MAURITIUS Law and Practice Contributed by: André Robert and Mushtaq Namdarkhan, BLC Robert & Associates
Supreme Court Divisions and Lower Courts The Supreme Court includes several divisions, namely: • the Court of Civil Appeal; • the Court of Criminal Appeal;
statutes can provide for a right of appeal or judi- cial review before the Supreme Court. The Court of Civil Appeal and the Court of Criminal Appeal hear appeals from a decision of a Supreme Court judge in the exercise of the latter’s original civil or criminal jurisdiction (as appropriate). Appeals from a decision delivered by two or more judges can only be heard by the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council sitting in London. 1.3 Court Filings and Proceedings Court proceedings, their records and judg- ments are generally public. Certain proceedings are held in private, such as those before judges in chambers and, where the court so orders, applications under the Supreme Court (Interna- tional Arbitration Claims) Rules 2013. Section 161A of the Courts Act empowers a judge or magistrate, where they consider it necessary or expedient, to exclude from proceedings (except the announcement of the decision) any person other than the parties to the trial and their legal representatives: • in circumstances where publicity would prejudice the interests of justice or of public morality; • in order to safeguard the welfare of persons under the age of 18; • in order to protect the privacy of persons concerned in the proceedings; or • in the interests of defence, public safety or public order. 1.4 Legal Representation in Court A legal representative must be qualified as a barrister or attorney under the Law Practition- ers Act. Barristers have unlimited rights of audi- ence, whereas attorneys have rights of audience
• the Bankruptcy Division; • the Commercial Division; • the Family Division; • the Financial Crimes Division; and • the Land Division.
The lower courts are the district courts (located in various districts of Mauritius), the intermedi- ate courts (located in the capital Port-Louis) and the industrial court (also located in Port-Louis). The criminal jurisdictions of the district courts and the intermediate court depend on the seri- ousness 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 disputes of up to MUR250,000 and the intermediate court has jurisdiction over disputes of up to MUR2 million. The intermediate court also has a finan- cial crimes division which hears and determines financial crime offences. The industrial court hears industrial disputes under specified enact- ments and there is no monetary limit for the amount that can be claimed before it. A district court has jurisdiction in any civil action (where the sum claimed or matter in dispute does not exceed MUR100,000) to hear and determine the action in accordance with a small claims procedure set out in Part IIA of the District and Intermediate Courts (Civil Jurisdiction) Act. Several statutes also make provision for the set- ting up of tribunals or commissions to deal with specialised areas of law. The provisions of the
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