Magistrates' Courts Act, 1944 (Act No. 32 of 1944)

1. Definitions

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In this Act, except where the context otherwise indicates—

 

"administrative region"

means an administrative region created by the Minister under section 2(2);

 

"court"

means a magistrate's court for any district or for any regional division;

[Definition substituted by section 1 of Act No. 31 of 2008]

 

"court day"

means any day other than a Saturday, Sunday or public holiday, and only court days shall be included in the computation of any time expressed in days prescribed by this Act or fixed by any order of court;

[Definition inserted by section 1(a) of Notice No. 769, GG 41017, dated 2 August 2017]

 

"court of appeal"

means the High Court to which an appeal lies from the magistrate's court;

[Definition substituted by section 1(b) of Act No. 66 of 1998]

 

"head of the administrative region"

means the magistrate designated as such by the Minister, after consultation with the Magistrates Commission;

 

"judgment"

in civil cases, includes a decree, a rule and an order;

 

"judicial officer"

means a magistrate, an additional magistrate or an assistant magistrate;

 

"magistrate"

does not include an assistant magistrate;

 

"Magistrates Commission"

means the Magistrates Commission established by section 2 of the Magistrates Act, 1993 (Act No. 90 of 1993);

 

"Minister"

means the Minister of Justice;

 

"National Credit Act"

means the National Credit Act, 2005 (Act No. 34 of 2005);

[Definition inserted by section 1(b) of Notice No. 769, GG 41017, dated 2 August 2017]

 

"offence"

means an act or omission punishable by law;

 

"practitioner"

means an advocate, an attorney, an articled clerk such as is referred to in section 21 or an agent such as is referred to in section 22;

 

"province"

includes the territory;

 

"Republic"

includes the territory;

 

"territory"

means the territory of South-West Africa;

 

"to record"

means to take down in writing or in shorthand or to record by mechanical means, and "recorded" has a corresponding meaning;

 

"the district"

if used in relation to any court, means the district, subdistrict, or area for which such court is established;

 

"the rules"

means the rules referred to in section 6 of the Rules Board for Courts of Law Act, 1985 (Act No. 107 of 1985);

 

"this Act"

includes the rules.