MAGISTRATES COURT (5)

NURAIN BT NOR AZMAN

238177
NURANIS ALIA SYAFIQAH BT SHEFRIZAL
238618
NURUL SYAQIRA BT ZAIRUL AZMAN
244351
NURUL REZZAN NAJWA BT NASRUDIN
244384
ADRINA ZAYANI BT YAHAYA
244386
NUR ANEESA BT HISHAM
244395
NURAZLYN BT JOHARI
244403
SYAFINAZ BT IDRUS
244653

Introduction
Placed as the lowest in the hierarchy of the courts
More numerous than other courts (at present there are 151 throughout Malaysia)
Sits everyday except on public holidays
Handle the greatest volume of work
Expose to the majority of people - deal with everyday matters such as road
traffic
Robbery, theft, outrage of modesty (criminal)
Government cases, civil summons, tort, small claims

Establishment of Magistrate
Court
Established under section 76 of the Subordinate Court
Act 1948
The Yang Di-Pertuan Agong may be order constitute
so many magistrates court as he may think fit, and
shall have power, if he thinks fit, to assign local limits
of jurisdiction thereto.
Shall have jurisdiction to hear and determine any civil
or criminal cause or matter arising within the local
limit of jurisdiction assigned to it under this section.

 No magistrate shall have the jurisdiction to hear or

determine any cause or matter arising in any state in
and which he has not been appointed to be magistrate
save in the manner and to the extent provided in the
Criminal Procedure Code [Act 593] and the law for
the time being in force relating to civil procedure.
Shall ordinarily be held at such places as the chief
judge may be direct but should necessity arise they
may also be held at any other place within the limits
of the jurisdiction.

MAGISTRATE COURT
Have jurisdiction to hear and determine any civil or criminal
cause or matter arising within the local limits of jurisdiction
assigned to them
Presided by 1st class MG OR 2nd class MG
1st class MG : legally qualified and must be a member of the
judicial and legal service
2nd class MG : not legally qualified, they are civil servant who
do magisterial work in addition to their administrative work.
Magistrates Courts shall ordinarily be held at such places as the
Chief Judge may direct, but should necessity arise they may also
be held at any other place within the limits of their jurisdiction

JURISDICTION OF 1st CLASS MG

ORIGINAL JURISDICTION :
The right of court to try case at first instance before
any other court
APPELLATE JURISDICTION :
The power to consider a case after the case has been
decided by a lower court

ORIGINAL JURISDICTION
1) CIVIL JURISDICTION
) To try all cases where the amount of dispute does not exceed
RM 25000.
) Exception : may exercise jurisdiction in action more than RM
25000 if both parties agreed in writing.
2) CRIMINAL JURISDICTION
) Offences punishable up to 10 years imprisonment or
) Offences punishable with fine only and :
)
eg: theft, kidnapping, causing miscarriage, causing hurt
) Offences under Section 392 (robbery) and Section 457
( housebreaking by night) of Penal Code, maximum punishment
is up to 14 years of imprisonment.

CRIMINAL SENTENCING JURISDICTION

MG may pass any sentence allowed by law not exceeding :
5 years imprisonment
Fine up to RM10000
Whipping up to 12 strokes
Combination of above
the magistrate may award the full punishment allowed by
the law, but he or she must record his or her reasons for
doing so. The magistrate may also award punishment in
excess of that prescribed in s 87(1).

APPELLATE JURISDICTION OF 1 st CLASS MG

Has jurisdiction to hear and determine both civil and criminal
appeals from any decision of the Penghulus Court, within the
local limits of his or her jurisdiction.
The magistrate may dismiss a criminal appeal if he or she
considers there is no sufficient ground for interfering. If the
appeal is against a conviction, the magistrate may :
1. Reverse the finding and sentence, and acquit and discharge the
Appellant
2. Order retrial by a court of competent jurisdiction
3. Alter the finding and make such order as he or she deems fit. In
an appeal against sentence, the magistrate may reduce or vary, but
not enhance, the sentence and in an appeal against any other order,
alter or reverse the order.

JURISDICTION OF 2nd CLASS MG

The Second Class Magistrate has the jurisdiction on criminal
offences where the law provided the maximum term of
imprisonment not exceeding twelve months imprisonment or
offences punishable by fine only under section 88 of the
Subordinate Court Act 1948.
A Second Class Magistrate is allowed to pass any sentence under
section 88 of the Subordinate Court Act 1948 :

i.

not exceeding six months imprisonment;

ii. a fine of not more than one thousand ringgit; or

iii. any sentence combining either of the aforesaid punishments.

