In a judgment delivered by High Bailiff Moyle at Douglas on January 13 2004, the court confirmed that it holds a rarely exercised statutory jurisdiction to order that in criminal proceedings sought by the prosecution to be dealt with by a higher court – in the Isle of Man this is a court of general gaol delivery (akin to the English crown court) – the prosecution witnesses can be summoned to give oral evidence in an ‘old-style’ committal process, in order to allow the court to test the quality of the prosecution case within the context of a submission of no case to answer.
The test in the Isle of Man mirrors that of England and Wales, in that during the committal process, which is now a statutory mechanism, if the court considers that no reasonable jury could convict a defendant were the matter to come to trial, the charges against the defendant should be struck out.
This, as in England, is a low test for the prosecution to satisfy, with the emphasis being on ‘could’ rather than ‘would’, ‘may’ or ‘will’.
Read the full article: Court Has Jurisdiction to Order ‘Old-Style’ Committal in Criminal Proceedings