The Magistrates' Courts (Small Commercial Claims) Rules, 2021

Sierra Leone Statutory Instrument No. 8 of 2021 that creates a fast, self-contained Magistrates' Court procedure for commercial claims worth less than Le 50 million.

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Summary

The Magistrates' Courts (Small Commercial Claims) Rules, 2021 were made as Statutory Instrument No. 8 of 2021 and published in the Sierra Leone Gazette on 9 July 2021. They set up a dedicated, streamlined procedure for resolving small commercial disputes in the Magistrates' Courts, so that businesses can recover modest commercial debts quickly and cheaply.

The Rules apply to a “small claim” — a liquidated claim of a commercial nature where the value of the claim is below Le 50,000,000 (fifty million Leones). The Chief Justice may constitute Small Claims Commercial Courts in any judicial district; such a court is a Magistrate sitting alone, or a Magistrate sitting as a mediator or conciliator at a pre-trial settlement hearing.

The Rules are a self-contained code. They expressly disapply the Magistrates' Courts (Civil Procedure) Rules, 1966 (P.N. 41 of 1966), and where they are silent the practice of the High Court applies so far as it is consistent with them. They build in modern features: electronic service and evidence (email, SMS and WhatsApp), a compulsory pre-trial settlement stage (arbitration, mediation, negotiation or conciliation), and fixed time limits for each stage.

Main provisions

Order 1 — Preliminary: application, interpretation, disapplication of the 1966 Civil Procedure Rules, and residual application of High Court practice.
Order 2 — Constitution of the Courts: the Chief Justice constitutes the courts; jurisdiction is limited to liquidated commercial claims below Le 50 million; exempted claims; sittings, adjournments and language.
Order 3 — Court Users' Group: establishment, composition, tenure and meetings.
Order 4 — Commencing Proceedings: the claim form, its issue, and consequences of non-compliance.
Order 5 — Parties: joinder, misjoinder, representative capacity, partners and alteration of parties.
Order 6 — Service of Claim: ordinary, substituted, out-of-district and electronic service, and indorsement of service.
Order 7 — Default Claim: application, notice of intention to defend, judgment for the claimant, enforcement and setting aside.
Order 8 — Interim and Interlocutory Applications: ex-parte and inter-partes applications.
Order 9 — Judgment on Admission.
Order 10 — Defence, Set-off and Counterclaim, including the defence bundle and the option of a separate trial.
Order 11 — Pre-trial Settlement Conference: a compulsory settlement stage (arbitration, mediation, negotiation, conciliation), consent judgment and judgment-fee exemption.
Order 12 — Case Management Conference.
Order 13 — Trials and Adjournments: appearance and non-appearance, representation, witnesses, electronic evidence, a ban on unauthorised recordings, and the judgment book.
Order 14 — Enforcement and Execution: seizure and sale, sale of real property, interpleader, and the powers of the Court.
Order 15 — Appeals: records, hearing by oral hearing, duration and procedure.
Order 16 — Costs, Interests and Fees, including security for costs and the Second Schedule fees.
Order 17 — Amendment, Review, Variation and Correction of Judgment.
Order 18 — Disposal of Claims, Time and Court Management, including enlargement of time and court reports.
Schedules — prescribed forms (Schedule) and the fees payable (Second Schedule).