County Courts Act 1984
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Citation | 1984 c. 28 |
| Year | 1984 |
County Courts Act 1984
1984 CHAPTER 28
An Act to consolidate certain enactments relating tocounty courts.
[26th June 1984]
B e it enacted by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:—
Part I
Constitution and Administration
County courts and districts
1 County courts to be held for districts.
(1) For the purposes of this Act, England and Wales shall be divided into districts, and a court shall be held under this Act for each district at one or more places in it; and throughout the whole of each district the court so held for the district shall have such jurisdiction and powers as are conferred by this Act and any other enactment for the time being in force.
(2) Every court so held shall be called a county court and shall be a court of record and shall have a seal.
(3) Nothing in this section affects the operation of section 42 of the Courts Act 1971 (City of London).
2 County court districts etc.
(1) The Lord Chancellor may by order specify places at which county courts are to be held and the name by which the court held at any place so specified is to be known.
(2) Any order under this section shall be made by statutory instrument, which shall be laid before Parliament after being made.
(3) The districts for which county courts are to be held shall be determined in accordance with directions given by or on behalf of the Lord Chancellor.
(4) Subject to any alterations made by virtue of this section, county courts shall continue to be held for the districts and at the places and by the names appointed at the commencement of this Act.
Places and times of sittings of courts
3 Places and times of sittings.
(1) In any district the places at which the court sits, and the days and times when the court sits at any place, shall be determined in accordance with directions given by or on behalf of the Lord Chancellor.
(2) A judge may from time to time adjourn any court held by him, and a registrar may from time to time adjourn—
( a ) any court held by him, or
( b ) in the absence of the judge, any court to be held by the judge.
(3) With the consent of the parties to proceedings (whether heard by the judge or a registrar), the proceedings, or any question arising in the proceedings, may be heard and determined at any place either within or without the district.
(4) References in this Act to sittings of the court shall include references to sittings by any registrar in pursuance of any provision contained in, or made under, this Act.
4 Use of public buildings for courts.
(1) Where, in any place in which a county court is held, there is a building, being a town hall, court-house or other public building belonging to any local or other public authority, that building shall, with all necessary rooms, furniture and fittings in it, be used for the purpose of holding the court, without any charge for rent or other payment, except the reasonable and necessary charges for lighting, heating and cleaning the building when used for that purpose.
(2) Where any such building is used for the purpose of holding any court, the sittings of the court shall be so arranged as not to interfere with the business of the local or other public authority usually transacted in the building or with any purpose for which the building may be used by virtue of any local Act.
(3) This section shall not apply to any place in which a building was erected before 1st January 1889 for the purpose of holding and carrying on the business of a county court.
Judges
5 Judges of county courts.
(1) Every Circuit judge shall, by virtue of his office, be capable of sitting as a judge for any county court district in England and Wales, and the Lord Chancellor shall assign one or more Circuit judges to each district and may from time to time vary the assignment of Circuit judges among the districts.
(2) Subject to any directions given by or on behalf of the Lord Chancellor, in any case where more than one Circuit judge is assigned to a district under subsection (1), any function conferred by or under this Act on the judge for a district may be exercised by any of the Circuit judges for the time being assigned to that district.
(3) The following, that is—
every judge of the Court of Appeal,
every judge of the High Court,
every Recorder,
shall, by virtue of his office, be capable of sitting as a judge for any county court district in England and Wales and, if he consents to do so, shall sit as such a judge at such times and on such occasions as the Lord Chancellor considers desirable.
(4) Notwithstanding that he is not for the time being assigned to a particular district, a Circuit judge—
( a ) shall sit as a judge of that district at such times and on such occasions as the Lord Chancellor may direct; and
( b ) may sit as a judge of that district in any case where it appears to him that the judge of that district is not, or none of the judges of that district is, available to deal with the case.
Registrars, assistant registrars and deputy registrars
6 Registrars.
(1) Subject to the provisions of this section, there shall be a registrar for each district, who shall be appointed by the Lord Chancellor and paid such salary as the Lord Chancellor may, with the concurrence of the Treasury, direct.
(2) The Lord Chancellor may, if he thinks fit, appoint a person to be registrar for two or more districts.
(3) The Lord Chancellor may, if he thinks fit, appoint two or more persons to execute jointly the office of registrar for a district and may, in any case where joint registrars are appointed, give directions with respect to the division between them of the duties of the office.
(4) The Lord Chancellor may, as he thinks fit, on the death, resignation or removal of a joint registrar, either appoint another person to be joint registrar in his place or give directions that the continuing registrar shall act as sole registrar or, as the case may be, that the continuing registrars shall execute jointly the office of registrar.
(5) The registrar for any district shall be capable of acting in any other district for the registrar of that other district.
7 Assistant registrars.
(1) The Lord Chancellor may, with the concurrence of the Treasury as to numbers and salaries, appoint in connection with any court such assistant registrars as he considers necessary for carrying out the work of the court.
(2) An assistant registrar shall be capable of discharging any of the functions of the registrar, and in so doing shall have the same powers and be subject to the same liabilities as if he were the registrar.
8 Deputy...
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