Title 4, Judiciary

(a) The Governor shall appoint pursuant to section 72 of this title, two Superior Court judges to the Family Division of the Superior Court, one in the division of St. Croix and the other in the division of St. Thomas-St. John. (b) The Presiding Judge shall assign a judge to serv…

(a) Except as otherwise provided by this chapter, the Family Division of the Superior Court shall have original jurisdiction:(a) Concerning any child living or found within the geographical limits of its jurisdiction:(1) who is neglected or abused;(2) whose occupation, behavior, …

(a) When jurisdiction shall have been obtained by the Family Division in the case of any child, such jurisdiction may be retained by the Division until he becomes 19 years of age, unless he is discharged prior thereto by the court. This section does not affect the jurisdiction of…

The Superior Court shall provide for the Family Division hearing rooms that are adequate, appropriate, and safely maintained. The Superior Court shall place as a high priority securing courtrooms and support personnel for the Family Division which are separate and apart from the …

Family Division judges shall visit, at least annually, the juvenile pre-trial detention facilities, shelter care facilities, and any other facility providing services to juveniles as a dispositional alternative.

For purposes of this chapter, the terms “adult”, “child”, “delinquent act”, “neglected or abused” and “person in need of supervision” shall have the same meaning as defined in section 2502 of Title 5, of this code.

The Department of Social Welfare shall establish and maintain a detention center within the jurisdiction of Saint Thomas and Saint John and the jurisdiction of Saint Croix for the purpose of detaining any child under the age of 18 years who is charged with and offense which would…

There shall be a Judicial Council of the Virgin Islands which shall consist of the justices of the Supreme Court, the chief justice of which shall be chairman, the presiding justice of the Superior Court, another judge of the Superior Court to be designated from time to time by t…

(a) The Judicial Council shall serve as a forum for representatives from the legislative, executive, and judicial branches of the Government of the Virgin Islands and the Virgin Islands Bar Association to discuss matters of common concern, such as improving the administration of …

The members of the Judicial Council shall serve without compensation but the provisions of section 65 of Title 3 of this code shall apply to such members. All vouchers for the payment of travel expenses or per diem pursuant to this section shall be certified by the Chairman of th…

Notwithstanding any other law to the contrary, the Judicial Council and the Superior Court, in order to promote their orderly and efficient administration and operation, are hereby authorized to establish and maintain separate accounts for the prompt payment of their respective o…

The sessions of every court of justice shall be open to the public, except as otherwise provided in subtitle 2 of Title 5. The records of every court of justice shall be public records and, except as otherwise provided in subtitle 2 of Title 5, shall be open to the inspection of …

No judge or justice shall be liable in a civil action for damages by reason of any judicial action taken or judgment or decision rendered by him in good faith.

(1) Every court shall have power:(1) To preserve and enforce order in its immediate presence;(2) To enforce order in the proceedings before it, or before a person or persons empowered to conduct a judicial investigation under its authority;(3) To provide for the orderly conduct o…

Any person who wilfully violates, neglects or refuses to observe or perform any lawful order of a court shall be guilty of contempt of court and upon being found guilty of such contempt may be punished as provided by law.

If no judge attends on the day appointed for a session of any court, or on the day to which it may have adjourned, the clerk may adjourn the court until the next day and so on from day to day until the judge attends or by written order directs the court to be adjourned to a day c…

Each court shall have a seal which shall be kept by its clerk.

(1) Every judicial officer shall have power:(1) To preserve and enforce order in his immediate presence and in the proceedings before him, when he is engaged in the performance of a duty imposed on him by law;(2) To compel obedience to his lawful orders;(3) To compel the attendan…

For the effectual exercise of the powers conferred in the last section a judicial officer may punish for contempt in the cases and in the manner provided by law.

Every judicial officer and every clerk of court and his deputies shall have power to administer oaths and to take acknowledgments of deeds and other written instruments.

(1) No judge or justice shall sit or act as such in any action or proceeding:(1) To which he is a party or in which he is primarily interested;(2) When he is related to either party, or to an officer of a corporation which is a party, by blood or marriage within the third degree;…

Whenever a judge shall have knowledge of any fact which, under the provisions of section 284 of this title, disqualifies him to sit or act as such in any action or proceeding pending before him, it shall be his duty to declare the same in open court and cause a memorandum thereof…

No challenge as to the competency of any judge shall be received or allowed; but if it is plain that the judge is disqualified under the provisions of section 284 of this title, the party objecting to competency may, in writing, file with the judge his objection, stating the grou…

Whenever the judge of the district court is disqualified under the provision of section 284 of this title to sit in any action or proceeding he shall immediately notify the chief judge of the Third Judicial Circuit of his disqualification. Whenever a judge of the Superior Court i…

(a) No justice, judge, clerk of court, deputy, assistant or other officer or employee of a court shall practice law during his continuance in office or be in partnership with a practicing attorney. (b) Justices of the Supreme Court and Judges of the Superior Court shall devote al…

No proceeding pending in any court of justice shall be affected by a vacancy in the office of the judge thereof.

