Administration of Justice Act 1925



Administration of Justice Act, 1925

(15 & 16 Geo. 5.) CHAPTER 28.

An Act to amend the law with respect to the jurisdiction and business of the Supreme Court in England and with respect to the judges, officers and offices thereof and otherwise with respect to the administration of justice.

[7th May 1925]

Be it enacted by the King'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:—

Assizes.

Assizes.

S-1 Power to dispense with holding of assizes in places where unnecessary.

1 Power to dispense with holding of assizes in places where unnecessary.

(1) If at any time it appears to the Lord Chief Justice that there is no business or no substantial amount of business to be transacted at the assizes then about to be held at any place on a circuit and that having regard to all the circumstances of the case it is desirable that an order should be made under this section, he may, with the concurrence of the Lord Chancellor, by order direct that assizes shall not on the occasion of that circuit be held at that place, and, where any such order is made, then, notwithstanding any enactment or custom to the contrary, assizes shall not on that occasion be held at the place specified in the order.

(2) There may be included in an order made under this section provision for any matters (including any of the matters mentioned in paragraph (3) of section two of the Winter Assizes Act, 1876 ) for which it appears to the Lord Chief Justice to be necessary or proper to make provision with a view to giving full effect to the order.

S-2 Power to include ex-judges in commissions of assize.

2 Power to include ex-judges in commissions of assize.

2. His Majesty may include in a commission of assize any person who has held the office of a judge of the Court of Appeal or of a judge of the High Court, but no person who has held office as aforesaid shall be required to act as commissioner of assize unless he consents so to do.

Supreme Court.

Supreme Court.

S-3 Trial with jury in High Court.

3 Trial with jury in High Court.

3. Section two of the Administration of Justice Act, 1920(which relates to the mode of trial in the High Court), shall cease to have effect, and provision may be made by rules of court in the same manner as if the Juries Act, 1918, and section two of the Administration of Justice Act, 1920, had not passed, for prescribing in what cases trials in the High Court are to be with a jury and in what cases they are to be without a jury, and until such rules of court come into force the rules of court relating to the mode of trial in the High Court which were in force immediately before the passing of the Juries Act, 1918, shall have effect.

S-4 Qualifications of judges of Supreme Court.

4 Qualifications of judges of Supreme Court.

(1) Any person being a barrister of not less than ten years' standing shall be qualified for appointment as a puisne judge of the High Court.

(2) Any person being a barrister of not less than fifteen years' standing or a judge of the High Court shall be qualified for appointment as a Lord Justice of Appeal.

(3) Any person qualified for appointment as a Lord Justice of Appeal or being a judge of the Court of Appeal shall be qualified for appointment as Lord Chief Justice, Master of the Rolls or President.

S-5 Power to appoint additional judge of Probate, Divorce and Admiralty Division, and amendment of 10 Edw. 7. and 1 Geo. 5. c. 12.

5 Power to appoint additional judge of Probate, Divorce and Admiralty Division, and amendment of 10 Edw. 7. and 1 Geo. 5. c. 12.

(1) It shall be lawful for His Majesty from time to time to appoint one judge of the High Court in addition to the number of judges of that court authorised to be appointed by the Judicature Acts, 1873 to 1910.

(2) The judge so appointed shall, subject to such power of transfer as is authorised by the Supreme Court of Judicature Act, 1873 , be attached to the Probate Division, and the law relating to the appointment and qualification of judges of the High court, their duties, tenure, precedence, salary and pension and otherwise shall apply to a judge appointed under this section.

(3) Where under subsection (2) of section one of the Supreme Court of Judicature Act, 1910, an Address from both Houses of Parliament has, whether before or after the passing of this Act, been presented to His Majesty representing that the state of business in the King's Bench Division requires that a vacancy among the puisne judges of that Division should be filled, it shall be lawful for His Majesty from time to time without any further Address, to fill any vacancy which may arise among the said judges at any time within a period of one year next after the date of the presentation to His Majesty of the said Address.

(4) This section shall come into operation on the passing of this Act.

S-6 Qualifications for certain offices in Supreme Court.

6 Qualifications for certain offices in Supreme Court.

6. A person shall not be qualified for appointment to any of the offices in the Supreme Court specified in the first column of the First Schedule to this Act unless he is a person of the description specified in the second column of that Schedule in respect of that office:

Provided that, notwithstanding anything in this section, any person who holds any office in the Supreme Court at the commencement of this Act shall be qualified for appointment to any office to which he might have been appointed if this Act had not passed.

S-7 Tenure of officers of Supreme Court.

7 Tenure of officers of Supreme Court.

(1) Any officer of the Supreme Court who by virtue of the provisions of section one of the Supreme Court Officers (Retirement, Pensions, &c.) Act, 1921 , is required to vacate office at the end of the completed year of service in the course of which he attains the age of seventy-two years shall, subject to the provisions of the said section and subject as hereinafter provided, hold office during good behaviour:

Provided that the power to remove any such person from his office on account of misbehaviour shall be exercisable by the Lord Chancellor, and the Lord Chancellor shall have power to remove any such person from his office on account of inability to perform the duties of the office.

(2) Every officer of the Supreme Court, not being an officer to whom subsection (1) of this section applies, shall hold office during His Majesty's pleasure:

Provided that nothing in this subsection shall affect the tenure of any officer appointed before the commencement of this Act.

(3) In the application of this section to registrars of the Probate Division, the President shall be substituted for the Lord Chancellor.

S-8 Appointment of deputies for Supreme Court officers.

8 Appointment of deputies for Supreme Court officers.

(1) Where an officer of the Supreme Court is absent from illness or other reasonable causes he may, with the approval of the Lord Chancellor and subject to the provisions of this section, appoint a deputy, and if being so absent he fails to make such an appointment, the Lord Chancellor may appoint a deputy.

(2) Every deputy appointed under this section shall have all the powers and authorities of the officer for whom he is appointed to act.

(3) A person shall not be qualified to be appointed under this section to act as a deputy in any office unless he is qualified for appointment to that office.

(4)21 & 22 Vict. c. 95. Nothing in this section shall affect the power of the President under section thirty-five of the Court of Probate Act, 1858 , to appoint any person to discharge the duties of any officer appointed under the Court of Probate Act, 1857, or the Court of Probate Act, 1858, or be taken to authorise either the Lord Chancellor or any officer so appointed as aforesaid to appoint a deputy in any case to which the said section thirty-five applies.

S-9 District ragistrars of High Court.

9 District ragistrars of High Court.

(1) Any person being the registrar of a county court or being a solicitor of not less than seven years' standing shall be qualified for appointment as district registrar of the High Court.

(2) The Lord Chancellor may, if he thinks fit, appoint two persons to execute jointly the office of district registrar in any district registry, and may in any case where joint district registrars are appointed give directions with respect to the division between them of the duties of the office and may, as he thinks fit, on the death, resignation or removal of a joint district registrar, either appoint another person to be joint district registrar in the place of the person so dying, resigning or removed, or give directions that the continuing registrar shall act as sole registrar.

(3) On a vacancy occurring in the office of a district registrar, any person being a person qualified for appointment as district registrar may be appointed to act as provisional district registrar for such period not exceeding six months from the date on which the vacancy occurs as the Lord Chancellor may direct.

(4) The...

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