The St. Helena Constitution Order 1988

Practice and procedure on appeals.

49.—(1) Subject to the provisions of this Constitution, the President of the Court of Appeal may make rules for regulating the practice and procedure of the Court of Appeal with respect to appeals from the courts of St. Helena and its Dependencies and, in connection with such appeals, for regulating the practice and procedure in any court of St. Helena and its Dependencies from which such appeals are brought.

(2) Without prejudice to the generality of subsection (1) of this section, rules of court may be made for the following purposes–

(a)for regulating the sittings of the Court and the selection of judges for any purpose;

(b)for regulating the right of practising before the Court and the representation of persons concerned in any proceedings in the Court;

(c)for prescribing cases in which, and conditions upon which, an appellant in a criminal appeal to the Court shall be entitled to be present at the hearing of the appeal;

(d)for providing for summary determination of any appeal which appears to the Court to be frivolous or vexatious or to be brought for the purposes of delay;

(e)for prescribing forms and fees in respect of proceedings in the Court and regulating the costs of and incidental to any such proceedings;

(f)for prescribing and regulating the powers and duties of registrars and officers of the Court;

(g)for prescribing the time within which any requirement of the rules is to be complied with;

(h)for providing for a reference from a decision of a single judge to the Court.

(3) Rules made under this section may fix the number of judges of the Court who may sit for any purpose: Provided that–

(a)an uneven number of judges shall sit, which, for the purposes of any final determination by the Court other than the summary dismissal of an appeal, shall not be less than three; and

(b)any determination by the Court on any matter (whether final or otherwise) shall, where more than one judge sits, be according to the opinion of a majority of the judges who sit for the purpose of determining that matter.