Guernsey Legal Resources

  The Magistrate’s Court has no express or implied jurisdiction or other procedural authority to order the forfeiture of a recognizance given by a surety for bail but it may, as a court with limited civil jurisdiction, entertain an action for its enforcement as a civil debt. It is clear both from authority and from the usual form of a recognizance, that it creates a civil debt to the Crown, which can be enforced by reliance on the civil jurisdiction of the Magistrate’s Court contained in s.12 of the Magistrate’s Court Law 1954. That jurisdiction is, however, limited to £2,500 and if the Crown seeks to proceed to try to enforce a recognizance for a greater amount, it will necessarily fail, though it may then be open to it to pursue the claim in the Royal Court. It may, alternatively, choose to limit its claim to £2,500 and continue with the modified claim in the Magistrate’s Court.