PART III

Appeals in Criminal Matters

24. A person convicted on indictment or summarily convicted in the Royal Court sitting as a Full Court on or after such day as shall be appointed in that behalf by Ordinance of the States may appeal under this Part of this Law to the Court of Appeal-

(a) against his conviction. on any ground of appeal which involves a question of law alone: and

(b) with the leave of the Court of Appeal or upon the certificate of the judge who presided at his trial that it is a fit case for appeal against his conviction, on any ground of appeal which involves a question of fact alone. or a question of mixed law and fact, or on any other ground which appears to the Court of Appeal to be a sufficient ground of appeal: and

(c) with the leave of the Court of Appeal, against the sentence passed on his conviction, unless the sentence is one fixed by law."

Having considered Articles 13,14 and 24 this Court in Century described the pre-existing jurisdiction of the Cour des Jugements et Records as having been essentially civil in nature, the Court having no criminal jurisdiction. Indeed prior to the introduction of the Appeal Law of 1961 there was no right of appeal from the Full Court in criminal matters, other than to and by leave of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council. This Court held that it was for this reason that, whereas the civil jurisdiction of the Court was transferred from the Cour des Jugements et Records to this Court, no equivalent transfer could be made from an existing Court to this Court in criminal matters.

The essential question as it was perceived both in Jersey in the Mcmahon case and in this Island in the Century case was as to whether the appeal sought to be advanced was one in a "civil matter" or in a "criminal matter. If it was in a criminal matter an appeal only lay in the event of conviction or sentence. The response to this question was, it was held, to be found in English authorities including Amand -v- The Home secretary [1943] AC 147, Carr -v- Atkins [1987] QB 963,[1987] 3 All ER 684 CA and re 0 [1991] 2 QB 520, [1991] 1 All ER 330 CA, to which can now be added Cuoghi -v- Governor of Brixton Prison [1997] 1 WLR 1346. This Court in Century in reliance on those authorities expressed itself in these terms:-