(a) Each magistrate judge may:
(1) administer oaths and affirmations and issue civil and criminal process, including warrants of arrest, search warrants, subpoenas, and orders, including orders for the release on bail, for detention of persons pending trial and for contempt;
(2) take acknowledgments, affidavits and depositions;
(3) conduct marriages;
(4) hear all non-felony traffic offenses, litter cases, misdemeanor criminal cases where the maximum punishment is limited to not more than 364 days imprisonment; arraignment and probable cause hearings in any criminal or traffic offense matter; small claims cases and probate matters;
(5) issue temporary and permanent restraining orders in domestic violence cases;
(6) hear forcible entry and detainer and landlord and tenant actions; and
(7) hear all civil cases where the amount in controversy does not exceed $75,000.
(b) Upon designation by a judge of the Superior Court, pursuant to rules adopted by the court, a magistrate judge may:
(1) hear and determine any pretrial matter pending before the court, including matters before the Family Court, except a motion for injunctive relief, for judgment on the pleadings, for summary judgment, for dismissing or quashing an indictment or information made by the defendant, suppression of evidence in a criminal case, dismissal or to permit maintenance of a class action, dismissal for failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted, and to involuntarily dismiss an action.
(2) Conduct hearings, including evidentiary hearings, to submit proposed findings of fact and recommendations for the disposition, by a Superior Court judge, of any motion excepted in subsection (b)(1), of applications of post trial relief made by individuals convicted of criminal offenses and of prisoner petitions challenging conditions of confinement.
(c) A judge of the Superior Court may reconsider any pretrial matter handled by the magistrate judge where it has been shown that the magistrate judge's order is clearly erroneous or contrary to law.
(d) Upon consent of the parties, the magistrate judge may conduct all proceedings in a jury or non-jury civil matter, including trial and enter a judgment in the case. An order entered pursuant to this subsection is an Order of the Court, appealable to the Supreme Court of the Virgin Islands as any other Order.