On 1st March 2013, the Subordinate Courts

(Amendment) Act 2010 [A132] had come
into operation. One of the changes effected
by Act A1382 is the monetary jurisdiction
of a Second Class Magistrate has been
increased from RM 5,000.00 to RM
10,000.00 [section 13 of A1382].

Civil Jurisdictions
Section 92 of the Subordinate Court Act
1948 :
Second Class Magistrate may hear a civil
case where the plaintiff seeks to recover a
debt or liquidated demand in money
payable by the defendant, with or without
interest, not exceeding RM10,000.

Criminal Jurisdictions
Under section 88 of the Subordinate Courts Act 1948 :
A Second Class Magistrate may hear criminal matters of

the following nature where the maximum term of

imprisonment provided by the law does not exceed
twelve months imprisonment or offences punishable by
fine only.

Under section 88, it is provided that if a Second Class

Magistrate is of the opinion that in the circumstances of

the case, if a conviction should result, the powers of
punishment possessed would be inadequate, the Second
Class Magistrate shall necessary take steps to adjourn the
case for trial by a First Class Magistrate.

PP v. Shabir Ahmad Khan [2015] 5 LNS

56
Facts of the case :
An Indian citizen who slapped the Imam of Masjid Negara,
Mohd Zuhairee Mohd Yatim, while he was leading the first
chapter of the Friday prayers. Shabir slapped the victim on the
left cheek violently forcing him to stop the prayer session
temporarily after Shabir was escorted out by security guards.

Court held :
The Magistrate Court held that Shabir was fined RM 12,000 by
the court. However, he was not imprisoned as he had been
confirmed to suffer from bipolar mood disorder. Therefore, he
has been advised to receive follow up treatment from a
psychologist in his own country, Kashmir.

Appeals
When a party has lost in a case that she or he has
brought into a lower court and believes that there are
errors which has been affected the outcome, that
particular party may appeal his or her case to a higher
court.
An appeal is downright vital to clarify and interpret
the law so that there will be a correction on the errors
made by the courts.
The decisions made by Magistrates Court in Malaysia
can go for appeals which can be made in both civil and
criminal matter.

 High Court has the power to hear appeals

from the subordinate courts but not all
decisions of the subordinate courts are
appealable to the High Court
the High Court shall not hear any appeal
from a decision of subordinate court in any
civil matter where the amount in dispute or
the value of the subject matter is
RM10,000 or less, unless if there are cases
which involve a question of law.

Small Claims Procedure

Small Claim Procedure is where an individual (not agent or company or

person holding power attorney or etc.) wants to claim from someone else
(debt) using court procedure, i.e. suing in court of law.
The total amount of claim must not exceeding RM5,000
The claim must be made through summons in Magistrate Court
No lawyer can get involve in this small claim proceeding, everything is
done by the plaintiff himself, with the guidance of court (staff) in order to
keep the process informal and inexpensive
It is simplified, cheap, and speedy procedure
To illustrate, if B owes A RM 5,000 and B refuses to pay, A can sue B in
Magistrate court under this 'small claim' procedure.

Pushpaneela a/p VN Suppiah v Ong Yen Chong &

Anor:
Where the claim is less the RM5000 it is mandatory to bring the claim within Order
54 of the Subordinate Courts Rules (SCR). In this case, the Plaintiff had
commenced an action against the Defendant for RM3840 in the Magistrates Court.
Both parties used the normal pleadings instead of the forms prescribed under Order
54 of the SCR 1980. The High Court in invoking its revisionary powers set aside
the proceedings in the Magistrates Court as both parties had failed to comply with
Order 54 SCR 1980. The High Court then directed the case to be retried before
another Magistrate with a direction to adhere to Order 54 SCR.
This case is as referred to our former SCR 1980 which already being replaced by
the Order 93 of Rules of Court 2012.

The examples of claims that can file:

Refund of money paid for defective goods
Refund of wages/salaries paid for work that has not been
carried out
Claims for due commissions
Claims for payment on supplied facilities, rendered services or
undertaken repairs.

CONCLUSION
Jurisdictions of magistrate courts are governed by
Subordinate Court Act 1948
2 types of magistrate courts: 1st class and 2nd class
Magistrate courts deal with criminal and civil
jurisdictions
There are original and appellate jurisdictions
(for the 1st class magistrate court)
Small claim division of the Magistrate Court: for
claims <RM 5000