Administration of Justice Act 1964
Administration of JusticeAct 1964
1964 CHAPTER 42
An Act to make provision with respect to the administration of justice in the metropolitan area; to provide for a lieutenant and deputy lieutenants for Greater London; to make fresh provision with respect to the indemnification of justices and their clerks, recorders and clerks of the peace; to make minor amendments of the law relating to the administration of justice in England and Wales and an amendment of section 8 of the Justices of the Peace Act 1949 extending to Scotland; and for connected purposes.
[10th June 1964]
Be 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
Greater London
The Central Criminal Court
1 Jurisdiction and session of Central Criminal Court.
(1) The Central Criminal Court shall have jurisdiction to try and determine indictments for offences committed within Greater London, and accordingly Greater London shall be specified as the Court's area of jurisdiction in any commission of oyer and terminer and gaol delivery with respect to the Court instead of the area so specified before the passing of this Act.
(2) Sessions of the Central Criminal Court shall be held at least four times in every year instead of twelve times in every year as required by section 15 of the Central Criminal Court Act 1834.
(3) The provisions of Schedule 1 to this Act shall have effect with respect to the Central Criminal Court (being provisions re-enacting, with additions and modifications consequential on the foregoing provisions of this section, and with other minor modifications and omissions, the provisions of the Central Criminal Court Act 1834 and other enactments relating to the constitution, jurisdiction, proceedings and officers of that Court).
(4) Nothing in this section shall be construed as affecting the jurisdiction of the Central Criminal Court or any other court to try and determine any case brought before it by virtue of sections 11 and 14(2) of the Criminal Justice Act 1925, sections 9 to 11 of the Magistrates' Courts Act 1952 or any other enactment.
Commissions and justices of the peace
2 The London commission areas.
(1) Subject to the provisions of section 3 of this Act, there shall be a separate commission of the peace for each of the following areas of Greater London, that is to say—
(a ) an area to be known as the inner London area, consisting of the inner London boroughs;
(b ) an area to be known as the north-east London area, consisting of the London boroughs of Barking, Havering, Newham, Redbridge and Waltham Forest;
(c ) an area to be known as the south-east London area, consisting of the London boroughs of Bexley, Bromley and Croydon;
(d ) an area to be known as the south-west London area, consisting of the London boroughs of Kingston upon Thames, Merton, Richmond upon Thames and Sutton;
(e ) an area to be known as the Middlesex area, consisting of the London boroughs of Barnet, Brent, Ealing, Enfield, Haringey, Harrow, Hillingdon and Hounslow;
and any existing commission of the peace for a county or borough abolished by section 3 of the London Government Act 1963 shall cease to have effect.
(2) The areas specified in subsection (1) of this section are hereafter in this Act referred to as the London commission areas and the areas specified in paragraphs (b ) to (e ) of that subsection are hereafter in this Act referred to as the outer London areas.
(3) Subject to the provisions of this Act, a London commission area shall be deemed to be a county for all purposes of the law relating to commissions of the peace, justices of the peace, quarter sessions, magistrates' courts, the custos rotulorum, the clerk of the peace, justices' clerks and matters connected with any of those matters; and references to a county in any enactment passed or instrument made before the passing of this Act shall be construed accordingly.
(4) A separate commission of the peace shall not be granted to a London borough by virtue of section 156 of the Municipal Corporations Act 1882, and accordingly section 162 of that Act (separate court of quarter sessions) shall not apply to a London borough.
3 Power to adjust London commission areas.
(1) Her Majesty may by Order in Council substitute for any one or more of the areas specified in subsection (1) of section 2 of this Act any other area or areas comprising the whole or part of Greater London, or alter the boundaries of any area so specified; but the City shall not by virtue of any such Order be included in an area for which a commission of the peace is issued under the said subsection (1).
(2) An Order in Council under this section may contain such incidental, consequential, transitional or supplementary provisions as may be necessary or expedient for the purposes of the Order (including provisions amending this Act or any other enactment).
(3) Any statutory instrument made by virtue of this section shall be subject to annulment in pursuance of a resolution of either House of Parliament.
Quarter sessions
4 Whole-time chairmen and deputy chairmen.
(1) Her Majesty may on the recommendation of the Lord Chancellor appoint for the court of quarter sessions for each London commission area a whole-time chairman and one or more whole-time deputy chairmen:
Provided that the number of deputy chairmen appointed under this subsection for the courts of quarter sessions for all the London commission areas shall not exceed twenty-five.
(2) A person shall not be qualified to be appointed a whole-time chairman or deputy chairman under this section unless he is a barrister or solicitor of not less than ten years' standing.
(3) The following provisions shall apply to each whole-time chairman and deputy chairman, that is to say—
(a ) he shall by virtue of his office be a justice of the peace for each of the London commission areas and may act as deputy chairman of the court of quarter sessions for a London commission area other than the court for the area for which he was appointed;
(b ) he shall be paid by the Greater London Council a yearly salary at such rate as the Lord Chancellor may, after consultation with the Greater London Council and with the consent of the Treasury, determine;
(c ) he shall not during his continuance in office practise as a barrister or solicitor;
(d ) he may be removed from office by the Lord Chancellor for inability or misbehaviour;
(e ) he shall vacate his office at the end of the completed year of service in the course of which he attains the age of seventy-two unless the Lord Chancellor considers it desirable in the public interest to retain him in office after that year, and in that event the Lord Chancellor may from time to time authorise him to continue in office to such age (not exceeding seventy-five years) as the Lord Chancellor thinks fit.
5 County court judges as deputy chairmen.
(1) The Lord Chancellor may appoint any county court judge for a district wholly or partly situated in Greater London to act during such period or on such occasions as the Lord Chancellor thinks fit as deputy chairman of the court or courts of quarter sessions for one or more of the London commission areas.
(2) The limit imposed by section 4(1) of the County Courts Act 1959 on the total number of county court judges shall be increased from eighty to ninety and the number of judges who may be assigned to a district under section 4(4) of that Act shall, in the case of a district situated wholly or partly in a London commission area, be increased from two to three.
(3) Every county court judge for the time being assigned to a district wholly or partly situated in a London commission area shall by virtue of his office be a justice of the peace for each of those areas; and section 11 of the County Courts Act 1959 (which provides for including county court judges in the commission of the peace for a county or borough in their district) shall not apply in relation to any of the London commission areas.
(4) The Greater London Council shall, subject to subsection (5) of this section, pay to the Lord Chancellor by way of contribution towards the salary of a county court judge who has been appointed to act as deputy chairman of a court or courts of quarter sessions under this section, and towards the pension and other benefits payable under the Administration of Justice (Pensions) Act 1950 in respect of the service as a county court judge of a person who has so acted, such sums at such times as the Lord Chancellor may, after consultation with the Greater London Council and with the consent of the Treasury, determine.
(5) Contributions shall not be required to be made under subsection (4) of this section in respect of any county court judges in excess of the relevant limit for any period during which that limit is exceeded; and for the purposes of this subsection the relevant limit at any time is a number equal to the difference between twenty-five and the number of whole-time deputy chairmen at that time of all the courts of quarter sessions for the London commission areas.
6 Temporary...
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