Regulations as to courts.
5.—(1) If any member of a Special Commission Court dies, or if it appears to the Governor that from illness or some reasonable cause it is necessary that another person should be appointed in the place of a member of a Special Commission Court, the Governor may, if he thinks it expedient so to do, direct a supplemental commission to be issued, appointing another person to fill the vacancy in such Court.
(2) Subject to the provisions of this Ordinance, and for the purpose of the trial of any persons charged before them, a Special Commission Court shall have the same privileges, powers and jurisdiction as if it were the Circuit Court of the Protectorate, trying with native chiefs, or non-native or native assessors an offender before such Court, and shall follow, as far as possible, the practice and procedure of that Court, and in hearing and determining the cases of all persons tried before a Special Commission Court, such Court shall, as far as possible, be guided in arriving at a decision by the laws in force in the Colony. A Special Commission Court shall be a court of record, and the same intendment shall be made in respect of all orders, writs, and process made by and issuing out of such Special Commission Court, as if it were a court of record acting according to the course and by the authority of the common law.
(3) All the members of a Special Commission Court shall be present at the hearing and determination of the case of a person tried before such Court, but, save as aforesaid, the jurisdiction of the Court may be exercised by any of such members, and any act of the Court shall not be invalidated by reason of any vacancy among the members.
(4) The trial by a Special Commission Court of a person in pursuance of a warrant under this Ordinance shall begin as soon as may be, but it shall be lawful for the Court to postpone such trial on the request of such person, or on account of the illness or absence of a witness, or on account of a vacancy in the Court, or of the illness of such person, or some other sufficient cause, and to discontinue a trial of a person, when commenced, on account of a vacancy in the Court or the illness of such person, or some other sufficient cause.
(5) Where a trial of a person is postponed or discontinued, the trial of such person may take place before the same Court or any other Special Commission Court, and shall take place as soon as may be.
(6) In the event of a trial of a person taking place before another Special Commission Court, a new warrant shall be issued for the trial of such person.
(7) A commission appointing a Special Commission Court shall not be superseded or affected by the issue of another like commission, nor shall the sitting or jurisdiction of such Court be affected by the sitting of any such commission or of the Supreme Court of the Colony or the Circuit Court of the Protectorate.
No. 5 of 1896.
No. 12 of 1910.