MAURITIUS Law and Practice Contributed by: André Robert and Ammar Oozeer, BLC Robert & Associates
1. General 1.1 General Characteristics of the Legal System Mauritius has a hybrid legal system, reflecting its past colonisation by both France and Great Britain. The main areas of private law are based on a civilian mod- el and contained in French-inspired codes that were enacted in the early nineteenth century the Code Civil Mauricien (Civil Code) and Code de Commerce (Com- mercial Code). At the same time, a French-inspired Code de Procédure Civile (Code of Civil Procedure) was also enacted. The substantive criminal law was also originally based on a Code Pénal (Penal Code) enacted by the French administration – it is still in force today, although it has been amended over the years. As the island lived under British rule after its independ- ence in 1968, it adopted a Westminster style of pass- ing legislation; and several English-inspired statutes were enacted, such as, the Companies Act. As a gen- eral rule, matters of evidence and criminal procedure also follow English rules. It is commonplace for judges and magistrates to refer to both English and French sources of law for guidance, in the appropriate con- texts, when applying Mauritian law to a case. In cases involving the interpretation of the Companies Act and Insolvency Act, judges also refer to jurisprudence from Australia and New Zealand. Trials are conducted in an adversarial manner. Sub- missions at first instance are made orally but it is not uncommon, at the discretion of the trial judge or mag- istrate, to require written submissions after evidence has been adduced. In appeals before the Supreme Court, applications made under the Supreme Court (International Arbitration Claims) Rules 2013 and appeals before the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, arguments in writing are required to be filed in advance of the hearings and are supplemented by oral submissions. 1.2 Court System Section 76 of the Constitution provides that there will be a Supreme Court for Mauritius having unlimited jurisdiction to hear any civil or criminal proceedings under any law other than a disciplinary law, and such
jurisdiction and powers as may be conferred upon it by the Constitution or any other law. The Supreme Court consists of the chief justice, the senior puisne judge and other puisne judges. The Supreme Court also exercises appellate jurisdic- tion over the lower courts. Supreme Court Divisions and Lower Courts The Supreme Court includes several divisions, name- ly: • the Court of Civil Appeal; • the Court of Criminal Appeal; • the Supreme Court also extends its powers to a puisne judge acting as the judge-in-chambers to determine matters involving an element of urgency and speed, and to grant interim injunctions. The lower courts are the district courts (located in various districts of Mauritius), the intermediate court (located in the capital Port-Louis) and the industrial court (also located in Port-Louis). The criminal juris- diction of the district courts and the intermediate court depends on the seriousness or nature of the offences committed, whereas the civil jurisdiction of those courts depends on the amount in dispute: in civil cases, a district court has jurisdiction over dis- putes not exceeding MUR250,000 and the intermedi- ate court has jurisdiction over disputes not exceed- ing MUR2 million. The intermediate court also has a Financial Crimes Division which hears and determines financial crime offences. The industrial court hears employment-related disputes under specified enact- ments and there is no monetary limit for the amount that can be claimed before it. • the Bankruptcy Division; • the Commercial Division; • the Family Division; • the Financial Crimes Division; • the Land Division; • the Mediation Division; and A district court has jurisdiction in any civil action to hear and determine the action in accordance with a small claims procedure set out in Part IIA of the Dis- trict and Intermediate Courts (Civil Jurisdiction) Act.
685 CHAMBERS.COM
Powered by FlippingBook