ORDINANCE No. 16 of 1875.
Magistrates.
Any offence against the Queen's title, prerogative, person, or Government;
Blasphemy and offences against religion;
Perjury and subornation of perjury;
Making or suborning any other person to make a false oath, affirmation, or declaration punishable as perjury, or as a misdemeanor;
Any offence against any provision of the laws relating to bankrupts;
Composing, printing, or publishing blasphemous, seditious, or defamatory libels;
Defamation;
Bigamy;
Bribery;
Arson;
Forgery;
Stealing or fraudulently taking or injuring or destroying records or documents belonging to any Court of Record or relating to any proceeding therein;
Stealing, or fraudulently destroying or concealing wills or testamentary papers or any document or written instrument being or containing evidence of the title to any lands, or any interest in lands, tenements, or hereditaments; or any offence committed by trustees, agents, bankers, or factors and mentioned in any section between the sixtieth and seventy-first sections (both inclusive) of the Ordinance No. 7 of 1865, (larceny),
the Magistrate, instead of committing the offender for trial to the Supreme Court, may convict him summarily, and upon such conviction may sentence the offender to be imprisoned for any term not exceeding six months with or without hard labour, or to pay a fine not exceeding fifty dollars, or to be imprisoned with or without hard labour and to pay a fine, for any term and amount not exceeding six months and fifty dollars.
The Magistrate may also direct that the offender be kept in solitary confinement for any portion of his term of imprisonment not exceeding fourteen days at any one time and not exceeding one month in the whole. The Magistrate may nevertheless, if he thinks fit, commit any such person for trial to the Supreme Court.