Rule 1 Scope

Magistrate courts in West Virginia handle criminal cases using a set of procedures, and this rule explains where those procedures come from. It says these rules apply to all criminal cases in magistrate court across the state.

The rule also explains how these rules work together with existing state laws. In most cases, these rules add extra detail to the laws already written in Chapter 50 and Chapter 62 of the West Virginia Code. But in some specific situations, these rules actually replace what those laws say and take priority instead.

For anyone involved in a criminal case at the magistrate court level, this means the court will follow these specific procedural rules first. If a rule doesn't cover a certain situation, the court will fall back on the general laws in the state code.