Guam § 1 - General Applicability; Court Rules.

§ 1. General Applicability; Court Rules.

(a) The provisions of this Code govern the practice and procedure in every criminal proceeding

prosecuted in the name of Guam. They are intended to provide for the just determination of every criminal

proceeding and shall be construed to secure simplicity in procedure, fairness in administration and the

elimination of unjustifiable expense and delay.

(b) The Judicial Council may provide by rule for the practice and procedure in criminal proceedings

only to the extent such rules are not inconsistent with the provisions of this Code. Subject to this limitation,

the Judicial Council may prescribe rules in the manner provided by § 66 of the Code of Civil Procedure.

(c) If no procedure is provided by this Code or by rule, the court may proceed in any lawful manner

not inconsistent with its own rules or with any applicable statute.

(d) Nothing in this Code shall be construed in any way to amend, repeal or affect the provisions of 19

GCA Chapter 5 (Family Court), or limit the jurisdiction of the Court in the administration and enforcement

of that chapter.

COL08222024

COMMENT: The second sentence of § 1.07(a) is substantively the same as former Rule 2 and former Guam PC § 4.

However, the remainder of the section completely reverses prior law. Formerly, non-substantive, statute. See former Code

Civ. Proc. § 66 (P.L. 12-085, § 3 (Jan. 16, 1974)). Now, the procedure in criminal cases is made statutory by this Code and

the courts may not alter any rule contained in this Code. The changed approach is due to two factors. First, many matters of

criminal procedure involve fundamental rights – bail, jury, types of pleas, arraignment, indictment; preliminary hearing, etc.

– and it is believed that these matters should be fixed in law. Secondly, the issue of whether a matter is subject to the Criminal

Procedure portion of the Penal Code or to court rule has been a SOURCE of confusion and litigation. Thus, the Committee

believed that there should be only one SOURCE of major criminal rules – this Code.

2024 NOTE: Reference to “Territory” replaced with “Guam” pursuant to 1 GCA § 420.

NOTE: A Guam Supreme Court was created by P.L. 21-147 (Jan. 14, 1993). However, this section was not changed by that

law, and the Supreme Court does not come into effect until after a number of statutory requirements have first been met. So,

for criminal matters, this Chapter remains law, and the Rules promulgated by this Title must still be altered only by the

Legislature.