CRIMINAL LAW
BY JAMIE SC
(http://www.law.com.my/articles.php?tag=Malaysia Criminal Law)
Let’s first define what a crime is; generally a crime is an illegal
act or offense that is punishable by law. The offence or crime
that has been carried out is under common law or under any
Act of Parliament and this also includes an attempt to commit
the crime of the offence. The crime that one has committed
must also have a defined punishment and anyone who has been
found guilty of a crime is a criminal.
So how is a criminal procedure different from that of a civil
procedure? Examples of criminal cases include robbery, drug
trafficking and murdering. During criminal cases the legal
action is taken either by the state, the local or federal
government against the person or the organization that has
committed the violation.
Those that have been found guilty of the crime can be either put
on probation, serve time in a prison, be ordered to pay a
specific amount of fine, if the crime is a serious offence it may
even involve the capital punishment such as a death penalty.
These punishments also serve as a warning to others so that
they do not repeat the crime in the future.
This of course is different from a civil law case and examples of
such cases include debt collection, medical malpractice and
damages for personal injuries. The awards for such cases are
usually in the form of money where one party has been ordered
to pay to the other. So this basically means a civil suit involves
legal action between two private parties that are usually
seeking monetary compensation or damages by the plaintiff
who has suffered a loss by the wrongful doings or the tortuous
conduct of the defendant. The judgment that has been passed
is to make the aggrieved person compensated properly by the
harm that has been caused by the other, also in the civil case a
criminal sentence cannot be imposed at the same time.
Criminal courts
The jurisdiction and the powers of the criminal courts include
crimes or offences that are punishable by a fine that does not
exceed the amount of RM10, 000. The court cases will be heard
by the Magistrate Court that can be found in most of the major
towns in Malaysia. Traffic offences will also fall under the
authority of the criminal court. While an act in this situation
refers to any form of act, attempt or omission that is punishable
by Malaysian law.
The Magistrate Court has the power to hear criminal cases
where the act that has been conducted provides for a term of
imprisonment that does not exceed that of 10 (ten) years. While
they can hear the case, the Magistrate court will not be able to
pass a sentence of imprisonment for a term that exceeds that of
5 (five) years. Other powers that have been granted to the
Magistrate Court includes include that of Section 87 of the
Subordinate Courts Act 1948 that provides the First Class
Magistrate the power to impose whipping to up to a maximum of
12 strokes.
Compared to the Magistrate court the Sessions court has a
wider jurisdiction, this means that the Sessions court has the
power to try any criminal cases. However the only limitation of
this particular court is that they do not have the power to try or
pronounce sentence of cases of any person that has been
accused or has been suspected of having committed any form
of offense that is punishable by death. The limitation is imposed
on the Session judge under Section 64.
The High Court has the power to try any form of criminal
matters or offence anywhere in Malaysia; however they will
usually try cases that are not within the jurisdiction of the
Sessions and Magistrates Court. This will also includes criminal
acts that carry the death penalty. As mentioned before any type
of act that is considered to be criminal by the definition of law
can be tried at the High court but they will usually only try cases
that involve the capital punishment or the death penalty if they
are found guilty and such cases include Drug trafficking under
Section 39B of the Dangerous Drugs Act, kidnapping or
abduction under Section 364 of the Penal Code, murder under
Section 302 of the Penal Code and offenses that fall under the
Firearms (increased penalty) Act.
The High Court has been granted power to heat appeals on
matters regarding criminal cases and they may exercise these
powers with respect to criminal proceedings and matters in the
subordinate courts. According to Section 27, the High Court
shall hear the appeals of criminal cases from the Sessions and
Magistrate Courts.
The Court of Appeal has the appellate power in respect to the
criminal offence where the outcome has been decided by the
Sessions Court and they may also hear and determine any
appeal against the decisions that have been made by the High
Court. While the appeals for the decisions that have been made
by the Magistrate Court of any criminal cases shall only be
confined to the questions of law which have arisen in the
process of the appeal or revision and the determination in
which the High Court has affected the even of the revision or
the appeal.
The appeal has to be made within 14 days after the date of the
decision that has been made in the High Court, which the case
will fall unto the jurisdiction of the Court of Appeal. Finally there
is the Federal Court which is usually the last resort usually in
criminal cases the Federal Court will exercise its appellate
jurisdiction to hear as well as determine any appeal from any
decision that has been made by the Court of Appeal.