RESIDENT MAGISTRATE'S COURT.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XII, Issue 188, 10 August 1877, Page 2

RESIDENT MAGISTRATE'S COURT.

[Before Alex. Mackay, Esq., R.M.] Yesterday. Wood v. Black. These proceedings were brought against the defendant for him to show cause why he should uofc pay for the support of his illegitimate female child as ordered by the Court some time back. Mr Buuny appeared for the complainant and Mr Pitt for the defendant ! Mr Pitt raised a preliminary objection that Mr Mackay had no jurisdiction to hear the case, as it should be tried before two Justices, and he as K.M. could not make the order as required by the "Destitute Persons Relief Ordinance, 1846." He also argued that Mr Mackay, having had no district assigned to him, could not act here as an R.M., and to support his argument, he quoted from the judgment of Williams J., in the case of Regina v. Murdock, ex parte Broad, reported in the June number of the Jurist. "Mr Bunny, in reply, argued that under the Gth section of the Resident Magistrates' Act, 1876, His Worship, while sitting alone, had all the powers of two Justices of the Peace; and if he had that power then, under the 16th section of the same Act, he could, in the absence of the Resident Magistrate of the District, sit and determine cases in his stead. After further argument Hia Worship reserved his decision.