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• Where the case involves a complex legal issue or the where the dispute is

complicated, which may involve something in the nature of an intellectual exchange
with reasons and analysis advanced by both sides, the judge must enter into the issues

canvassed before him and explain why he prefers one case over the other. In these
cases it is essential to due process and the administration of justice that the magistrate

provides reasons for the decision.

• A magistrate’s reasons are important in order to promote transparency. This is not to

suggest that there is one rule for cases concerning the witnesses’ truthfulness or
recollection of the events, and another for cases involving complex legal issues which

require reasoning or analysis. The rule is the same, in that magistrates must be able to

explain how they arrived at the decision.

The duty to give reasons

Anguilla

Magistrate’s Code of Procedure Act Chap. M5, section 200:

After an appellant has served on the Magistrate a notice of his intention to appeal and entered
into a recognizance or given security to prosecute an appeal, the magistrate shall, within 10

days of the service of such notice of appeal, transmit to the registrar of the Court of Appeal a

copy of the proceedings and all papers relating to the appeal together with a concise
memorandum of the reasons for decision.

Antigua and Barbuda

Magistrate’s Code of Procedure Act Cap. 255, section 172 (2):

Following the service of the appellant’s notice of intention to appeal, “The Magistrate shall

also transmit to the Deputy Registrar of the Court of Appeal with the papers relating to such

appeal a memorandum of the reasons for the decision.”

Barbados

Magistrate’s Courts Act Cap. 116A, section 241:

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