Every written proceeding in a court of justice of the Virgin Islands shall be in the English language and judicial proceedings shall be conducted, preserved and published in no other language.

Whenever the services of an interpreter are deemed by the judge presiding in a court of justice in this territory to be required in a trial or other proceeding in such court the judge may appoint a qualified person to act temporarily as an interpreter in such court. Any interpret…

When jurisdiction is by law conferred on a court or judicial officer, all the means necessary to carry it into effect are also given; and in the exercise of this jurisdiction, if the course of the proceedings is not specially pointed out by law or by rules of procedure adopted pu…

(a) There is established in the judicial branch the Office of the Virgin Islands Marshal. At the head of the Office of the Virgin Islands Marshal is a Chief Marshal who shall administer the Office of the Virgin Islands Marshal, subject to the supervision, control and direction of…

The Supreme Court of the Virgin Islands may issue and promulgate rules for the payments of costs incurred by the office of the Virgin Islands marshal in the storage of items of personal property taken into custody by the office of the Virgin Islands marshal pursuant to court orde…

(1) The clerk of the Superior Court shall:(1) Take charge of and safely keep, or dispose of according to law, all books, papers and records which may be filed and deposited in his office;(2) Supervise and direct the work of his deputies and assistants;(3) Attend in person or by d…

The clerk of the Superior Court, before entering upon his duties, shall take the oath or affirmation prescribed by section 951 of Title 28 of the United States Code and shall give bond to the Territory in an amount fixed by the Judicial Council, and with sureties approved by the …

There is established as a division within the Superior Court of the Virgin Islands subject to the powers of the Chief Justice, the Territorial Probation Office, which shall be headed by a Chief Probation Officer. The Presiding Judge of the Superior Court may appoint one or more q…

(a) A probation officer shall furnish to each probationer under his supervision a written statement of the conditions of probation and shall instruct him regarding the same. He shall keep informed concerning the conduct and condition of each probationer under his supervision and …

(a) Notwithstanding any other law, the Judicial Council of the Virgin Islands (the “Judicial Council”) is authorized to establish a separate operating bank account to be known as the “Judicial Council Imprest Account”. The account shall consist of all eligible federal funds, all …

(a) Definition Except as otherwise provided by law or rule of the Supreme Court, and excepting court personnel acting in the performance of their court duties, the unauthorized practice of law shall be deemed to mean the doing of any act by a person who is not a member in good st…

(1) Any citizen of the United States who has attained the age of 18 years and has resided within the Territory for six months or more is competent to serve as a juror unless:(1) He has been convicted in a state, territorial or federal court of record of a crime punishable by impr…

(1) The following persons are exempt from jury service:(1) Members in active service of the armed forces of the United States.(2) Members of the fire and police departments of the Territory.(3) Attorneys at law, ministers of the gospel or priests of any religious denomination, an…

(a) The judge of the district court for good cause may excuse or exclude from jury service any person called as a juror. (b) Any class or group of persons may, for the public interest, be excluded from the jury panel or excused from service as jurors by order of the judge of the …

The judge of the district court shall appoint four jury commissioners for each judicial division of the Territory, who shall be residents of the division of good standing and who, with the clerk of the district court or his deputy, shall constitute the jury commission of the judi…

Prior to each session of the district court at which a new panel of jurors will be required the court shall issue an order to the jury commission of the proper judicial division directing it to draw such a panel of jurors, specifying in the order the number of jurors to be drawn …

The names of jurors shall be publicly drawn by the jury commission from a jury box containing the names of not less than 100 qualified persons at the time of each drawing. The jury box shall be filled and from time to time refilled by the jury commission. The jury commissioners a…

Jurors for the sessions of the district court at Christiansted and Frederiksted shall be residents of the Christiansted and Frederiksted jurisdictions, respectively, of the judicial division of Saint Croix. The jury commission of the judicial division of Saint Croix shall maintai…

When a panel of jurors has been drawn by the jury commission for service at a session of the district court the clerk shall issue summons directing each person so drawn to attend the court at the time and place designated and shall deliver them to the marshal for service.

Jurors summoned for service in the district court shall serve for such period of time and at such session or sessions of the court as the court may direct, but no juror shall be required to serve for a longer period than three months unless actually engaged as a trial juror in a …

Whenever the panel of jurors has been exhausted at a session of the district court the court may order the jury commission to draw a supplemental panel of jurors in such number as may be specified in the order or may direct the marshal to summon a sufficient number of talesmen fr…

Only one jury panel shall be summoned for the trial of both civil and criminal actions at each session of the district court. Trial juries in civil actions shall be constituted as provided in subtitle 1 of Title 5. Trial juries in criminal actions shall be constituted as provided…

The jury commissioners shall receive the compensation, and the jurors of the district court of the Virgin Islands shall receive the fees and travel and subsistence allowances now or hereafter fixed by sections 1864 and 1871 of Title 28 of the United States Code.