniel v Mason

• Jurisdiction: St Lucia
• Judge: Wills, J.
• Judgment Date: 11 August 1958
• Neutral Citation: LC 1958 HC 5
• Court: High Court (Saint Lucia)
• Date: 11 August 1958
• Docket Number: No. 6 of 1958

Supreme Court of the Windward Islands and Leeward Islands. High Court.

(Appellate Jurisdiction)

Wills, J.

No. 6 of 1958

Daniel

and

Mason

Appearances:

H.J. Francois and H. Giraudy for appellant.

Hon. A.M. Lewis, Q.C., and K. Monplaisir for respondent.

Practice and procedure - Appeal

Facts: The appellant sought to enlarge the reasons for his appeal. He did not include any of the statutory grounds of appeal. The issue was he could now avail himself of the statutory grounds of appeal.

Held: The appellant was estopped from using the statutory grounds of appeal. He was bound by his election and could not now seek to incorporate the statutory grounds of appeal into the special grounds of appeal contained in the Notice of Reasons for Appeal filed by him. Application refused.

Wills, J.

1 Counsel for the appellant has made an application to amend the Notice of Reasons for Appeal by inserting the words:

2 “besides the statutory grounds”

3 after the word ‘appellant’ and before the word ‘relies’ in the first line of the Notice of Reasons for Appeal.

4 The whole line to read “The appellant, besides the statutory grounds, relies on the following grounds of appeal”.

5 Counsel for the respondent strenuously objected to this amendment and contended that it was not competent for the court to grant the amendment at such a stage of the hearing of the appeal, as it was enacted in the Criminal Code that 3 days previous notice of the amendment had to be given to the respondent, and secondly: the amendment seeks to enlarge or add new grounds to the Notice of Reasons for Appeal filed by the appellant.

6 Now, any person being dissatisfied can appeal from the decision of a magistrate to the Supreme Court sitting in its Appellate jurisdiction, but every such appeal shall be made in the manner and subject to certain conditions as provided by law.

7 It is provided by Section 1113 of the criminal code, that an appellant shall, within 8 days after the decision has been pronounced, serve upon the clerk of court, notice in writing of the reasons for his appeal.

8 The appellant has complied with the foregoing section, but, at the hearing of the appeal, is seeking to enlarge the reasons for his appeal.

9 The court is of the opinion that the application for the amendment could be disposed of, in the short way, by a reference to Section 1128 of the Criminal Code. This section is as follows: –

“(1) On the hearing, it...