The Administration of Justice, Indictable Proceedings Amendment Bill was passed in the Senate on Friday.
As the debate began on Friday morning, Attorney General John Jeremie SC said the government is moving to correct gaps that have affected police operations, particularly access to bail after hours.
“Before the amendment which we proposed this morning, before this amendment could have been conceived of, the High Court, after the debate in the other place, the House of Representatives, ruled that it was unconstitutional to remove the jurisdiction.”
The Attorney General referenced a recent High Court ruling by Madam Justice Carol Gobin, which found that Parliament never expressly removed the longstanding common law power of a Justice of the Peace to grant station bail for indictable matters, leaving the police and citizens without adequate alternatives.
He said the amendments will reinforce bail access while preserving constitutional safeguards.
“She said that courts presume that parliaments do not intend an implied repeal or repeal of a common law rule. And that paragraphs 31 and 32 of her judgment, she distinguished the jurisdiction of JPs and Magistrates, rejecting the argument that the legislation which removes a Magistrate’s power automatically extends by implication to JPs. She holds that JPs are a vital safeguard on individual liberty.”
With the legislation aligning the Court’s ruling and operational realities, the Attorney General said the aim is consistency, ensuring citizens can access bail at all hours, while maintaining limitations in serious offences where Parliament has set a higher threshold.