AN ACT TO MAKE BETTER PROVISION FOR THE ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE IN NATIVE DISTRICTS.

Maori Messenger : Te Karere Maori, Volume V, Issue 18, 30 October 1858, Page 1

AN ACT TO MAKE BETTER PROVISION FOR THE ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE IN NATIVE DISTRICTS.

(4th August, 1858.) (Continued.) IV.—JURISDICTION AND PROCEDURE GENERALLY. XXIV. All questions not triable by a Jury sbali be determined according to the opiniou of die presiding Resident Magistrate, concurred in by the Assessor or Assessors silting with him, or concurred in by a majority of such Assessors, and not otherwise. XXV. The presiding Resident Magistrate, and the Assessors, or any of then®, may with the consent of the Jury in any action or proceeding, whether Civil or Criminal, be present at, and take a part in the deliberations of the Jury. XXVI. Every person wilfully and cor-

ruptly giving false evidence upon oath before any such Court shall be deemed guilty of perjury, and may on conviction be sentenced to penal servitude for a term not exceeding four .years. Distress Warrants Issued by airy such Court may be executed in any District j appointed for the purposes of this Act, tir jn any part of ihe Colony over which the Native Title shall have been extinguished, but not elsewhere; and no sudi Warrant «hall be executed in any District appointed for the purposes of tWs Act, other than that in which it shall haveoeen issued, unless the same shaH have been endorsed by at least one Native Assessor, resident within the District, in which the same is to be executed. XXVIIf• All Warrants of Apprehension and Commitment, all Convictions, and a'l Distress Warrants shall be signed by the Resident Magistrate, with or without the signature of an Assessor or Assessors; and every Summons to pariies or Witnesses, or to persons charged with an offcuce, shall be signed in like manner, or by two or more Assessors. XXIX. If any person shall wilfully insult the presiding Resident Magistrate, or anv Native Assessor, Juror, or Officer of any such Court during bis sitting or attendance in Court, or in going to, or returning from the Court, or shall wilfully interrupt the proceedings of the Court, or otherwise misbehave in Court, it shall be lawful for any Constable wilh or without the assistance of any other person, by order of the Court, to take such offender into custody and detain bim until the rising of the Court, and the Court may by Warrant commit such oilender to prison for any time not exceeding seven days, or impose upon any such offeuder a fine not exceeding five pounds (oZ.) for every such offence, and in default of payment thereof, commit sueb offender to prison, for any time not exceeding seven days unless the fine be sooner paid.

XXX. Subject to tlie provisions or this I Act, the Governor in Council from time to time, may make general rules Tor regulating the practice of the said Courts, whether Civil or Criminal, and may prescribe forms for all proceedings therein, which forms may be either in the English or in the Maori tongue, or in both, and may fix the fees to be demanded and taken upon any such proceedings; and subject to any siich general rules, the practice of the said Court in its Criminal Jurisdiction shall be ihe same (as nearly as may be) us that of Justices of the Peace in similar cases. V. —APPOINTMENT AND JURISDICTION OF NATIVE ASSESSORS. "XXXt. It shall- be lawful for the Governor from time to time to appoint Aboriginal Natives, of the greatest authority and best repute in their respective tribes, to be Assessors of the Resident Magistrate for the purposes of this Act, and of an Ordinance of the Lieutenant-Governor and Regulative Council of New Zealand, intituled "An Ordinance to provide for Ihe establishment of Resident Magistrates' Courts, and to make special provision for the administration of Justice in certain cases;" and such Assessors from time to time to remove; and every such appointmeut may either confer a general or a- local jurisdiction.. XXXII. It shall be lawful for the Governor to select certain Assessors to hold a Court, to be styled "The Assessors* Court," and such Assessors shall hold Assessors* Courts within such Districts appointed under this Act, as the Governor may assigu to tlieui respectively for that purgose*. XXXIII. Within every District appointed lor the purposes of' this Act, any two or more of the Assessors so selected Cor the District* shall, under the style of The Assessors' Court, have and exercise all the powers and functions hereby vested in the Native Circuit Court, or in the presiding Ilesident Magistrate thereof; awl such Assessors' Court shall be subject to the like rules of practice, and shall use ihe like forms, and lake the like fees as the Native i Circuit Court, subject to any modifications : which the Governor in Council way from :

fame to time direct: Provided that such Assessors' Court shall have no power to award or inflict any other or greater punishment than a fine of not exceeding twenty shillings (205.) and shall have no Jurisdiction in Civil cases where the debt or damage claimed or other matter in dispute exceeds in amount or value the sum of five pounds (£>/.), and shall have no Jurisdiction either Civil or Criminal, except over persons of the Native race: Provided also that an appeal shall lie from every Conviction, Order, or Judgment of the Assessors' Court to the Native Circuit Court of the District. XXXIV. No Distress Warrant issued by i Assessors, Court shall be executed elsewhere than within the District in which iiJn k! ~V e J*L n iss " ed ' un,ess toe same shall be endorsed by a Resident Magistrate. (To be continued.)